The History of...Drama

Hi everyone and welcome back to The Big Screen Focus today we are going to be talking about the history of Drama genre. This is a new series I will be focusing on this blog! As previously mentioned in last weeks blog, the drama genre was most watched by individuals i interviewed. So, what is the history behind this genre? how did our favorite come to be... 

The Brief History of the Drama Genre

                     

The drama genre. One of the most popularly watched genres in television. The drama genre is categorized under shows that have a defined plot and structure portraying real life plots that could occur. Usually, the genre follows a lot of drama and plot twists. 

The term drama comes from the greek words, "To Do" or "To Act". There were two types of dramas, comedy and tragedy. 

According to geneseo.com, the oldest account for the drama genre is from Aristotle's poetics written in 335 BC Greece. The article begins to explain how these forms of tragedy and comedy still do exist today. The article illustrates how comedy of situation is the most popular version of the drama category as it is most seen in sitcoms today. 

Drama was first invented in Greece in the BC era. According to PBS, the first plays were performed in the Dionysus theatre which was build in the acropolis in Athens, Greece of the 5th century B.C. Which then caused these plays to spread throughout Greece, and then spread throughout the world, creating the western drama we know in the present day. The Greek drama was very dramatic. Through centuries drama developed into different inspirations, such as roman theatre, renaissance, medieval theatre, 18/19 century drama, etc... 

Drama was as well one of the most recent and first genres to exist. dramas can be categorized into different sections such as mystery, fantasy, comedy, etc... Most dramas as well take upon real life world problems or topics such as injustices, mental health, violence or drugs, etc... this is also the reason why dramas seem to be most popular. some viewers can relate to the characters in the drama genre. the point of the drama genre is to touch upon its viewers. 

That being said, drama was one of the most popular and first genres back then and it still is today, this time developing into television concepts we know of today. 

References:

• https://www.geneseo.edu/~blood/Playwright3.html#:~:text=The%20oldest%20definition%20of%20dramatic,such%20as%20gods%20or%20fate.
• https://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/background/24a_p1.html#:~:text=The%20earliest%20origins%20of%20drama,honor%20of%20the%20god%20Dionysus.&text=One%20of%20these%2C%20the%20'City,%2C%20singing%2C%20dance%20and%20poetry.
  
• https://www.superprof.com/blog/the-history-of-drama/
  

Ancient Theatre news!: 

The museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece (The home of theatre) is opening up a new archaeological exhibition on Ancient Theatre in 2023.  This is very exciting as we get to see how theatre evolved.