ABSTRACT
This chapter explores cinematic ethics in both melodrama and social realism, and shows that both genres can intersect, drawing elements from each for emotional, aesthetic, and ethical effect. The frenetic rhythms, dispersed engagement, coalescing events, and clashing storylines of the network narrative stand in marked contrast with the more focused narrative development, social realism, affective intensity, and dramatic continuity of the character-driven melodrama. As remarked, Biutiful situates the moral melodrama of Uxbal's struggle to survive, ensure his children's future, and redeem himself before death, within the socially marginalized ethnic communities of Barcelona's urban underclass. The Promise offers a more explicitly social realist presentation of this urban underclass, but combines this with elements of melodrama. Contrasting Biutiful with The Promise provides an illuminating way of bringing out the complementarities and conflicts between melodrama and social realism. The chapter shows how generically distinct films evoke emotional engagement and critical reflection by different aesthetic means.
