Minor Subgenre - Chick Flicks

          Chick flicks are often criticized as being sappy, emotional, clichéd, melodramatic, trite, and trivial, according to filmsite.org. Considered an all-encompassing subgenre, chick flicks mainly include romantic comedies, tearjerker romance films, and gal-pal films, movies about family crisis and emotional release, and the traditional “weepies.” Fantasy-action adventures also fall under the category when the characters include some foul-mouthed, empowered females, because the female audience enjoys trying to relate themselves to a strong individual woman. Chick flicks are also used as bonding mechanisms for the relationships between mothers, daughters, and friends. Almost any girl can bond over a tear-jerking chick flick or a romantic comedy. Some actresses who are associated with chick flicks are Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant, Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, and many others. There has been a recent popularity increase in these girly films. Some fairly recent chick flicks include The Holiday (2006) with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, Music & Lyrics (2007) with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant, and 27 Dresses (2008) with Katherine Heigl. Even though chick flicks have that sappy, clichéd reputation, they remain popular amongst girls and women of all ages.

Sources Used:

            http://filmsite.amctv.com/chickflicks.html

Minor Subgenre - Guy Films

          When one thinks of guys, action, crime/gangster, sports, war, and western films are usually associated with this gender. Also, according to filmsite.org, raunchy teen films and comedies are also considered guy films. Blazing Saddles (1974) and Caddyshack (1980) both fall under these guy comedies. Guy movies usually feature elements such as nice cars, hot women, “buddies,” contests, male bonding, violent “kick-ass” sequences, and sorts of explosions. Even though these films are considered by many to be a waste of time, guy films appeal to a majority of male audiences. Some of the more “testosterone-boosting” guy films require the viewer to simply enjoy and take in the intense action and not worry about anything else going on. In guy films, the heroes are typically men who were usually loners destined for greatness. Some male Hollywood stars who are associated with guy films are Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pachino, and many more. These actors are often cast in the roles of athletes, martial arts experts (for special fight sequences), secret organization agents/spies, policemen, or mobsters/gangsters. Any actor who has a role a guy film generally needs additional training in order to do their character’s stunts. Also, once directors are associated with directing guy films, they tend to direct or produce multiple films in this minor subgenre. Quentin Tarantino, Michael Bay, and Jerry Bruckheimer are but a few of many guy film directors. These directors strive to make a movie that mostly guys will enjoy, because they are called “guy films” after all.

Source Used:

            http://www.filmsite.org/guy-movies.html

Subgenre - Romance

            In cinema, Romance films are characterized by their stories of the sentimental relationship between two characters. Romance films tend to play on the viewer’s perceptions of romance by incorporating scenes with the characters staring dreamily into each other’s eyes or the characters in shots with romantic sunsets in the background. These films often play on the idea that romance is a transcendental bliss. These factors make romance films possibly the biggest purveyors of escapism in film because they portray love in an ideal but unrealistic manner. Romantic stories typically revolve around two lovers who meet and fall deeply in love. The lovers also must deal with obstacles thrown at them that sometimes make their relationship stronger or make it fall apart. These obstacles include the characters’ different social class or race, parental disapproval, tragic events, illness, and sometimes even death. Sometimes, in order to overcome these obstacles, one lover must make sacrifices for the other. This intensifies the plot and captivates the audience through emotion, which are both important to romantic films. Common, romantic themes such as love at first sight, obsessive love, forbidden love, sacrificial love, tragic love, destructive love, and unrequited love, are somewhat portrayed in romances. The generic “happily ever after ending” is seen in many romances, but many romantic films do not have this fairy-tale ending. Yet, even though there might not be a happy ending, the love between the two characters serves as a shield against the harshness of the real world. In some cases people would rather imagine the unrealistic, fairy-tale ending, but in many cases the audience gets more out the movie with a realistic ending that they can relate to.

            Romance films have existed ever since the beginning of film. Thomas Edison’s The May Irwin Kiss (1896) is noted to have been the first filming of a kiss. Not too later on, Alexander Dumas’ romance film, Camille (1915), was remade three more times during the silent era. The 1917 version features Theda Bara, the “vamp,” who was the first movie sex symbol. Through the years, new types of romances, such as romantic comedies, have developed. Romantic comedies of the 1930s and 1940s involved “zany plots, unlikely romances or interesting pairings, and rapid-fire dialogue” (filmsite.org). Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934), and Howard Hawk’s His Girl Friday (1940) are just few of the many romantic comedies during this time. Film noir, dark film, brings in a destructive side to romances. These types of romances are generally dark and include things like death, murder, and some mystery. One example of a destructive romance is Henry Hathaway’s Niagara (1953), which is about a sexy, scheming woman (played by Marilyn Monroe) who plots to kill her husband on their honeymoon. These types of films keep the audience on the edge of their seats, but if one truly enjoys romance, then there is not need for all the extra suspense to add to the relationship between the two central characters. Romance films come in different forms, but they all tie together with love and relationship – the true aspects of romance.

