Cinema and journalism: melodrama and the modern tragedy

Abstract

Classical cinema and broadcast journalism have narrative forms which are similar in that the two of them search for “objectivity” and have melodrama as its central characteristic. The film «Doces poderes» (1996), by Lucia Murat, combines these two elements, while «Um céu de estrelas» (1996), by film director Tata Amaral, deviates from melodrama and criticizes the objective procedures of broadcast journalism. The analysis of these two films allows us to examine how Brazilian cinema represents broadcast journalism and evaluates the similarities and differences between both areas.