A costume drama or period drama is a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambience of a particular era.
The term is usually used in the context of film and television. It is an informal, crossover term that can apply to several genres but is most often heard in the context of historical dramas and romances, adventure films and swashbucklers. The implication is that the audience is attracted as much by the lavish costumes as by the content.
The most common type of costume drama is the historical costume drama, both on stage and in movies. This category includes Barry Lyndon, Braveheart, From Hell, and Robin Hood. Films that are set in the 1930s and 1940s, such as Last Man Standing, may also be placed in this category. Other examples include Marie Antoinette, Middlemarch, and Pride and Prejudice.
There have been highly successful television series that have been known as costume dramas/period pieces. Notable examples include Upstairs Downstairs, The Tudors, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Deadwood, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Little House on the Prairie, and Freaks and Geeks. There also exists shows that use the effects of a costume drama/period piece because they are set in a particular era of time, although their true focus is based around a different genre. Examples of these are Xena: Warrior Princess, Legend of the Seeker, and That '70s Show.
Famous quotes containing the words costume and/or drama:
“My neighbors tell me of their adventures with famous gentlemen and ladies, what notabilities they met at the dinner-table; but I am no more interested in such things than in the contents of the Daily Times. The interest and the conversation are about costume and manners chiefly; but a goose is a goose still, dress it as you will.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Only in the problem play is there any real drama, because drama is no mere setting up of the camera to nature: it is the presentation in parable of the conflict between Man’s will and his environment: in a word, of problem.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)