Melodrama became the dominant mode in movies, with spectacular conflicts of good versus evil focusing on clear-cut heroes fighting monstrous villains. Such melodramatic framing continues to be the dominant mode in our mass/social/gaming media. But more complex, tragic alternatives to melodrama have also emerged. This presentation explores melodramatic and tragicomic modes of today’s media through various mimetic theories: from ancient Greece (katharsis) and India (rasa effects) to current neuroscience. Which networks of the brain’s “inner theatre” are evoked and potentially altered within the spectators/performers of theatre, cinema, or personal screens? Presented at the 2024 Media Literacy Matters Conference.
