Film Genre
Film genre, in film theory, refers to the method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Most theories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre criticism. As with genre in a literary context, there is a great deal of debate over how to define or categorize genres. Besides the basic distinction in genre between fiction and documentary, film genres can be categorized in several ways.
Fictional films are usually categorized according to their setting, theme topic, mood, or format. The setting is the milieu or environment where the story and action takes place. The theme or topic refers to the issues or concepts that the film revolves around. The mood is the emotional tone of the film. Format refers to the way the film was shot (e.g., anamorphic widescreen) or the manner of presentation (e.g.: 35 mm, 16 mm or 8 mm). An additional way of categorizing film genres is by the target audience. Some film theorists argue that neither format nor target audience are film genres.
Film genres often branch out into subgenres, as in the case of the courtroom and trial-focused subgenre of drama known as the legal drama. They can be combined to form hybrid genres, such the melding of horror and science fiction in the Aliens films.
SEE ALSO
| BLAXPLOITATION | Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970's when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words “black” and “exploitation.” Blaxploitation films starred primarily black actors, and were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music. |
| DYSTOPIAN | Dystopian torrents are on their own page. |
| EUROCRIME | EuroCrime torrents are on their own page. |
| EUROSPY | Eurospy films is a nickname for the genre of European films that imitated and spoofed the James Bond 007 series of films. The Eurospy genre was highly prolific in the years from the end of 1964 (when Goldfinger was released) until 1967 following the release of You Only Live Twice and the demise of the international popularity of the sword and sandal (“Peplum”) genre and the rise of the spaghetti western. They often featured American and British stars in the lead. Some European stars and their films were renamed and retitled to cash in on the superspy craze. |
| GIALLO | Giallo is an Italian word which directly translates as yellow. It is pronounced “JAHl-loh” and its plural form is gialli. The genre use of the word comes from Italian pulp fiction novels that had yellow covers. These novels gained popularity in the 1930s. In the Italian language “giallo” is now a synonym for mystery, crime, and detective story genres. In the 1960s, filmmakers started making straightforward adaptations of gialli, but the genre soon evolved into the types of movies this project is dedicated to: movies with extended murder sequences featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork, unusual musical arrangements, and often liberal amounts of nudity and sex. |
| KRIMI | The word “Krimi” comes from the abbreviation of the world Kriminalroman (KriminalFilm) and as the giallo, it has became a sub-genre inside the thriller-horror movies with more than 150 titles. In this case, the style is more refined, so forget about gore, nudity, sleaze, nasty situations... but this is not necessarily a bad thing as the krimis have other goodies like great atmosphere, weird plots, bizarre murders, creepy castles and manors full of secret passages, mysterious and inventive villains whose identities are unknown until the end, plot twists… |
| PINKY VIOLENCE | Pinky Violence films have a strong female lead(s) and often revenge is a major theme. Other popular themes are rival girl gangs clashing and prison settings. Major studio Toei led the charge in developing violent pink films and produced the vast majority of them. Toho and Nikkatsu each produced about a half dozen films during the height of the pinky violence era which was the 5 year period from 1969 to 1974. |
| PRECODE HOLLYWOOD | A Pre-Code Film as part of the Pre-Code genre in this instance, is a film from Hollywood, (generally) made between 1930 and 1934 which openly and knowingly flouts the Hays Code. |
| SPAGHETTI WESTERNS | Spaghetti Western is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most were produced by Italian studios. Originally they had in common the Italian language, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, and minimalist cinematography that eschewed (some said “demythologized”) many of the conventions of earlier Westerns — partly intentionally, partly as a result of the work being done in a different cultural background and with limited funds. |
| SWORD AND SANDAL | “Sword & Sandal” refers to a genre of adventure films dealing largely with ancient Roman & Greek history and mythology. The majority of these films were made between 1958 and 1965 and often featured a muscular male in the lead role. The Italians, known for piggy-backing onto a hit film and exploiting its genre to death, hit the big time in 1958 with the Steve Reeves international blockbuster, HERCULES (LE FATICHE DI ERCOLE). Following its success, the Italian film industry cranked out dozens of these epic-scaled fantasy/action films over the next several years. Many of these films relied on well-known historical heroes like Hercules to sell their stories. Others included Samson, Goliath, Maciste, Ursus, and Ulysses. Other subjects included biblical epics and that universal staple of excitement, gladiators. |