Men, Sex and Money in Recent Family Melodramas

Since the late nineteen-seventies, the popularity of family melodramas has been increasing, while its conventions have undergone some diversification. No longer is the family melodrama the exclusive domain of women's popular culture, restricted to women's films and soap operas. Recent feature films and prime time television serials now form a significant aspect of the genre, concentrating on male protagonists in an effort to appeal to a new audience composed of both men and women. These melodramas of the nineteen-eighties reveal significant trends in terms of gender, class and the nature of the tribulations. This article is a survey of the dominant features of family melodramas today including: soap operas, prime time serials such as Dallas and Dynasty, and theatrical feature films.