Melodrama

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).