Codes and conventions of the drama genreBy Esme Roberts

Drama Conventions

• Exhibits real life situations with realistic characters, setting, and stories.

• Portrays journeys of character development • Intense social interaction.• Purpose of a dramatic story line is to move the

audience emotionally.

Drama: Main Points

• Heart of a drama is the conflict• Conflict includes inner/outer realistic struggles

depicting hardships, difficulty and pain• Audience can relate to the characters (preferred

reading- Halls Theory• Structured with climatic events and anti climaxes

to keep the audience emotionally attached and the tension ongoing

• A form of realisation at the end/happy ending

Sub-genres

• Drama can be interlaced with other genres such as comedy, tragedy, etc. It does not have to be complete drama.

Conventions

• Comedy Drama- ‘A Serious Man’ broke the convention of a typical ending where the audience knew what was going to happen to Larry. The film tried something new, that the audience would not predict.

• Titanic brakes the conventions as all does not end happily for the protagonists, but has a rather tragic ending.