Film Genres

Era: 1930 - 1967

Style:

Values Mise-en-Scene > Montage

Real-life shots

Little to no cinematic trickery (special effects)

Comparatively few cuts

An American genre at peak popularity between 1944 and 1953
Movement response to post-war society as reflected in film industry; seemingly booming, but merely a facade belying conformity and xenophobia
Not a conscious movement — later named by Caheir du Cinema in France
Most based on hard-boiled novels
Highlight dark underbelly of American society
Frequently start In Medius Res
Frequently employs voice-over
Classical Noir is shot in black and white
Sharp dialogue
Shadows and odd angles to reflect an off-color and off-kilter society
Frequent double and double-double cross
Heros are generally losers by society’s standards
Highlights that even the most basic human being is capable of nefarious action
Femme fatale
Noirs still get made; called Neo-Noirs. The difference is the conscious choice to make it

Classical era musicals primarily comedies
Most characters sing and dance — the ones who do not are often morally and emotionally suspect
“Good” and “bad” characters are determined by entertainment value
Music often explores individual characters
Often involve naive mentee and wiser mentor
Characteristic plots include show business musicals, musical biographies, concert films, and Broadway adaptations
Conventions of the genre include the audition, discovery of a new talent, initial dislike between protagonists, cumulating production numbers, romantic duets, rhythm songs, comic songs, long shots / takes, objects used ironically
Musicals are effectively dead. They’re expensive and people hate smiling

An American genre — “West” refers to west of the Mississippi
Classical westerns were made between 1865 and 1890. Beyond that they are generally revisionist Westerns
Classical westerns tend to glorify the likes of manifest destiny, cultural imperialism, and traditional masculinity
Involves popular, easily identifiable iconography (guns, hats/spurs/boots, kindly prostitutes, mean bandits, etc.)

Cinema (era): 1967 - present

Style:

Values montage > Mise-en-Scene

Often cut for style > substance

Influenced heavily by French New Wave

First appeared post-WWII era, focused then on anti-Semitism, racism, PTSD
No popular iconography
Recognizable by subject matter
Highlight social issues bigger than personal troubles (though such issues are often expressed through such troubles)
Don’t often offer solutions, more often contemplation and reflection
Overlap with other genres
Often liberal in the way of politics
Frequently produced, period
Blend realism and melodrama so as to emotionally engage viewers
Often involve 1/3 of the following: a court case, an investigation, and/or characters conversing directly about the issues
Often inspired or based on true events