Movie Genres: Action, War, Romantic Comedy

Action

An action movie is a movie in which the plot moves quickly from one dramatic event to another and which typically involves a protagonist combating antagonist. Typically in action movies one or more protagonist are thrown into a series of challenges that typically include physical feats and challenges, extended fight scenes, violence, frantic chases and most typical of all the montage. Action films tend to feature a character who in the past tends to have had some sort of military or combat training which he manages to use to "save the day" against incredible odds. Most action heroes for example: Bruce Willis in  Die Hard, Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, Sylvester Stallone in Rambo, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando and Sean Connery in Bond all face life-threatening situations, a villain, or a pursuit which generally concludes in victory for the protagonist.



Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) 

There is a strong stereotype in action heroes, they are generally male as dominance and strength is expected from and action hero, usually they have special army or combat training which helps them prevail in thew many fight scenes they endure. A common stereotype is of race, this isn't usually picked up however most action protagonists used to be white American or British eg Connery or Eastwood. This description is only recent, before we had the extensive use of CGI that we use monotonously now action was in the popular sub genre of Westerns. If you close your eyes and imagine a stereotypical Western movie. Do you see: the guns? The horses? The sheriff? The whisky? The hero? Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a nostalgic  and unique eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier (the borderline between civilisation and the wilderness). They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American genres. Western heroes are often local lawmen or enforcement officers, ranchers, army officers, cowboys, or a fast-draw gunfighter. They are normally masculine persons of integrity and honour, - courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient, maverick characters (often with sidekicks) Western protagonists are usually depicted as slow  talking or untactful to say the least however most could usually stand alone and face danger on his own, against the forces of outlaws or other antagonists. They tend to show expert displays of his physical skills (roping, gun-play, horse-handling, pioneering abilities, etc.).The 'first real movie' of the classical Western genre was Edwin S. Porter's pioneering western The Great Train Robbery (1903). It was responsible for the one-reel, 10-minute long film.

Action was met with a huge deposition in the 1980s as Asian influenced martial-arts-themed action movies, such as Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973) and Way of (or Return of) the Dragon (1972), exploded onto western cinema screens. This took the western viewers by surprise, the cliches of white male actors soon would be destroyed as Asian actors such as Jackie Chan hit the stage.

The 1980s would see the action film take over Hollywood to become a dominant form of summer blockbuster. "The action era" was popularised by actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Chuck Norris. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas even paid their homage to the Bond-inspired style with the mega-hit Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). In 1982, veteran actor Nick Nolte and rising comedian Eddie Murphy smashed box office records with the action-comedy 48 Hrs, credited as the first "buddy-cop" movie. That same year, Sylvester Stallone starred in First Blood, the first instalment in the popular Rambo film series. The film proved to be successful and was followed with a sequel in 1985, Rambo: First Blood Part II, which became the most successful film in the series and made the character John Rambo a pop culture icon. This was the era where hard hitting action protagonists became the stars they still are today. Typically this was where there was one main protagonists typically muscular and always saves the day. Characters such as John McClain, John Rambo, John Matrix. You may have picked up that all these famous action starts are given he same name, this displays the idea that all characters are universal, it makes the viewers think that they are just the same as the protagonists. A typical action hero in this time tended to wear vests or tank tops which displayed their muscles, therefore showing their strenght and dominance. Usually action heroes have a catch line or famous line in the movie which depicts the whole movie.

Famous Action Protagonists

In recent times from the 1990's- to now there have been huge advancements in CGI it has been  have made cheaper and easier to create action sequences and other visual effects that required the efforts of professional stunt crews in the past. However, reactions to action films containing significant amounts of CGI have been mixed as films that use computer animations to create unrealistic, highly unbelievable events are often met with criticism. Typically CGI is used in large explosions and superhero films such as the "The Avengers Assemble."

