Drama (film and television)

When it comes to cinema and television, drama is a genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) that is meant to be more serious in tone rather than amusing. Such drama is generally characterised with extra names that identify its specific super-genre, macro-genre, or micro-genre, such as soap opera, police crime drama, political drama, legal drama, historical drama, domestic drama, teenage drama, and comedy-drama, among other things (dramedy). These phrases are often used to designate a certain place or subject matter, or they are used to qualify the normally serious tone of a play with features that foster a wider variety of emotions. This is accomplished by the presence and resolution of conflict, whether emotional, social, or otherwise, during the course of the tale of a drama.

All media of film or television that include fictitious tales are considered forms of drama in the wider sense if the narrative is accomplished via the use of actors who portray (mimesis) characters in their respective roles. Drama, in this larger meaning, is a literary form separate from novels, short stories, and narrative poetry or songs, among other forms of storytelling. In the modern period, prior to the invention of film or television, "drama" in the context of theatre was a form of play that was neither a comedy nor a tragedy in nature. These sectors, as well as film academics, have gravitated toward a more restricted interpretation of the term "film." It has been used in both senses: initially broadcast as a live performance, it has also been used to designate the more high-brow and serious end of radio's theatrical output, as well as the more humorous and light-hearted end.