Documentry Genre

The documentary genre is the genre that can be considered ‘the non-fiction’ genre. When the objective behind all media texts are always coming from a subjective point of view or better say a ‘theme’, here the same structure exists. We still witness the ‘theme’ which represents a specific mindset, but in this case the images, the location represents a non- narrative story , that is tiring to exhibit a version of reality that is lesser dependent on fictional characters and plots.

The level though, may vary. Some of the documentary texts exist to simply record an event or record a specific period in the history, but even this attempt may seem like a platform or a medium to endorse a ideological perspective . Moreover, these actual images and this scenes which are taken to be assuming ‘non- biased' and less artificial, can always be edited and artificially framed in the editing room. Therefore cannot be ‘just a way of recording the history’.

Here we can briefly examine and mention some of the important documentaries, in terms of the story and the style making they offered in film industry. 'Nanook of the North'' (1922), directed by Robert Flaherty's was the first official documentary about the harsh lives of Canadian Inuit Eskimos in arctic, although some of the images were staged, it was perhaps the first time this genre was produced and labeled in the manner that it was .

Flaherty , continued his work and his documentary style later on with his 1926’s Moana about Samoan Pacific islanders, and in 1934 his first sound documentary Man of Aran was about the rugged Aran islanders/fishermen located west of Ireland's Galway Bay. His final and most controversial feature documentary was , 'Louisiana Story' (1948).

Here is some of the footage's of his first official movie ever produced ‘Nanook of the North’ It only lasts for 8 minutes ,but it might be a good reference of understanding how cinematic documentary elements worked and functioned in that period of time.




Jazgol xx

Horror Genre

Horror movies in general are movies that explicitly provoke emotions of fear and panic, at the same time entertain you while you are seated and eventually create a cathartic experience for the audience. Throughout the history Horror genre has changed and evolved. Each generation has had its own style of horror and themes and fear. For instance, in 1922, 'Nosferatu' directed by F.W. Murnau echoes the circumstances of Great War; therefore it is no just simple a theme of a town with random deaths all over the town.

The history of horror films goes back to 100 years ago and when it is well done and less reliant to visual effects and over the top disturbing images can actually provoke the true hidden fear of a man from ‘ the other‘ factor.

Not only that, it has been proved that the more subtle portrayal of fear in this genre can be even more scary and probably the scariest form of all horror movies. A good example of that is 'The shining' (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest film makers of all time, significantly draws the attention on the abuse of alcohol and turning a domestic abuse, to a two hour fearful experience of ‘psychic photograph’. ‘The Shining' is ground braking in a lot of terms since it does not follow a lot of horror movie conventions. Most of the terrifying scenes has been filmed in absolute day light or brightly scenes ,however, manages to create a paranormal, frightening and unforgettable portrayal of what a horror movie genre can be capable of.

'Iconography 'is also a very common trait in some Horror genre films. For instance 'The Others' (2001) and 'The Hunting' (2007) the old lurky house were everyone is imprisoned was depicted and was most recently appropriated as a sign of creating fear in the audience.






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The musical

The musical genre of film may be considered the least unrealistic style of film due to the obvious fact that during musical films the characters will burst into song and dance regularly throughout the film often when an obstacle or problem arises. Due to this unbelievably many individuals are unlikely to accept the musical and therefore in contemporary film the majority of musicals are targeted towards the children audiences as well as the ‘tween’ market.

While the musical may not be everyone’s style of film, including my own, the musical style of genre is extremely popular with children and 'Grease' (1978) was defiantly replayed over and over at my house when I was young like my mother did when she was young. Many Disney films also incorporate an element of the musical genre in their films with many of the classic cartoons such as 'The Lion King' (1994), 'The Little Mermaid' (1989) and 'Aladdin' (1992) characters bursting into a huge theatrical performance capturing the imagination and attention of its young viewers.

The music which is a part of the musical genre depends on the trends of the time, with obviously more child friendly songs in 'The Lion King' then rather the smash hit of 1977 'Saturday Night Fever'. The music featured in the film as well as dance is crucial to the musical genre, as musicals can be very theatrical and the orchestration of music enhances the film immensely.




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The Gangster and Crime genre

The crime and gangster genre of film includes films which depicts the sinister actions of the underworld figures of criminals who function outside the law. Crime and gangster films usually follow a narrative storyline, or also may roughly follow true events which focus on the life of a lead figure or the downfall of a group of criminals and usually involve the police detectives responsible for the criminals capture.

The crime and gangster film genre themes usually include illicit drug addiction, drug dealing and importation as well as violence and sexuality. The issues which are depicted in crime and gangster films are usually crude and shady issues which considered taboo. Due to this, audience’s fascination with these taboo topics contributes to the popularity of the crime and gangster genre.

Typically the Hollywood gangster film portrays the gangster group as a group of individuals who may be likeable and relatable to the audience as their background is explored. Although many of the actions of the criminals can be somewhat forgotten by the audience such as drug dealing, murder and dark and cynical actions. However in the majority of crime and gangster films, the villains are usually caught and held accountable for their actions, this can be noted in the American crime and gangster/ drama film 'Blow' (2001) starring Johnny Depp. 'Blow' is one of my personal favourite gangster films which follows the up rise and downfall of an American drug dealer of the 1970s.

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Drama Genre

The drama genre categories films which are serious in nature and follow a narrative storyline which focus on character conflict dealing with serious issues which affect individuals in their everyday lives. Drama films depict their characters in an honest manner portraying all kinds of personalities from good to downright evil.

