For Classic Movie Fans

[Martina]

Originally Posted by Ol' Jet

the best years of our lives in NOT a melodrama. it's a post war docu-drama by Wyler who did it as an account of the plight of returning servicemen and a changing America at the time. there's nothig melodramatic about it. it's also my favorite movie of all time and one of the best ever made IMO with 9 Oscars in 1946.

google melodrama and the title. You'll see a lot of people refer to it this way. Melodramas don't have to be weepies or have to portray exaggerated emotion or be full of stereotyped characters. They usually are sentimental. They are about relationships and emotions generally. They often focus on domestic life or work relationships. And there is often a social critique element. They CAN be realistic.

[Jet]

Originally Posted by Martina

google melodrama and the title. You'll see a lot of people refer to it this way. Melodramas don't have to be weepies or have to portray exaggerated emotion or be full of stereotyped characters. They usually are sentimental. They are about relationships and emotions generally. They often focus on domestic life or work relationships. And there is often a social critique element. They CAN be realistic.

its not a melodrama, its a docudrama

[Martina]

Originally Posted by Ol' Jet

its not a melodrama, its a docudrama

No, it is not. A docudrama is a reenactment of actual events. The screenplay for The Best Years of Our Lives was based on a novel in verse called Glory for Me.

[Jet]

Originally Posted by Martina

No, it is not. A docudrama is a reenactment of actual events. The screenplay for The Best Years of Our Lives was based on a novel in verse called Glory for Me.

actual events were chronicled in the genre of the times, the plight of servicemen based on the actual lives of servicemen who came home to joblessness, disruptive homes, infidelity and displacement. Robert Sherwood wrote it that way for the purpose of honoring and empathizing with men who had served their country only to come to a change in the home front and American attitudes. Wyler's intent was to chronicle and depict the way American servicemen were treated after the war in addition to depicting how the war had changed America. Those are facts and that's a docu-drama if there ever was one. But you can think what ever want, I'm not interested in arguing with you. And I'm not going to continue debating with you because I didn't open this as a debate thread.

[Martina]

Docudramas are not based on representative events but on actual events as they transpired, for example the raid on Entebbe. The filler in docudramas is just dialogue no one knows about. Sometimes liberties are taken with timelines for the sake of entertainment value, but they are based on actual events with real people and supposedly pretty much as they occurred. The characters in Best Years of Our Lives are fictional.

There is a dictionary of film genres online, or there used to be. i sent students to it when i taught American Film Genres years ago at The University of Michigan.

i am not debating you at all. This is the accepted definition.

[Jet]

Originally Posted by Martina

Docudramas are not based on representative events but on actual events as they transpired, for example the raid on Entebbe. The filler in docudramas is just dialogue no one knows about. Sometimes liberties are taken with timelines for the sake of entertainment value, but they are based on actual events with real people and supposedly pretty much as they occurred. The characters in Best Years of Our Lives are fictional.

There is a dictionary of film genres online, or there used to be. i sent students to it when i taught American Film Genres years ago at The University of Michigan.

i am not debating you at all. This is the accepted definition.

Again, I don't care. it is based on the lives of real servicemen who came home and faced challenges that were real and existed, post war. And I would suggest that if, in film studies it is regarded as a melodrama, they change that definition because it conveys and depicts the life and times of post-war America. Frankly, I don't care if this movie is a docudrama a melodrama or a black comedy. I could care less, what's it's classified as because this movie doesn't speak to me as a film. It speaks to me as transman; and it's close to my heart as WWII hobbyist, a history buff, and the fact that it's sensitive socially and consciously from guys and film makers who were in the war and who cared enough about servicemen facing new challenges. I don't have to accept any other definition for these reasons which are good enough for me.

[cinderella]

This film by any other name, category, what-have-you, speaks to my heart as well. I love it, and I think it's one of the best films of this post-war, hero-coming-home-to-face-the-realities-of-life-back-home genre ever made.
Whenever it's on I will watch it. It always makes my eyes well up. I love the down-home sensitivity of it.

Originally Posted by Ol' Jet

Again, I don't care. it is based on the lives of real servicemen who came home and faced challenges that were real and existed, post war. And I would suggest that if, in film studies it is regarded as a melodrama, they change that definition because it conveys and depicts the life and times of post-war America. Frankly, I don't care if this movie is a docudrama a melodrama or a black comedy. I could care less, what's it's classified as because this movie doesn't speak to me as a film. It speaks to me as transman; and it's close to my heart as WWII hobbyist, a history buff, and the fact that it's sensitive socially and consciously from guys and film makers who were in the war and who cared enough about servicemen facing new challenges. I don't have to accept any other definition for these reasons which are good enough for me.

[Miss Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Ol' Jet

Again, I don't care. it is based on the lives of real servicemen who came home and faced challenges that were real and existed, post war. And I would suggest that if, in film studies it is regarded as a melodrama, they change that definition because it conveys and depicts the life and times of post-war America. Frankly, I don't care if this movie is a docudrama a melodrama or a black comedy. I could care less, what's it's classified as because this movie doesn't speak to me as a film. It speaks to me as transman; and it's close to my heart as WWII hobbyist, a history buff, and the fact that it's sensitive socially and consciously from guys and film makers who were in the war and who cared enough about servicemen facing new challenges. I don't have to accept any other definition for these reasons which are good enough for me.

The first time I saw this film I cried like a baby. I think that we forget that there is a life after the welcome home and sometimes that life is more frightening than the war itself. Fred just broke my heart even more than Homer.