Genre Analysis Romance

7
Genre Analysis 3 Romance

Transcript of Genre Analysis Romance

Page 1: Genre Analysis Romance

Genre Analysis 3

Romance

Page 2: Genre Analysis Romance

Romance Conventions

• Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight, young with older love, unrequited love, obsessive love, spiritual love, forbidden love/romance, platonic love, sexual and passionate love.

• Romantic films serve as great escapes and fantasies for viewers, especially if the two people finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience life "happily ever after", implied by a reunion and final kiss.

• The films involve the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters and the journey that their genuinely strong, true and pure romantic love takes them through dating, courtship or marriage. Romance films make the romantic love story or the search for strong and pure love and romance the main plot focus.

• Occasionally, romance lovers face obstacles such as finances, physical illness, various forms of discrimination, psychological restraints or family that threaten to break their union of love.

Page 3: Genre Analysis Romance

“Chick Flicks”• Romance films are generally referred to as chick flicks due to the general target audience being

predominantly females.• Chick-flick is a slang term for a film genre mainly dealing with love and romance and designed to appeal to

a largely female target audience. Although many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, "chick-flick" is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship-based (although not necessarily romantic as many other themes may be present).

• Chick-flicks often are released en masse around Valentine's Day.• Some frequent elements of chick-flicks include having a female protagonist, thematic use of the colour

pink (along with metaphorical allusions of the colour), and romance and/or dating based storylines.• The concept of films designed to appeal specifically to women has existed since the early days of cinema

and has been known by other colloquial terms, including "women's pictures". Those were generally critically panned upon their release. However, women's films such as the 1950s melodramas directed by Douglas Sirk – Imitation of Life and Made of Honor, for example – are often thought by modern critics as significantly different in tone and content to modern chick-flicks. Specifically, critics cite what they see as the ironic and complex criticisms of American culture in those past films.

• The 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, commonly known as one of the 'classic' films from the golden age of cinema, is sometimes considered as an early chick-flick due to common elements such as dealing with loneliness, obsessive materialism, and happy endings.

• While most films that are considered chick-flicks are light-hearted, some suspense films also fall under this category, e.g. What Lies Beneath.

Page 4: Genre Analysis Romance

Sub-Genres• Romantic Drama: The plot usually revolves around an obstacle which prevents deep love

between two people. Music is often employed to indicate the emotional mood, creating an atmosphere of greater insulation for the couple. The conclusion of a romantic drama typically does not indicate whether a marriage will occur. Some examples of Romatic Dramas are, “The Bridges of Madison County”, “The English Patient”, “Falling in Love” and “Casablanca”.

• Romantic Comedies: films with light-hearted, humourous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. Humour in such films tends to be of a verbal, low-key variety or situational, as opposed to slapstick. Films within this genre include, “Love Actually”, “Moonstruck”, “As Good as It Gets”, “Something's Gotta Give”, “When Harry Met Sally...” and “It's Complicated”.

• Romantic Action Comedies: films that blend romantic comedy and action. Examples include Killers, Knight and Day, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, This Means War and The Bounty Hunter.

• Romantic Thriller: is a genre of film which has a storyline combining elements of the romance film and the thriller genre. Some examples of romantic thriller films are The Adjustment Bureau, The Phantom of the Opera, The Tourist, The Bodyguard, Unfaithful, and Wicker Park

Page 5: Genre Analysis Romance

Target Audience

• The typical target audience of a romance are usually females aging from around 14+.

• The appealing thing to this audience is the fact there’s always an attractive male lead which sweeps the female lead off her feet into an adventure of romance.

Page 6: Genre Analysis Romance

Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)• 1961 American romantic comedy film starring

Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney. The film was directed by Blake Edwards and released by Paramount Pictures. It is loosely based on the novella of the same name by Truman Capote.

• nominated for five Academy Awards, Best Actress for Hepburn, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction, winning two for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for the famous "Moon River". "Moon River" was also selected as the fourth most memorable song in Hollywood history by the American Film Institute in 2004.

• In 2012, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Page 7: Genre Analysis Romance

Safe Haven (2013)• Safe Haven is a 2013 American romance film starring Julianne

Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders. • It was released theatrically in North America on February 14,

2013. The film was directed by Lasse Hallström, and is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's novel of the same name.

• The film was widely panned by critics, but was nonetheless financially successful with a worldwide.

• The studios it was realted to were Relativity Media and Temple Hill Entertainment

• Distributed by Relativity Media• Had a budget $28 million and worldwide made a gross of $96.3

million. • Safe Haven was universally panned by critics, as it currently

holds a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 137 critic reviews. Conversely, Safe Haven earned a 4.2 out of 5 Star average as rated by over 1.3 million Netflix viewers, as well as a 3.8 of 5 rating among 71,000 viewers on rottentomatoes.com, revealing that the public is far more approving of this film than critics were.

• Safe Haven was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 7, 2013.