Drama films in general include themes and subject matter such as sexism, drug addiction, mental illness, political issues, inequality of social classes, violence in many forms such as domestic, family related concerns and problems, poverty and many more. These ‘social message films’ can be extremely powerful and by addressing these social issues draw attention to many issues and create public awareness.

Many drama films claim to be based on either true events or based on a true story. These ‘true stories’ can involve chilling historical events such as war which may include the true historical events with a made up love story or such. However dramatic films which claim to be based on true stories can also be completely false such as the famous 'Blair Witch Project' (1999).

Like the comedy genre, dramatic films are extremely popular and are usually the most nominated genre of film for awards such as the Academy Awards. The film critically-acclaimed 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008) is a exceptional example of a dramatic film which in 2008 was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight including Best Picture. If you have not already seen this film, defiantly watch it if you enjoy good drama.

Jazgol xx

Comedy Genre

The film genre comedy is one of the oldest styles of film and originates back to the beginning of film itself as being the leading forms of silent films in the 1920s. Comedy films main focus obviously is to create a humors film which is very enjoyable for the audience and provokes laughter and amusement. Evolving over time, the comedy now has several sub forms such as the romantic comedy, slap stick and the black comedy which will be reviewed in this post.

During the 1920s, the beginning of the film era, films relied on the use of popular comedians, very easy to follow narratives, cartoons such as Betty Boop, and in particular slap stick comedy which was easy to follow without the use of sound. The Slap stick comedy does not require sound to be effective as it relies on the most basic forms of comedy, people hurting themselves or silly behavour. The use of pies in the face and over exgaddergated visual action made slap stick comedy very popular with children as well as non English speaking people. Although in contemporary film, slap stick ceomdy has evloved into characters such as Mr. Bean.

The comedy genre has continued to be extremely popular since the beginning of film making, and continues to create new froms of entertaining its audience, the romantic comedy may be one of the oldest sub forms of comedy but continues to be one of the most popluar. The romantic comedy usually follows a narrative storyline centring around two protagonists who may argue or overcome an obsticle which has stopped the two from uniting and ultamitely come together as a romantic couple. The ‘happy ending’ is usually present within romantic comedies which affirms the belief of love concuring all. Of course each film has variations of this basic plotline but it seems the majority of romantic films follow this style.

The black comedy differs from the slap stick and romantic comedies in that generally the black humor takes on taboo or serious issues in a serious tone. Unlike the other forms of comedy, black comedy deals with issues such as racism, sexism, drug addiction, insanity etc. Black comedies usually have deeper meaning then the simpler comedy, although are just as humorous. The film 'The Royal Tenenbaums' (2001) is a perfect exmaple of black comedy starring Gene Hackman, Bill Murary and Ben stiller.




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Genre in Film tradition Vs. Themes

If you are interested in film making, understanding of film studies or just interested in getting a better vision and analysis of film industry, this is your place to come. For starters, you may ask yourself what is exactly a tradition or in this case a film tradition. To answer that, we go directly to definition of the word film traditions itself. A film tradition in most times carries the sense of style and cinematography of a film (not all times, but often it occurs.)

More importantly in the study of film traditions, what is important is the Genre. Comprehension of genre helps with approaching the specific text and understanding what it is trying to portray or tell the audience or what is the intended outcome. Genre in simple form is a path to classify films. The type of storytelling, characters and events that take action. It mainly involves the mood and the feel of the story and the plot of the movie.

Every artistic production has a genre, whether a piece of music, or a simple painting. Without it, the actual purpose of the production may be lost. Whether a landscape, still life or portrait in a painting or sonata, song or symphony in a piece of music, genres are to be seen in any artistic format, as it exists in films, drama, romantic comedy, horror or musicals. In literature, drama genre has three most critical elements to itself and that is: lyric, drama and epic. Each has a defined meaning and each creates the idea.

Therefore, it can be concluded that its presence is vital in any art, however the question still remains, how is genre categorized or classified in study of films?
In other words what exactly makes a film a comedy and another drama?

The answer lies beneath two main elements: the first and the foremost is the way of story telling and how it is represented in the film, through the actual plot and how its narrated to the audience (a method of storytelling), it’s the discourse, the ideology behind it that can make the genre as well, it does not mean that it is definite but it definitely influences the genre.

It is important not to get confused between the themes and the genre, themes may be similar and present in two entirely different genres. How can that happen?
Say 'The Simpsons' and 'Harry Potter' (2001) movies, What are the main themes (the motif) in 'Harry Potter' movies? Just to name a few: family, loss, love, community, and friendship will probably come in to our minds. How about the soap opera 'The Simpsons?' Surprisingly 'the Simpsons' has all of the above themes in common with ‘Harry Potter' movies. However the two genres are again entirely different with a tag of 'fantasy' genre to Harry Potter movies and satire (or social comedy) genre to 'The Simpsons'.

And the second is the characters, (which is pretty much matter of performance) and how they appear through the eye of the audience, do they appear happy? Sad or dramatic? serious? Sophisticated? Frightened? One may argue that just because an actor in showing a certain emotion may not certify a classification of a genre which may be true but what is evident and what differentiates one genre to another is how that emotion or that sense of being is showed by the performer.

Hopefully with this post, you will be able to clarify and distinguish a genre easier than before and also be able to see the difference between a genre and a theme of a visual product.

Jazgol xx