Action Films This major genre type includes films that have tremendous impact, continuous high energy,

lots of physical stunts and activity, possibly extended chase scenes, races, rescues, battles, martial arts, mountains and mountaineering, destructive disasters , fights, escapes, non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous heroes - all designed for pure audience escapism with the action sequences at the core of the film. Oftentimes, action films are great box-office hits, but lack critical appeal because of their two-dimensional heroes or villains. The main action centers around a male action hero or protagonist portrayed by these most prominent actors: Bruce Lee, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Damme. Women in action-films usually play the roles of accomplices or romantic interests of the hero, although modern action films have featured strong female characters to broaden demographic appeal. They almost always have a resourceful hero(ine) struggling against incredible odds, life-threatening circumstances, or an evil villain, and/or trapped or chasing each other in various modes of transportation (bus, auto, ship, train, plane, horseback, on foot, etc.), with victory or resolution attained by the end after strenuous physical feats and violence (fist fights, gunplay). http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Crime and Gangster Films They are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or gangsters, who operate outside the law, stealing and violently murdering their way through life. Crime stories in this genre often highlight the life of a crime figure or a crime's victim(s). Or they glorify the rise and fall of a particular criminal in personal power struggles or conflict with law and order figures, or competitive colleague, or a rival gang. Headline-grabbing situations, real-life gangsters, or crime reports have often been used in crime films. Gangster/crime films are usually set in large, crowded cities, to provide a view of the secret world of the criminal: dark nightclubs or streets with neon signs, fast cars, piles of cash, etc. Crime plots also include questions such as how the criminal will be apprehended by police, private eyes, special agents or lawful authorities, or mysteries such as who stole the valued object. They rise to power with a tough cruel facade while showing an ambitious desire for success and recognition, but underneath they can express sensitivity and gentleness. Gangster films are morality tales: often from poor immigrant families, gangster characters often fall prey to crime in the pursuit of wealth, status, and material possessions (clothes and cars), because all other "normal" avenues to the top are unavailable to them. Although they are doomed to failure and inevitable death (usually violent), criminals are sometimes portrayed as the victims of circumstance, because the stories are told from their point of view. http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Historical Films often take a historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle and a sweeping musical score. They are expensive to produce, because they require elaborate and panoramic settings, on-location filming, authentic period costumes, inflated action on a massive scale and large casts of characters. They often rewrite history, suffering from inauthenticity, fictitious recreations, hard-to-follow details and characters. A costume drama or period drama is a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the atmosphere of a particular era. The term is usually used in the context of film and television. The implication is that the audience is attracted as much by the lavish costumes as by the content. The most common type of costume drama is the historical costume drama, both on stage and in movies. This category includes Barry Lyndon, Braveheart, From Hell, and Robin Hood. There have been highly successful television series that have been known as costume dramas/period pieces. Notable examples include Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, etc.

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Science Fiction Films are usually scientific and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film production design, advanced technology gadgets (i.e., robots and spaceships), scientific developments, or by fantastic special effects. Sci-fi films are complete with heroes, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology and unknown and inexplicable forces. Many other SF films feature time travels or fantastic journeys, and are set either on Earth, into outer space, or (most often) into the future time. Quite a few examples of science-fiction cinema owe their origins to writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. They often portray the dangerous and sinister nature of knowledge and vital issues about the nature of mankind and our place in the whole scheme of things, including the threatening, existential loss of personal individuality: plots of space-related conspiracies, supercomputers threatening our freedom, the results of germ-warfare and futuristic genetic engineering and cloning. Sci-fi tales have a prophetic nature (they often attempt to figure out or depict the future) and are often set in a speculative future time. They may provide a grim outlook. Commonly, sci-fi films express society's anxiety about technology and how to forecast and control the impact of technological and environmental change on contemporary society.

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Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. Common subgenres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers and mystery thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, the political thriller film became very popular. A rather more action-packed subgenre of thriller is the spy genre. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, and terror. Thrillers films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods. "Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller.

