What is a supernatural drama?
This genre deals with ghosts and other supernatural topics, but without the tone and fear elements associated with the horror genre. The storylines of supernatural dramas have always been cantered around magic or unexplained phenomena that cannot be rationalized by science but, rather by pagan or supernatural explanations.
Supernatural drama is a sub-genre of supernatural fiction. In the 20th century, supernatural fiction became associated with psychological fiction. The result is that the supernatural is only one possible explanation for what has been described. A classic example of this would be The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, which offers both a supernatural and a psychological interpretation of the events described. The ambiguity is considered to add to the effect. In recent years, the term has become increasingly popular in marketing to refer to films and television series, usually in a generally real-world setting, that wish to avoid being branded as fantasy or horror. For example Buffy the vampire slayer and supernatural both incorporate heavy elements of horror, but are marketed as supernatural drama; similarly, charmed (both TV series) contains almost all of the hallmarks of fantasy, but is often referred to as a supernatural drama. Supernatural is not to be confused with fantasy, which, while portraying the use of magic is written with a lighter tone and communicates good morals rather than using the darker elements of horror.
The turn of the screw film poster 1999
Buffy the vampire slayer trailer.
What is a drama film?
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, sexuality, poverty, class divisions, violence against women and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena At the centre of a drama is usually a character or characters who are in conflict at a crucial moment in their lives.
Below is a few examples of supernatural dramas from over the years, starting with some of the oldest and ending with some of the most recent;
1971- Night of dark shadows
'Supernatural' was scene as a theme in this decade and were commonly associated with horror films, also they were given alternative names and were not acknowledged as supernatural films but fantasy, horror and si/fi films. Night of the dark shadows s is a horror film but the oldest film known to have supernatural theme within it, therefore I have used it to illustrate how the 'supernatural' theme began to emerge more frequently throughout the years.
Again, at the time of the release of this film, supernatural films were not used to define a genre of a film. Although this film is more of a horror, it has supernatural elements and I have chosen to use it as an example to show how supernatural dramas have become more known recently and wasn't very common in the 70's and 80's.
1999- The sixth sense
The sixth sense is the most popular, well know supernatural drama and was realised in 1999. The 90's was the decade in which supernatural-dramas began to get more recognition and became an independent sub-genre as a pose to an theme within horror films. The sixth sense was the first film to have 'supernatural-drama' as a sub-genre. So, technically speaking the 90's is when supernatural-dramas were officially induced.
2008- The happening
The happening is a supernatural drama realised in 2008. From the examples I have used, it has shown how the 'supernatural' theme has become more independent throughout the years and is no longer only associated with horror films but has merged with many genres creating many different sub-genres, for example;
-supernatural-thrillers
-supernatural-fiction
-supernatural-si/f...
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