Drama
A normal view of people in dramatic situations.
A straight and undistorted view of the world. The people, situations, costumes, sets, are presented closely to resemble everyday reality.
Author’s Goal: To Move the Audience Emotionally.
Examples
My Left Foot
A Streetcar Named Desire
Juno
Comedy
A normal view of people in comedic situations.
A straight and undistorted view of the world. The other qualities are exactly the same as in drama, except for one important difference: the Author’s Goal.
Author’s Goal: To amuse the audience.
Examples
When Harry Met Sally
The Graduate
Mystery
A normal view of people in dramatic situations, with an emphasis on suspense.
A straight and undistorted view of the world. The other qualities are exactly the same as in drama and comedy, except for – once again – one important difference: the Author’s Goal.
Author’s Goal: To shock, frighten, and involve us in a puzzle to be solved. There are often creaking doors and dark stairways—and always startling twists of plot. Suspense is the main feature; the overall effect is like a rubber-band being stretched to the breaking point.
Examples
Psycho
The Raid
Gravity
No Country for Old Men
Classic Tragedy
Exalted people in tragic situations, in which all the central characters die or are destroyed in the end.
A heightened view of the world. The central character must fall from a height of respect or importance, to absolute destruction. Everyone close to him must be dragged down with him. There must be a sense that unrelenting fate has destroyed them all.
Author’s Goal: To fill the audience with a sense of great sorrow and loss.
Examples
Hamlet
Doctor Faustus
Antigone
Modern Tragedy
Ordinary people in tragic situations, in which all the central characters die or are destroyed in the end.
The view of the world is heightened, but only in a barely perceptible way. Everything appears more normal, but touches of classic tragedy remain. Now the people are no longer exalted characters; the Prince is replaced by a salesman. He appears to be ordinary, but his problems are classic in size; so is his downfall.
Author’s Goal: To fill the audience with a sense of great sorrow and loss.
Examples
Death of a Salesman
Damage
The Iceman Cometh
Fantasy
Real and unreal people in fantastic situations.
A tilted view of the world. There are people with magic powers; ghosts and mystical characters in bizarre shapes and forms mingle with ordinary people who represent reality.
Author’s Goal: The same as mystery – to shock, frighten, and involve us in a puzzle to be solved – but also to enchant the audience into a dream-like state.
Examples
Peter Pan
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Science Fiction
Real and unreal people in fantastic situations; based on science.
A tilted view of the world, as in fantasy. The real people encounter androids and extraterrestrials. Emphasis is on action, adventure, and special effects, featuring space ships, computers, futuristic weapons, etc.
Author’s Goal: The same as mystery – to shock, frighten, and involve us in a puzzle to be solved – but also to fill the audience with a sense of the infinite wonders of the universe.
Examples
Star Wars
Star Trek
The Avengers
Alien
Farce
Heightened people in heightened comedic situations.
The view of the world is beginning to verge on distorted. the people are heightened—exaggerated—in their behavior, life-styles and dress. Physical comedy is broader; there are pratfalls, break-away props, etc.
Author’s Goal: To amuse the audience.
Examples
The Odd Couple
Bridesmaids
Superbad
Seinfeld
Napoleon Dynamite
Comedy of Manners
Heightened people in heightened comedic situations, based on one segment of society.
The view of the world is beginning to verge on distorted. There is a strong suggestion of caricature. The dress, behavior and relationships are still exaggerated, as in farce and black comedy.
Author’s Goal: To poke fun at the habits, customs and peculiarities of one class of people.
Examples
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Big Bang Theory
Black Comedy
Heightened people in heightened comedic situations, based on despair.
The view of the world is distorted. All is similar to farce, with one important variation: the jokes are grim and ironic. It is the humor of the prison, the gas chamber, the hospital, the gallows, of injury and death.
Author’s Goal: To amuse the audience.
Examples
M*A*S*H
Funny People
Family Guy
Theater of the Absurd
Heightened people in heightened abstract situations.
The view of the world is extremely tilted and distorted. All the normal rules of life and time sequence are suspended. The characters can live in trash cans, on a bridge, or in the desert. They can come from nowhere and depart in an unknown direction. There are qualities of magic; the characters can fall from heights and survive, or even turn into other life forms. The plot can be entirely disjointed, without a normal beginning, middle, and end; therefore, abstract.
Author’s Goal: whereas in other comedy the author has made us feel and laugh, here his main thrust is to make us think.
Examples
Rhinoceros
Barton Fink
Being John Malkovitch
Twin Peaks
Descriptions of the styles are quoted with minor modifications from “Acting without Agony” by Don Richardson.