 In superhero has: Extraordinary powers or abilities, a strong moral code, A secret identity, A distinctive costume, A headquarters or base of operations and a back story. The superhero Stereotype has been played on in many different ways throughout the time of films, each hero tends to have slightly different traits and is unique however they all share the same morals. It is very cliche that all the superheros throughout time have always wanted to help humans even though they are seen as outcasts at first. It is usual in all superhero films that the protagonist has to gain the respect and trust of the humans. There are different takes on how these films end, there tends to be a theme that the hero goes back into hiding forever ( well until they are needed again AKA next film) or they become almost famous of celebrity status, "Iron Man."

Women in Action

Ursula Andress 1962

The male stereotype overcasts the women in action, it is unusual for women to be seen as the main protagonist in an action movie. They are usually seen as desirable but weak as they tend to be caught and are taken hostage and used as bait to attract the male protagonist. This is a common feature in James Bond Films, the best example would be  in Casino Royale when the woman is captured in Venice. Women are stereotyped tremendously in the media and in this instance action films; it is typical to find a woman who is intensely sexualised this is generally done using the male gaze, there are two types of gaze in this era, voyeuristic and fetishistic.Women usually where revealing and scantily clad clothing; Halle Berry is a victim of the male fetishistic gaze as she is very sexual in "Die another Day" this was a repetition of Ursula Andress, the first ever bond girl.

 This topic is subject to debate as the characteristics that most women have are as follows:

Frightened easily;

in need of protection and direction;

offering support for male characters;

no independence or self belief;

not self driven and weak;

still objectified sexually.

The last point is emphasised as the two images opposite display how women have been stereotyped and sexualised for over 40 years as Die another day was released in 2002 and Dr No was released in 1962.

Kill Bill is a brilliant example of breaking the mould in stereotypes, Uma Thurman is the main protagonist, she is dominant and independent; even though she wears a tight latex costume the idea is that she isn't meant to be thought of a a sexual item.

War

War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air, or land battles, they sometimes focus on prisoners of war and the fight, battle tactics and strength it takes to retrieve them, covert operations, military training, or other related subjects. Sometimes war films focus on daily military life and the drills and camaraderie in wartime without depicting battles. Their stories may be fiction, based on history, docudrama, biographical, or even alternate history fiction. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of sacrifice, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and explorations of the moral and ethical issues raised by war.

Anti-war film is sometimes used to describe films which bring to the viewer the pain and horror of war, often from a political or ideological perspective, in order to express opposition to a specific war (such as the Vietnam War) or to the concept of war in general.This gives the movie a hard hitting and gritty realism theme.

Generally in war films the protagonists are males, it is uncharacteristic to have a woman at war due to the moral reasons which we seem to continue to this day. There is usually a group of comrades weather they are a platoon or just a group of soldiers who have met due to chance or they are specially picked and trained by their leader. The soldiers tend to have some connection to each other whilst their characteristics are quite diverse. The characters in the group are all protagonists however a selected two or three tend to have the most screen time as they are either the leader or sub-leader in the platoon.

The stereotypical patriotic universal symbol of the khaki in battle and uniform at camp follows the prototypical idea of war times, it is an essential part of the mise en scene in war movies. Any military operative is inclined to be neat and dressed smartly on inspection. There is a strong stereotype about each member of the platoon usually one character takes up the characteristics of: sarcasm, leadership and inspirational, strength, weakness, brains and

hatred for war.

The setting of a war film can be one of two either on the battlefield where mortar shells and gunfire are controlling all sound in the scene. The battle field scene tends to cause the rating of the film to be higher than usual. There tends to be a lot of graphical and gore ridden scenes where imagery which could be left to the imagination is shown in full detail. For example: intestines spilling out of a mans body whilst his whole body is going into shock. There is a brilliant display of camaraderie and gore in "platoon" one of the greatest war films ever made following the storyline of a platoon making their way through the Vietnamese occupied territory, where the tactics of gorilla warfare where heavily displayed.

