12. April the 30th – Genre Studies

  • Watched: Reprise, Joachim Trier (2006)

Genre Theory

1930-1948 Golden Era movies were massed produced. Certain directors started to specialize in certain genres. Certain cinemas showed specific genres.

  • Western (1903) – Situational genre (Cowboys, Indians, Geographical location, big issue with heroism, pre vs. post westerns is very different.
  • Musical – Self-referential
  • vs. Melodrama – Use of music and emotionalism to sell the story
  • Romance *can’t have an epic romance. Plot/story-driven. Boy meets girl.
  • Epic vs. novelic: epic is where everyone knows the story. Like a war story, live vicariously through the characters. Novelic is a new story, which hasn’t been told yet.
  • Youth – Demographic/character-driven: coming of age films.
  • Reprise, Joachim Trier (2006)

reprise_large

  • A lot of elliptical editing (dialogue spoken when lips are not moving. Like in The Limey or Out of Sight)
  • Talking in conditional form reflects this dwelling feeling that young adults usually go through.
  • Trying to recreate a story (hence, the word “Reprise” has a lot of significance just like the one word-titled novel)
  • Bechtel test: find a film where there are two female characters and see if they have a conversation about men at some point.