Theatre, Naturalism or Realism, Zola contribution



Alright, folks, buckle up! Today, we're diving into some French drama history with a little romance, a lot of rebellion, and, spoiler alert—some melodramatic deaths. First stop: French Romanticism! It's like a big, dramatic sibling to Realism, which is, in turn, the more serious cousin of Naturalism. Got it? Cool. Let’s kick this off with Victor Hugo, aka the guy behind Les Misérables—yes, the same one your parents sing along to from the movie soundtrack.

But Hugo wasn’t just about sad songs and revolutionaries. In 1827, he wrote Cromwell and dropped a mic (well, a quill) with its preface, which basically told the old school rules of drama: "Bye-bye, you’re boring." Hugo said art should be as messy, beautiful, and strange as life itself. His motto? Nature and truth, but, uh, not too much nature. Think of it as putting life through a filter—something bold and vibrant, like your favorite IG aesthetic.

He tried this out with Hernani, a play that had everything: love, comedy, tragedy, and yep, a double suicide because why not? Hugo also ruffled feathers by smashing the rulebook of the Académie Française. Who needs rules about place and time when you’ve got feels, right? But here’s where it gets wild: Hernani’s premiere was chaos. Hugo fans flooded the theater, snacked, drank, and…peed in the aisles (ew). The upper-class audience wasn’t thrilled. Imagine a mosh pit at a Taylor Swift concert, but instead of screaming lyrics, they’re throwing fists. Yet, somehow, by the end, everyone was crying together. Drama magic!

Next came Eugène Scribe, the king of the "Well-Made Play." His formula? Twists, turns, and a neat little moral bow at the end. Think of it like a Netflix series you binge for the juicy drama, not the deep, life-changing lessons. He wasn’t about making theater too real—more like a comfy escape with some tears and cheers along the way.

But then Realism rolled in, asking, "What if we make theater feel like real life?" Enter Alexandre Dumas fils (not Musketeers Dad), who declared, “No more inventing stuff! Just look at life and write it down.” Easy, right? Not so much. Real life can be messy, boring, and not exactly stage-friendly. Still, Dumas made it work with La Dame aux Camélias—a story about love, redemption, and, yep, dying of TB because apparently, that's how we forgive characters back then.

But wait, there’s more: Naturalism! Think Realism but amped up like a life-science experiment. Émile Zola, Naturalism’s poster boy, wanted plays to be human laboratories. His hypothesis? "Put these flawed characters in this messed-up situation and see what happens!" Spoiler: It’s never good. His play Thérèse Raquin features a murder, a guilt-induced zombie hallucination, and a dramatic double poisoning. Yeah, Naturalism was not about happy endings.

And yet, as “real” as these movements wanted to be, they weren’t exactly real. Let’s be honest: most of us aren’t plotting murders or battling hallucinations daily (I hope). But these dramas gave us the feels and some timeless lessons. So, while Realism and Naturalism are still shaping TV and movies today, let’s not forget: life’s messiness needs a little drama polish to shine on stage.

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