Romantic Comedy

Romantic comedy, also known as a Rom Com is a genre which combines romance with comedy. The general plot tends to focus on two or more individual protagonists as they discover and attempt to deal with their romantic love, attractions to each other. They began as individuals but end together as a couple, despite any difficulties and previous commitments.The stereotypical plot line follows the "boy-gets-girl", "boy-loses-girl", "boy gets girl back again" sequence. Naturally, there are countless varieties to this plot some may include twists, such as reversing the gender roles in the story. For example: 'Brekafast at Tiffanies.' Most of the comedy is generally lighthearted, the comedy stereotypically entails social interactions and sexual tension between the characters, who more often than not either refuse to admit they are attracted to one another, or must deal with others' meddling in their affairs.

In a typical romantic comedy the two lovers tend to be young, business minded, busy and of course attractive.

The directors tend to pick a perfect what is thought to be a girlfriend ie- beautiful, slim, long blonde, black or brown hair, good dress sense, humorous and they tend to be sexualised. On the other hand men are usually depicted as strong, very fit (typical six pack) handsome, perfectly placed hair, suave; looks good in a suit and very flirty and sexually attractive. There tends to be a universal majority of writers that believe that the two characters are apparently meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance such as class differences, parental interference; a previous girlfriend or boyfriend or friends until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally wed. The couple in a romantic comedy will have different viewpoints on ethical or moral arguments,  or a cultural conflict. They are characters who would not ordinarily meet. One character may be more sympathetic, usually an underdog figure from a humble background, while the other character may have a privileged life. A few of these movies include "Maid in Manhattan" and "The Proposal." Regardless of the differences, the rules of the romantic comedy require they find some reason to stay in each other's lives breaking all barriers to be with their true love.  

The setting of Rom Com's are typically set in a busy city for example: New York, London or Paris. Depending on the type of Rom com and characters the setting could be a lot different, ie if the two protagonists are very business minded then the exterior will be a city. Where as if the characters have a small town business or a relative who is ill living away from the city the exterior will be a cute and cosy, set in a romantic small town. 

Males are almost emasculated in Rom Com's, as they typically make the mistake to break up or walk out on the girl. They then are seen as week and emotional as they have to crawl back to the woman who now has gained all the power. This is a huge juxtaposition to most male characters in any other genre.

Mathew Mcconaughey told digital spy: "A lot of times the male is somewhat emasculated, meaning he has to crawl back and say, 'I'm nothing without you. If you don't take me back, I'm nothing.' And I was always like, 'What girl wants that guy?' McConaughey was best known for his role in Rom-Com's like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Fool's Gold and The Wedding Planner before his reinvention in projects such as Magic Mike, Mud and True Detective.

Where many believe Rom Com's are for the youth and younger generation in recent times remakes of Romantic Comedies explore more adult themes such as marriage, responsibility or even disability. Two films by Judd Apatow for example This is 40 and Knocked Up deal with these adult issues. This is 40 portrays the mid life crisis of a couple entering their 40's and Knocked Up addresses unexpected pregnancy and the blame on who's part? While Silver Linings Playbook deals with mental illness and unrequited love that is never resolved. All of these go against the Stereotype of what Romantic Comedy has become as a genre.


A meet cute is a classic stereotype of
Rom-Com's, they define the whole meaning of a "Hollywood romance," certain movies are entirely driven by the meet-cute situation, this is typically where the two main protagonists, by chance, meet for the first time. This may be at rush hour in the middle of New York city where both protagonists are in a hurry and they  bump into each other throwing all their documents all over the street, or spilling coffee on a tie. This classic bit of movie magic has been in romcoms since the 1930's. It is used to distinguish the ordinary characters to the main protagonists. This gives the rom com a feeling of real life situations while also displaying the fairytale love at first sight everyone dreams of.

Rom-Coms give a false reality to the viewers by blinding them with love and perfect situations and mainly perfect endings. Usually Rom-Coms always call for church bells and marriage ceremonies in the last scene, however this does not depict real life in any way, shape or form.