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A melodrama is a dramatic or literary work in which the plot, which is typically sensational and designed to appeal strongly to the emotions, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Characters are often simply drawn, and may appear stereotyped. Because of the long timeframe in which the style has existed, and the variety of formats used, it is difficult to give a precise definition. In scholarly and historical musical contexts, ''melodramas'' are dramas of the 18th and 19th centuries in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action. The term is now also applied as well to stage performances without incidental music, novels, movies, and television and radio broadcasts. In modern contexts, the term "melodrama" is generally pejorative, as it suggests that the work in question lacks subtlety, character development, or both. By extension, language or behavior which resembles melodrama is often called ''melodramatic''; this usage is nearly always pejorative. The term originated from the early 19th-century French word ''mélodrame.'' It is derived from Greek ''melos'', music, and French ''drame'', drama (from Late Latin ''drāma'', eventually deriving from Greek ''drān'', to do, perform). ==Characteristics== Ben Singer, assistant professor of film studies at University of Wisconsin–Madison, argues in ''Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts'' that melodrama consistently displays "key constitutive factors": pathos, overwrought or heightened emotion, moral polarization (good vs. evil), non-classical narrative structure (e.g., use of extreme coincidence and "deus ex machina"), and sensationalism (emphasis on action, violence, and thrills). This incorporates both Victorian stage melodrama and 20th-century film melodrama. Singer uses as examples ''Stella Dallas'' or ''Imitation of Life'' from the studio era in Hollywood: the former generally features all five factors, while the latter focuses primarily on pathos and emotional intensification. Movie director Sidney Lumet stressed the primacy of plot, saying in 2007 "In a well-written drama, the story comes out of the characters. The characters in a well-written melodrama come out of the story."〔Charlie Rose interview, Nov. 30, 2007 http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8815〕 The relationship of melodrama to realism is complex. The protagonists of melodramatic works may either be ordinary (and hence realistically drawn) people who are caught up in extraordinary events, or highly exaggerated and unrealistic characters. According to Singer, late Victorian and Edwardian melodrama combined a conscious focus on realism in stage sets and props with "anti-realism" in character and plot. Melodrama in this period strove for "credible accuracy in the depiction of incredible, extraordinary" scenes.〔 Novelist Wilkie Collins is noted for his attention to accuracy in detail (e.g. of legal matters) in his works, no matter how sensational the plot. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「melodrama」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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