The Secret - How To Melodrama

Thoughts On: The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)

A family plagued by bad luck come upon a new friend.

The Secret's greatest strength, even if it is emphasised to a fault at times, is that it is a highly conventional melodrama. The melodrama is a dramatic form built upon a poetic philosophy of musical harmony. Its structure and themes are thus seemingly comprise of chaotic parts; relationships are misaligned, tragedy constantly strikes and opportunities fail to produce results. Over the course of the narrative, however, order finds its way through chaos and themes conservatively fold into a perfectly happy ending. As a result of this, melodramas are so often about chance itself - this is why the genre of romance so often utilises this dramatic form as a base. The Secret does nothing special but stick to a romantic formula and, in turn, express quite articulately how a melodrama is functions. For this, it is pleasurable despite an unconvincing conjuring of character and very basic cinematic language.