The Middle-Class Materialist Melodrama

Melodrama emegered in the 1800’s that sparked playwriters to join in on the new genre in Paris. It is a form of theatre that dramatizes social morality which it names the “good guys” and the “bad guys,” helping audiences negotiate such problems as political power, economic justice, and racial inequality (Zarrilli, 263). “Melodramas were formed in historical eras that reassure, terrify, and propagandize the audiences today” (Zarrilli, 263). This type of drama also depicts the good and the evil and points it out to the audience. Melodramas often came about when there was a historical change happening. For instance, in fifth-century B.C.E Athens, in seventeenth- century England, and in eighteenth-century Japan (Zarrilli, 263). The middle-class
This type of entertainment was most popular in 1855 to 1880 (Zarilli, 266). This setting takes place in “historical realities” where in the “materialist world, the institutions of liberal, bourgeois government and society provide order and justice (Zarrilli, 264). A materialist melodrama also keeps a secret from the other characters, but the audience is in on it. Along with the “the man-made villainy, chance causes much of the evil in this drama as well” (Zarrilli, 264). In the end the poor come wealthy and the evil is banished from the stage to rejoice in the return of a traditional utopia. This allows villains to reform and rejoin the society (Zarilli, 264). The end also has a celebration and reconciliation between everyone. Some examples are The Poor of New York and a scene from The Colleen Bawn.
Melodrama and the different types of melodrama entertainment was very popular in the eighteenth-century. The concept of melodrama, providential, and materialist has continued to be in various types of films and plays though the 21st century. Providential and materialist melodrama changed rapidly between the 1820’s and the 1850’s and now both entertainments are used