Sources Used:

            http://www.filmsite.org/romancefilms4.html

            http://www.allmovie.com/explore/genre/romance-948

Genre - Drama

          Film genres cover a wide range of subgenres, but drama is considered the most broad of all. Drama covers subgenres such as romantic drama, adventure drama, courtroom drama, period drama, and many more. According to allmovie.com, dramas follow a character or characters that are facing conflicts in their lives. These characters must find resolutions to their problems and try to overcome these conflicts. Sometimes the characters are able to resolve their problems, but in other instances the dramas end with some sort of tragic crisis such as death. Dramas lead the audience to ask deep questions about life and often touch upon the audience’s emotions. Because character roles in dramas are generally complex, actors are given the opportunity to stretch into their roles into a role not offered in other genres. The intense roles that come out of dramas also lead to some of the greatest screen performances done by actors. Stage actors from the 1950’s, such as Marlon Brando, brought a more realistic feeling to dramas because they were “trained in more naturalistic techniques” (allmovie.com). These actors shaped the future of drama films, and still inspire actors in their roles to this day.

          A variety of themes are prevalent in dramas, allowing the film to deal with different issues and social settings. According to filmsite.org, some dramatic themes include society’s problems, current issues, and other complicated situations such as injustice like prejudice, racism, and intolerance. Dramas also focus on serious problems like drug addiction, violence towards others, sexual inequality, poverty, and others. Some of these dramas are meant to relate to an event occurring around the time of the movie, and a majority of them draw attention to different issues prevalent during the time.

          Films are able to successfully draw the audience’s attention by focusing on certain subject matter. One type of drama is a social problem drama. Social problem dramas are made to express powerful lessons and themes. For example, these dramas can focus on poverty-related problems in films like The Good Earth (1937), which is based off a novel portraying the lives of Chinese peasants who face famine, storms, and locusts eating their crops. Another example, The Grapes of Wrath (1940), takes place during the Great Depression and follows an Okie family on a journey out of the Dust Bowl, Oklahoma in search for a better life in California. Other types of drama are race related and civil rights dramas. These films focus on race related issues that still exist, though not as strong, in our society today. Hollywood’s first major indictment of racism was Stanley Kramer’s, Home of the Brave (1949), which focuses on the story of a black solider fighting in World War II and facing harsh, racial insults from his squad. One present day example of a racial drama is Crash (2004), which follows the intense stories of conflicting races living in Los Angeles, California. The movie, like many other racial dramas, portrays racism and its effects in a negative light, making it an effective tool against racism. Courtroom, or legal, dramas are popular with certain audiences. These dramas include dramatic tension within a courtroom setting and between trial opponents. They also give the audience the “psychological breakdown of key participates” (filmsite.org), which keeps the audience interested and entertained because they must attempt to figure out the characters’ motives for their actions. One famous courtroom drama, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), focuses on a nurturing father who is trying to win the custody of his child with his divorced wife. Political dramas focus on politics and current/historical events and issues. Frank Capra’s State of the Union (1948), which is about a Senator’s fight against political corruption, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), are both examples of political dramas. Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991) is centered around a conspiracy and “attempted to disprove the theory that President Kennedy’s killer acted alone.
          Dramas can also be classified under history-related dramas, sports dramas, and literature-related dramas. Novels, plays, memoirs, diaries, and other literary works have been adapted to form a script for many dramatic films. Well-known authors such as Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility), Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth), Louisa May Alcott (Little Women), John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath), Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird), and many more, have contributed to the movie industry through their famous works of writing. In conclusion, many aspects of life are exhibited in dramas, whether through everyday problems, through tragedy, or through classic literature. The drama genre’s wide topic range attracts many viewers and makes drama one of the most well known genres in the movie business.

         Sources Used:   http://www.allmovie.com/explore/genre/drama-649

                                   http://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html

Crash

Movie: Crash, 2004; 112 min

Director: Paul Haggis

Actors: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Brenden Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges

Summary:

The stories of people from different races all interconnect with one another in different ways. The racial and social tensions in Los Angeles are depicted in dramatic, yet very real scenarios.

In what way does the director connect shots from different scenarios together? Why is this technique useful?

            There are numerous times in the film when scenes are connected through common shots such as a door closing or opening. The director uses these common connections to intertwine the scenarios of different characters. For example, when one character walks through a door, another character comes out of another door that is in a different shot and location. These subtle connecting devices allow the director to switch from story to story without too many choppy transitions.  It also draws in the audience’s attention because the transition into another character’s story is, in a way, unexpected. Normally, the audience would expect the screen to go black for that split second and then cut to a new scenario and location. These transitions though common shots help the film and storyline run smoothly, and they also give deeper meaning to the fact that all the different stories are similar and connect with one another.

What is the significance of the spotlight on the car crash as the camera zooms out over the streets in the final scene of the movie?

