Movies

Film Trivia | 100 did you know facts & trivia about Films [Part 4]

Films have many different genres. Drama, thriller, biographical, action and many many more.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the different film genres and the things that make them unique.

A film genre is a motion-picture category based on similarities either in the narrative elements or in the emotional response to the film
Most theories of film genre borrow from literary-genre criticism
Each film genre is associated with “conventions, iconography, settings, narratives, characters and actors”
Standard genre characters vary according to the film genre
Film noir, for example, standard characters include the femme fatale[4] and the “hardboiled” detective
A Western film may portray the schoolmarm and the gunfighter
Some actors acquire a reputation linked to a single genre
Such as John Wayne with the Western or Fred Astaire with the musical
A film’s genre will influence the use of filmmaking styles and techniques
These may be the use of flashbacks and low-key lighting in film noir, tight framing in horror films, fonts that look like rough-hewn logs for the titles of Western films, or the “scrawled” title-font and credits of Se7en (1995), a film about a serial killer
Genres have associated film-scoring conventions, such as lush string orchestras for romantic melodramas or electronic music for science-fiction films
The basic genres include fiction and documentary
From this subgenres have emerged, such as docufiction and docudrama
Other examples of subgenres include the courtroom- and trial-focused drama known as the legal drama
These are a subtype of drama
Types of fiction which may seem unrelated can also combine to form hybrid subgenres
Such as the melding of horror and comedy in the Evil Dead films
Other popular combinations include the romantic comedy, some vampire films, and the action comedy film
Alan Williams distinguishes three main genre categories: narrative, avant-garde and documentary
Genre movies are “commercial feature films which, through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters and familiar situations”
Genre affects how films are broadcast on television, advertised, and organized in video-rental stores
One can also classify films by the setting, theme, topic, mood, format, target audience or budget
The setting is the environment where the story and action take place (for example, a war film, a Western film, or a space-opera film)
The theme or topic refers to the issues or concepts that the film revolves around (for example, science-fiction film, sports film, or crime film)
The mood is the emotional tone of the film (for example, comedy film, horror film, or tearjerker film)
Format refers to the way the film was shot (for example, 35 mm, 16 mm or 8 mm) or the manner of presentation (for example, anamorphic widescreen)
Additional ways of categorizing film genres may involve the target audience (for example: children’s film, teen film or women’s film)
Or by type of production (for example, B movie, big-budget blockbuster or low-budget film, such as amateur film)
Genre does not just refer to the type of film or its category
Spectator expectations about a film, and institutional discourses that create generic structures also play a key role
Genres are not fixed, they change and evolve over time, and some genres may largely disappear
One of the genres that have completely disappeared is the melodrama
The term “genre” was used to organize films according to type since the earliest days of cinema
By the 1950s, André Bazin was discussing the concept of “genre” by using the Western film as an example
During this era, there was a debate over auteur theory versus genre
In the late 1960s, the concept of genre became a significant part of film theory
Film genres draw on genres from other forms
Western novels existed before the Western film, and musical theatre existed before film musicals were made
The perceived genre of a film can change over time
For example, The Great Train Robbery (1903) is seen in the 2010s as a key early Western film, but when it was released, it was seen as related to the “then-popular genres of the chase film, the railroad film and the crime film”
A key reason that the early Hollywood industrial system from the 1920s to the 1950s favoured genre films is that in “Hollywood’s industrial mode of production, genre movies are dependable products” to market to audiences, they are easy to produce and it is easy for audiences to understand a genre film
In the 1920s to 1950s, genre films had clear conventions and iconography
The conventions in genre films enable filmmakers to create them in an industrial, assembly line fashion
Films are rarely purely from one genre
This is in keeping with the cinema’s diverse and derivative origins, it being a blend of “vaudeville, music-hall, theatre, photography” and novels
American film historian Janet Staiger states that the genre of a film can be defined in four ways
The “idealist method” judges films by predetermined standards
The “empirical method” identifies the genre of a film by comparing it to a list of films already deemed to fall within a certain genre
The apriori method uses common generic elements which are identified in advance
The “social conventions” method of identifying the genre of a film is based on the accepted cultural consensus within society
