Melodrama+2

Honest, working class or lower middle class are usually the central pivot. They epitomise the virtues of thrift, hard work, chastity and honesty. The family falls on difficult times and the head of the family (usually the **father**) needs to borrow money or ask for a rent holiday. The landlord or money-lender is of a higher class and represents the opposite virtues. He is greedy, evil, heartless, dishonest, etc. He is the **villain**. He agrees to the loan (at very high interest rates). When the father cannot meet the repayment he has to fall on the mercy of the villain. The father almost always has a young, beautiful and dutiful daughter – the **heroine**. The villain (or the villain’s son) falls in love with her and is determined to ‘have his way’ with her. The father seeks help from an honest man – a handsome, strong **hero** who also falls in love with the heroine. They attempt to expose the villain’s evil nature, thwarted mostly by the villain’s **henchman**. The hero also has a **sidekick** (sometimes it is the father’s servant) who helps fight the villain. The sidekick would often come to a tragic end. The drama would usually climax with the heroine in mortal danger from the villain and is rescued in the nick of time by the hero. They marry and live happily ever after. Variations were many but the essence of this formula was seen time and time again. Sometimes the heroine would also have a trusted friend or servant, who would end up marrying the sidekick; sometimes the parent would die tragically at the hands of the henchman, and so on. American society is much less divided in classes, only by rich and poor, so American melodrama places more emphasis on mortal danger rather than social shame for the heroine and her family.
 * Why was Melodrama so popular? **
 * • During Victoria’s reign there was a huge expansion in technology with the invention of the steam engine. Factories sprung up in the cities, huge industries where built around industries such as cotton, coal and steel.
 * • There was much prosperity in the country due to industrial this rise of industry. But this prosperity was not evenly distributed.
 * • As a result there was a massive expansion in cities as people moved to them to find work.
 * • Conditions in factories were very harsh and living conditions were even worse.
 * • Workers often lived in slums and infant mortality rate was high.
 * • Child labour was common; eg Six and seven year olds were chained to coal trucks and used in tunnels to small for pit ponies in the mines.
 * • Entertainment needed to be cheap, easy to understand for a largely illiterate audience, and show their bosses and social superiors as villains, while honest working folk were the true heroes and heroines.
 * Class System **
 * • A rigid system of social organisation called the class system.
 * Royalty //kings, queens, princes etc//
 * Aristocracy //lords, dukes, often realted to royalty//
 * Upper class //people of inherited wealth/long established families/ well educated.//
 * Middle class //people who worked in professions. Doctors, ministers, lawyers//
 * Lower/working class //factory workers shop keepers//
 * Poor
 * Society was quite rigidly ordered. Marriage between classes was frowned upon and children could be disinherited if they married below their class.
 * There was no such thing as social welfare so the rich were expected to show charity to the poor.
 * The society was very simplistically moral and religious.
 * Vice (greed, licentiousness, drunkeness, evil deeds) was bad
 * Virtue was seen as “the highway to happiness”.
 * Virtues of chastity, honesty, hard work, thrift, looking after your family and modesty were seen as good.
 * The Role of Women **
 * The father was the head of the household.
 * Women had few property rights. Until they married they were under their father’s protection and after they were married their husband controlled all their wealth and assets. //This meant that bad men would try to marry rich innocent heiresses for their money!!!//
 * Women were seen as weak and inferior and her most important asset was that she was chaste. ie still a virgin and “pure”. Her reputation was everything!!
 * Most women would not work outside the home.
 * The fashion for women included very tight corsets to achieve the “wasp waist’. This meant that they often couldn’t breath properly and hence would often faint – **//the// //swoon//**//.//
 * The Theatres **
 * • The theatres were large- often holding 2000 or more people in the stalls, the balconies and the gallery (cheap seats). There were private boxes for the rich.
 * • They were proscenium arch theatres with curtains to pull so scene changes could be made.
 * • They were lavishly decorated (//think of the theatre royal)//
 * • The stages were very big.
 * • There was an orchestra pit in the front. An orchestra was a treat in itself for many people. The only other time they might hear one was in music hall (which itself would often offer short melodramas as part of their programme)
 * • Technology, especially in lighting meant that the stages could be very big and well-lit (limelight was very bright – more than in any other places, then later arc lighting was even brighter.
 * • Sets were lavish and detailed. Spectacle was an important draw-card. The audience demanded pictorial story telling and realistic sets therefore scenery was complex.
 * Classic Victorian Melodrama Formula **

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