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War and Anti-War Films often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues. Some war films do balance the soul-searching, tragic consequences and inner turmoil of combatants or characters with action-packed, dramatic spectacles, enthusiastically illustrating the excitement and turmoil of warfare. And some 'war' films concentrate on the homefront rather than on the conflict at the military war-front. But many of them provide decisive criticism of senseless warfare. War films have often been used as 'flag-waving' propaganda to inspire national pride and morale, and to display the nobility of one's own forces while harshly displaying and criticizing the villainy of the enemy, especially during war or in post-war periods. War films can also make political statements - unpopular wars (such as the Vietnam War and the Iraq War), have generated both supportive and critical films about the conflict. http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Westerns The western film genre often portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature, in the name of civilization, or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. Specific settings include lonely isolated forts, ranch houses, , the saloon, the jail, the stable, the small-town main street, or small frontier towns that are forming at the edges of civilization. They may even include Native American sites or villages. The western film genre has portrayed much about America's past, glorifying the past-fading values and aspirations of the mythical bygone age of the West. Over time, westerns have been re-defined, reinvented and expanded. In the late 60s and early 70s (, 'revisionistic' Westerns that questioned the themes and elements of traditional/classic westerns. Usually, the central plot of the western film is the classic, simple goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in a fast-paced action story. It is normally rooted in archetypal conflict - good vs. bad, virtue vs. evil, settlers vs. Indians, humanity vs. nature, civilization vs. lawlessness, etc. Western heroes are normally masculine persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient, possessing an independent and honorable attitude (but often characterized as slow-talking). The Western hero could usually stand alone and face danger on his own, against the forces of lawlessness (outlaws or other antagonists), with an expert display of his physical skills (roping, gun-play, horse-handling, etc.). http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Adventure Films are exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic places. Adventure films are very similar to the action film genre, in that they are designed to provide an action-filled, energetic experience for the film viewer. Rather than the predominant emphasis on violence and fighting that is found in action films, however, the viewer of adventure films can live vicariously through the travels, conquests, explorations, creation of empires, struggles and situations that confront the main characters, actual historical figures or protagonists. Adventure films were intended to appeal mainly to men, creating major male heroic stars through the years. These courageous, patriotic, or altruistic heroes often fought for their beliefs, struggled for freedom, or overcame injustice. Under the category of adventure films, we can include traditional swashbucklers, searches or expeditions for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts and quests, disaster films, and heroic journeys or searches for the unknown. Adventure films share many elements with other genres - there are numerous examples of sci-fi, fantasy, and war films with characteristics of this genre.

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Comedy Films are designed to entertain, provoke enjoyment and elicit laughter from the audience. The comedy genre humorously exaggerates the situation, the language, action, and characters. Comedies observe the deficiencies, and frustrations of life, providing a momentary escape from day-to-day life. They usually have happy endings, although the humor may have a serious or pessimistic side. Types of Comedies: Slapstick: This is primitive and universal comedy with broad, aggressive, physical, and visual action, including harmless or painless cruelty and violence (e.g., a custard pie in the face, collapsing houses, a loss of trousers or skirts, runaway crashing cars, people chases, etc). The Blake Edwards series of Pink Panther films are also great examples. Verbal comedy: This was classically typified by the verbal absurdity of dialogues in the Marx Brothers films, or later by the thoughtful humor of Woody Allen's literate comedies. Screwball: The word 'screwball' denotes craziness, eccentricity, ridiculousness, and erratic behavior. In general, they are light-hearted, often sophisticated, romantic stories, commonly focusing on a battle of the sexes in which both co-protagonists try to outwit or outmaneuver each other (Katherine Hepburn vs. Spencer Tracy) Black or Dark Comedy: These are dark, sarcastic, humorous stories that help us examine otherwise ignored darker serious, pessimistic subjects such as war, death, or illness. A recent classic black comedy was the Coen Brothers' violent and quirky story Fargo (1996). Parody or Spoof : These specific types of comedy are usually a humorous or anarchic take-off that ridicules, impersonates, punctures, scoffs at, and/or imitates (mimics) the style, conventions, formulas, characters, or motifs of a serious work, film, performer, or genre. (e.g.: The Life of Brian (1979) - an irreverent parody of religious films).

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Drama Films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature. A dramatic film shows us human beings at their best, their worst, and everything in-between. Dramatic themes often include current issues, society problems, concerns or injustices, such as racial prejudice, religious intolerance, drug addiction, poverty, political unrest, the corruption of power, alcoholism, class divisions, sexual inequality, mental illness, corrupt societal institutions, violence toward women or other explosive issues of the times. Although dramatic films have often dealt frankly and realistically with social problems, the tendency has been for Hollywood, especially during earlier times of censorship, to exonerate society and institutions and to blame problems on an individual, who more often than not, would be punished for his/her transgressions.

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Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. Horror films are also known as scary movies. Horror films go back as far as the onset of films themselves, over 100 years ago. From our earliest days, we use our vivid imaginations to see ghosts in shadowy shapes, to be emotionally connected to the unknown and to fear things that are improbable. Watching a horror film gives an opening into that scary world, into an outlet for the essence of fear itself, without actually being in danger. Weird as it sounds, there's a very real thrill and fun factor in being scared or watching disturbing, horrific images. Horror films developed out of a number of sources: folktales with devil characters, witchcraft, fables, myths, ghost stories, and Gothic or Victorian novels from Europe by way of Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo or Irish writer Bram Stoker, and American writers Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe. http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus. Occasionally, lovers face obstacles such as finances, physical illness, various forms of discrimination, psychological restraints or family that threaten to break their union of love. As in all romantic relationships, tensions of day-to-day life, temptations (of infidelity), and differences in compatibility enter into the plots of romantic films. Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight, young with older love, unrequited love, obsessive love, sentimental love, spiritual love, forbidden love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love explosive and destructive love, and tragic 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.

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