Tulio and Traditions of Melodrama

Some of the major traditions of melodrama that can be considered to have influenced Tulio or which form pertinent parallels or points of comparison are examined in relation to his own brand of melodrama. These traditions are romantic opera, nineteenth-century melodrama, silent cinema, European film melodrama of the 1940s and American film melodrama of the 1950s. Each tradition and its relevance to our understanding of Tulio is explored in terms of five crucial aspects of melodrama: pathos, overwrought emotions, moral polarisation, non-classical narrative structure and sensationalism.