Melodrama From Romeo and Juliet (1968) to very recently The Fault In Our Stars (2014)(1) melodramas have been around for a while now. Personally, being the emotional person I am, I love melodramas and in fact have loved them since I was a small child (under my mother’s influence of course). Melodramas have been favored by women mostly and have acquired names such as, (2)“tear jerkers”, “weepies”, and “women’s pictures” and with plots such as undying love and the death of a hero/heroine how can they not? Melodrama was first introduced in the 18th century (3) and was a technique of combining spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music. The first full written melodrama was by Jean-Jacques Rousseau titled Pygmalion and was staged in Lyon in 1770. More contributing factors helped move this play along such as people helping Rousseau with the overture, the andante, etc. While melodrama hasn't been the longest genre of theatre, it has definitely been around for a while. …show more content…
Melodrama has unintentionally found its way into most modern films as well as books, plays, etc. Such as The Fault In Our Stars which includes two cancer ridden teenagers who fall in love and travel to Europe to meet their favorite author. Unfortunately one of the teenagers dies and teaches the protagonist Hazel that not everything in life is fair but you have to make the most of it