Both genres are strongly defined by emotion. A horror is characterized as a film that is designed to create fear in the viewer by frightening them or producing images or sounds that appear horrifying. A melodrama, which can be similar to a horror, will exaggerate characterization and put the characters into peril or dangerous situations. This danger is intended to stimulate the emotions, which can be but is not limited to fear. We see this immediately in M.
The film opens on a group of children standing in a circle. One child in the middle singing a song and pointing, similar to the game of "Duck, Duck, Goose." The child in the middle, while singing and pointing sings, "Just you wait a little while, the nasty man in black will come. With his little chopper, he will chop you up!" A woman from the balcony above yells to them to quit "singing that murder." From all of this we can tell that the children may be in some sort of danger. We aren't afraid and nothing happens to frighten us as the viewer. However, there is a feeling of suspense and worry. The film has stimulated our emotions of worry and anxiety, but the film did not come out and frighten us.
This same technique is used throughout the film to create suspense. The film hardly ever directly frightens the viewer though. This would characterize M as a melodrama.
For example, take two films today. The Saw films are horrors. Scenes from those movies are intended to inflict fear in the viewer and they show material that will directly frighten the viewer. However, Insidious and it's upcoming sequel Insidious Chapter 2 are melodramas or melodramatic horrors.
Look at the scene in this trailer for Insidious Chapter 2 starting at the 29 second mark. (0:29) The mother is put in a situation that puts her in danger and builds suspense and anxiety in the viewer's emotions. However, from what we see, nothing directly inflicts fear in the viewer. This happens in multiple scenes in this trailer. Occasionally something does scare you, so this film is more of a melodramatic horror, as opposed to one or the other.
Fritz Lang's M qualifies as a melodrama. That's my personal opinion though. I'd love to hear your opinion or your comments on mine. Though I think we can all agree that, compared to today's horror films, M is definitely not a horror.
I totally agree with your post! Especially your statement about the scene at the beginning corresponds with my point of view. "M" does not target the fears of the audience. Quite contrary to the trailer of "Insidious", which addresses the anxiety of the audience due to the horrifying sound and pictures.
ReplyDeleteIf you saw "The Call" with Halle Berry this past summer, that movie is another good example of a film that is really suspenseful and doesn't scare you but gets your heart racing. "Targeting the fears of the audience" was a very good way to put it and not the goal behind "M."
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