            In the final scene of the movie, a car crash occurs between an African American woman and two Asian men. They all step out of their cars and begin yelling racial slurs towards each other. The verbal fighting continues as the camera begins to zoom away from the crash. A spotlight remains on the crash and people yelling at one another. The camera zooms out over the other city streets in Chinatown with the spotlight still remaining but everything else outside the spotlight seems to be continuing normally without disruption. This depicts the fact that even though these racial tensions occur everywhere, the rest of the world goes on without taking notice of anything wrong. Some people remain unaware that racial hatred still occurs today and do not take notice of it until they are affected. The darkness over the rest of the city streets compared to the spotlight on the car crash shows how people are oblivious or pay no attention to racial tensions that occur daily in a country where everyone is to be treated as equals. 

City Lights

Movie: City Lights, 1931; silent, black and white; 87 min

Director: Charlie Chaplin

Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill

Summary:

            A tramp falls in love with a beautiful, blind girl and he desires to help her gain her sight. The tramp develops an on-and-off friendship with a wealthy drunkard that allows him to give the blind girl enough money to help her out of financial trouble and for an eye surgery. The tramp realizes that once the girl gains her sight, she will discover that her suitor is not a wealthy man at all. Yet, in the end, the girl remembers the tramp and what he had done to help her.

In what ways does Chaplin incorporate sound effects into the film? Why?

            Though City Lights is a silent film accompanied with music, Chaplin incorporates sound effects in certain scenes in order to enhance the comedic effect of the scene. For example, when the tramp is hiccupping bubbles, the music score is stopped and the only sound is of the bubbles popping. These simple sounds, along with Chaplin’s facial expressions, give the scene a comedic substance. Without the added sound effects, the scene would be no different than the other comical scenes throughout the movie. Chaplin also incorporates sound effects into the scene where he is slurping spaghetti at a fancy restaurant. This sound effect is different because the main musical score is still playing along with the slurping sounds. This is because the slurping sound and specific scene is not as profound as the bubble scene, so therefore it is accompanied by the silent film music.

In what ways are body language and facial expressions important to the story?

            Facial expressions and body language are especially important to a silent film because there is no dialogue to tell the audience how the characters are feeling. Instead of saying they are disappointed, the actors must show it in their face and posture. Exaggerating expressions and postures is also essential in telling a story and developing a character. Charlie Chaplin uses the tramp’s distinct, turned-out walk to show what emotion his character is feeling. For example, after the tramp gets out of jail, he walks with his head down and his shoulders heavy. Then, when the beautiful girl recognizes the tramp, his face lights up as his eyes meet hers and there no longer seems to be that heavy weight of sorrow upon his shoulders. These simple expression and posture details give the audience an unspoken insight into what the tramp is feeling at that exact moment. 

Hollywood's Golden Age

            During Hollywood’s Golden Age from the 1930’s to late 1940’s, the movie industry experienced a revolution in sound and color. The full integration of sound was achieved in 1930, and people began going to the theater to see what they called “talkies.” Though the “talkies” were poor quality due to an unmoving microphone and camera, they were still very popular at the box offices. At first, the once-silent-film actors had difficulty adjusting to their speaking roles and directing their speech towards hidden microphones around the set. After the development of sound mixing in 1932, recording on sets and locations became easier, allowing writers to start developing more realistic plots and characters with witty dialogue.

            The revolution of incorporating color into movies was first introduced during the Golden Age and had a large impact on the movie industry. At first, two-color movies were hand-tinted in red and green, but then when three-color cameras were introduced in 1932, a whole new meaning was brought to Technicolor. In addition, vertical integration of the film industry changed the way the movie business was run from the 1930’s until the end of the Golden Age. When vertical integration began, the “Big Five” major movie studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, 20^th Century Fox, MGM, and RKO, realized that they could maximize their profits by controlling every aspect of a film’s life. “The Big Five”

formed an oligopoly, when the market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers, with “The Little Three” studios, Universal, Columbia, and United Artists. Together, they controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of their movies, therefore, practically controlling the entire business and movie market. These eight companies owned about 95 percent of film rentals and about 70 percent of the movie box-office until 1948, the end of the Golden Age. Independent movie producers and exhibitors fought against the oligopoly because it gave them little power in the industry. When these small independent producers and exhibitors won their battle against the big studios’ oligopoly, the movie market was opened to smaller producers.

            Many famous movies, actors, and directors came about during the Golden Age. One notable director, Frank Capra, won Academy Awards for best director of It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936), and You Can’t Take It With You (1938). He later directed the Academy Award nominated film, It’s A Wonderful Life in 1946. Young, new stars also emerged during this era. Shirley Temple began her acting career at the age of five and became the most famous childhood actress in history. Frank Capra and Shirley Temple are just two of the many influential people who emerged during the Golden Age. These significant people, along with the revolution in sound and color, changed the movie business and continue to influence directors and actors in the present day.