Hartman was right all along.
If we're going to do genres, it needs to be formalized. I started with this link and mostly stuck to
it: http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
Genre proposition is as follows:
Action (sub-genres of Martial Arts (Ong Bak), Superhero (The
Avengers), Exploitation (Machete), Spy (Skyfall), Disaster (Sharknado), Revenge
(Kill Bill), Bad-Ass (Con Air), Chase (The Fugitive), Revolution (Hunger Games))
Adventure (sub-genres of Treasure Hunt (National Treasure),
Fantasy (Lord of the Rings), Journey (Life of Pi), Life Story (Forrest Gump),
Swashbuckler (Aladdin))
Comedy (sub-genres of Spoof (Austin Powers), Satire (Office
Space), Slapstick (Ace Ventura), Raunchy (There's Something About Mary),
Character-Based (Funny People), Romantic (The Ugly Truth), Sports (Major
League), Drug (Pineapple Express))
Crime (sub genres of Mafia (Goodfellas), Heist (Ocean's
Eleven), Small-Time (Fargo), Gangster (Pulp Fiction), Police (French Connection))
Documentary (sub-genres of Activist (Blackfish),
Participatory (Farenheit 9/11), Personal (Dear Zachary), Investigatory
(Standard Operating Procedure), Competition (King of Kong), Nature (March of the Penguins), Verite (Only the Young), Performance (Conan O'Brien Can't Stop))
Drama (sub-genres of Historical (Lincoln), Biopic (Walk the
Line), Romance (Punch Drunk Love), Family (Little Miss Sunshine), Workplace
(Glengarry Glen Ross), Psychodrama (Fight Club), Sports (Rocky), Ensemble
(Crash), Coming of Age (Stand By Me), Character Study (There Will Be Blood))
Epic (sub-genres of Sword and Sandals (Gladiator), Heroic
(Braveheart), War (Apocalypse Now))
Horror (sub-genres of Torture Porn (Saw), Slasher (Friday
the 13th), Serial Killer (Se7en), Satanic (The Exorcist), Home
Invasion (Straw Dogs), Psychological (The Shining), Creature (Jaws), Ghosts
(Sixth Sense), Zombie (28 Days Later), Mythical (Dracula))
Musicals
Science Fiction (sub-genres of Space Travel (Sunshine),
Aliens (Alien), Technology (Terminator 2), Time Travel (Back to the Future), Space
Opera (Star Wars))
Westerns (genres of Classic (3:10 to Yuma) and Revisionist
(Unforgiven))
What do you think?
Satanic is a made up genre.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought crime fits under drama or action.
ReplyDeleteCrime is 100% its own genre.
ReplyDeleteI messed up the line breaks somehow. Satanic is a part of Horror, Ensemble is a part of Drama.
If Western is its own genre, then so is Crime.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing I'd watch out for with some of these - just because the movie CONTAINS one of these elements, it is not necessarily in that GENRE. Examples:
Bull Durham/Jerry Maguire - NOT a Sports Comedy - Both are Rom-Coms. Sports are the biggest offenders of genre cross-pollunation.
Thelma and Louise - NOT Small-time Crime - Maybe Character Based Comedy? Actually, the "Buddy Comedy" is probably big enough to be its own sub-genre
Gladiator - NOT Swords and Sandals - I think it's a Revenge movie... Swords and Sandals is a weird one.
Buddy Comedy could be its own sub-genre. Anything that takes more movie away from Character-based is good. Character-based is broad, such that my internal criteria for it is 'are there any moments in this movie that purposefully contain no laughs?'
ReplyDeletePart of genre is about tone and cliches and any movie that has sports in it is conforming to the same expectations. I don't remember how Bull Durham ends, and sure, there's a love triangle in it, but it is a Sports movie. It shows up on lists of great Sports movies, it follows the pattern of other Sports movies. Jerry Macguire is more grey, but it is an underdog story in the world of sports that has a heavy dose of romance. Just because Rocky and Adrian love each other doesn't mean their not stuck in a sports movie. The same goes for Tom Cruise and Ol' Scruchface.
Like with Sports movies, Epic movies mean certain things, like big emotions, period costumes/props/sets, armies of extras. It implies a huge scale that Gladiator very much has. It has to go in the Epic genre, and Sword and Sandals means any movie that takes place in antiquity, so Gladiator. Maximus wants vengeance, but he's in ancient Rome, so that's the most prevalent part of the film.