Martin Loop contends that Hollywood films are not pure genres because most Hollywood movies blend the love-oriented plot of the romance genre with other genres
Jim Colins claims that since the 1980s, Hollywood films have been influenced by the trend towards “ironic hybridization”
In this directors combine elements from different genres, as with the Western/science fiction mix in Back to the Future Part III
Many films cross into multiple genres
Susan Hayward states that spy films often cross genre boundaries with thriller films
Some genre films take genre elements from one genre and place them into the conventions of a second genre
n the 1970s New Hollywood era, there was so much parodying of genres that it can be hard to assign genres to some films from this era
Prime examples are Mel Brooks’ comedy-Western Blazing Saddles (1974) or the private eye parody The Long Goodbye (1973)
Other films from this era bend genres so much that it is challenging to put them in a genre category
Examples of this are Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) and William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971)
Film theorist Robert Stam challenged whether genres really exist, or whether they are merely made up by critics
There are other methods of dividing films into groups besides genre
For example, auteur critics group films according to their auteur-directors
Production attributes, such as the low-budget film, can also be considered a grouping
Some groupings may be casually described as genres although the definition is questionable
For example, while independent films are sometimes discussed as if they are a genre in-and-of themselves, independent productions can belong to any genre
Similarly, while art films are referred to as a genre by film scholar David Bordwell, who states that “art cinema itself is a [film] genre, with its own distinct conventions”
An art film can be in a number of genres such as drama, experimental film, black comedy
Because genres are easier to recognize than to define, academics agree they cannot be identified in a rigid way
Different countries and cultures define genres in different ways
A typical example are war movies
In US, they are mostly related to ones with large U.S involvement such as World wars and Vietnam
Whereas in other countries, movies related to wars in other historical periods are considered war movies
Film genres may appear to be readily categorizable from the setting of the film
Nevertheless, films with the same settings can be very different, due to the use of different themes or moods
While there is an argument that film noir movies could be deemed to be set in an urban setting, in cheap hotels and underworld bars, many classic noirs take place mainly in small towns, suburbia, rural areas, or on the open road
The editors of filmsite.org argue that animation, pornographic film, documentary film, silent film and so on are non-genre-based film categories
Linda Williams argues that horror, melodrama, and pornography all fall into the category of “body genres” since they are each designed to elicit physical reactions on the part of viewers
Horror is designed to elicit spine-chilling, white-knuckled, eye-bulging terror
Melodramas are designed to make viewers cry after seeing the misfortunes of the onscreen characters
And pornography is designed to elicit sexual arousal
This approach can be extended: comedies make people laugh, tear-jerkers make people cry, feel-good films lift people’s spirits and inspiration films provide hope for viewers
In order to understand the creation and context of each film genre, we must look at its popularity in the context of its place in history
In William Park’s analysis of film noir, he states that we must view and interpret film for its message with the context of history within our minds
He states that this is how film can truly be understood by its audience
Film genres such as film noir and Western film reflect values of the time period
While film noir combines German expressionist filming strategies with post World War II ideals
Western films focused on the ideal of the early 20th century
Films such as the musical were created as a form of entertainment during the Great Depression allowing its viewers an escape during tough times
So when watching and analyzing film genres we must remember to remember its true intentions aside from its entertainment value
Over time, a genre can change through stages: the classic genre era, the parody of the classics, the period where filmmakers deny that their films are part of a certain genre and finally a critique of the entire genre
This pattern can be seen with the Western film
This is also important to remember when looking at films in the future
As viewers watch a film they are conscious of societal influence with the film itself
In order to understand it’s true intentions, we must identify its intended audience and what narrative of our current society
As well as it comments to the past in relation with today’s society
This enables viewers to understand the evolution of film genres as time and history morphs or views and ideals of the entertainment industry
A genre movie is a film that follows some or all of the conventions of a particular genre
Whether or not it was intentional when the movie was produced
One of the most popular genres is blockbuster film