Film Genre

1920Way Down East

This is a American Silent romantic drama, which is one of four adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker.

There were two prior to this and one with sound that was made in 1935.

The rich, typified by the handsome man-about-town Lennox, are exceptionally selfish and think only of their own pleasure.

Anna is a poor country girl whom Lennox tricks into a fake wedding. When she becomes pregnant, he leaves her. She has the baby, named Trust

Lennox, on her own.

When the baby dies she wanders until she gets a job with Squire Bartlett . David, Squire Bartlett's son, falls for her, but she rejects him due to her past. Then Lennox shows up lusting for another local girl, Kate. Seeing Anna, he tries to get her to leave, but she refuses to go, although she

promises to say nothing about his past.

Finally, Squire Bartlett learns of Anna's past from Martha, the town gossip. In his anger, he tosses Anna out into a snow storm. Before she goes, she fingers the respected Lennox as

her despoiler and the father of her dead baby. Anna becomes lost in the raging storm while David leads a search party. In the famous climax, the unconscious Anna floats down

an icy river towards a waterfall, until rescued at the last moment by David, who, in the final scene, marries her.

The character stereotypes then were similar to what they are now, the girl (Anna) who is poor and shouldn’t be found with one of the rich men (Lennox) but they have a child together. Visually Lennox looks very wealthy because he dresses in expensive looking suits and lives in a large manor house and Anna looks poor because she wears a very worn looking dress which is very plain compared to the common heavily embellished dresses that the rich women wore at that time. This stereotype has changed because it is usually the male now that is forbidden to be with the girl, not the woman is forbidden to be with the man. The clothes would stereotypically be the same where one wears old ragged clothes and the other wears fancy and expensive clothes.

The setting is very old fashioned, set in 1920’s America. Which is different to what the locations would look now, the houses would be allot more modern and the city itself would be more busy and technological.

The editing is very simplistic, using just simple cuts from the dialogue scenes to the actors.The film is also in sepia because of the technology in that timer was allot more simplistic that what it is now.

1950Cinderella

This is an American ‘fantasy’ Romantic film made by Disney based on the film “Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault.

Cinderella is the child of a widowed aristocrat. Deciding Cinderella needs a mother, Cinderella's father marries Lady Tremaine, a cold and cruel woman with two daughters from a previous marriage. After Cinderella's father dies, Lady Tremaine and her daughters take over the estate and begin to mistreat Cinderella, ultimately reducing her to being a maid in her own home.

Despite this, Cinderella becomes a kind and gentle young woman, befriending the animals in the barn and the mice and birds who live around her home.

At the royal palace, the King and the Grand Duke organise a ball in an effort to find a suitable wife for his son, the prince. Cinderella asks her stepmother if she can go to this and Lady Tremaine agrees but only if Cinderella finishes her chores and finds

a nice dress to wear. Cinderella's animal friends, led by Gus and the other mice, fix up a gown that belonged to Cinderella's mother using beads and a sash thrown out by the two step sisters, When Cinderella comes down wearing her new dress, angered

by the apparent theft of their discarded items, the stepsisters destroy the gown.Just as Cinderella is about to give up hope, her Fairy Godmother appears and turns the remains of Cinderella's dress into a new

ball gown with glass slippers. She also transforms a pumpkin into a carriage, the mice into horses, her horse Major into a coachman, and her dog Bruno into a footman. Cinderella's godmother warns her that the spell will break at the stroke of midnight.

At the ball, the Prince rejects every girl until he sees Cinderella. The two fall strongly in love and dance alone throughout the castle grounds until the clock starts to chime midnight. Cinderella runs to her coach and away from the castle, leaving one of her

glass slippers behind. After her gown turns back into rags, the mice point out that the other slipper is still on her foot.Back at the castle, the Duke tells the King of the Prince’s meeting with the unknown girl. The King, thinking that the Duke was "in league with the Prince all along," goes into a rage and tries to behead him. Fortunately, the Duke is able to calm him down with

news of the girl's glass slipper and states that the Prince will only marry the girl who fits that slipper.The next morning, the King proclaims that the Grand Duke will visit every house in the kingdom to find the girl whose foot fits the

glass slipper. When news reaches Cinderella's household, her stepmother and stepsisters prepare for the Duke's arrival. Overhearing this, Cinderella dreamingly hums the song played at the ball. Realising that Cinderella was the girl who danced with

the Prince, Lady Tremaine locks her in the attic.When the Duke arrives, Jaq and Gus steal the key to Cinderella's room, but Lucifer catches them before they get to her, they

chase him out the window and Cinderella is freed. As the Duke prepares to leave after the stepsisters unsuccessfully try on the slipper, Cinderella appears and requests to try it on. Knowing the slipper will fit, Lady Tremaine trips the footman, causing him to drop the slipper, which shatters on the floor. Cinderella then produces the other glass slipper, much to her stepmother's horror. A

delighted Duke slides the slipper onto her foot, and it fits perfectly.Cinderella and the Prince celebrate their wedding and live happily ever after.

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Stereotypically Cinderella is visually the most beautiful character in the film but is undermined by her two step sisters who want the attention, but she lives happily ever after.The male is the prince who she falls inlove with, who wears formal suits and lives in a palace.

The stereotypes in this film are not too different to the stereotypes that are used in todays film.I think this is because allot of films today are influenced by the narrative of this film.

The film is set in an estate and a castle, films in this genre today, aren’t usually set in this type of environment.They are usually in more casual places such as cities. Romantic films now tend to be more realistic so that the audience can empathise with the character more.

The editing and sound was allot more simplistic then to what it is now, also because it is animationfoley sound will occur allot more and the music is mostly just vocals, but allot of static is in the background of the song.The editing just includes simple cuts mostly throughout and sometimes text over the top of certain scenes.

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1980

This is a romcom about An idealistic but struggling actor finds his life unexpectedly complicated when he stops a robbery

while wearing the costume of Captain Avenger, a superhero character of a film he is hired to to promote. He decides to try

his hand at being a superhero only to find that it is more difficult and dangerous than he thought.

Captain Avenger

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The narrative isn’t a stereotypicalromcom because the focus isn’t just on

the couple, it is also on the main characterbeing a superhero, which is where most

of the comedy is based around rather thanfocusing on his relationship.

Visually he is a stereotypical character in this genre because he is made to be good looking

which then attracts the female characters.(and the audience.)

The film is set in 1980’s America inthe city, this is commonly where a film of this

genre would be set. The fashion and technology such as cars appear to be different but there isn’t allot of difference from then to what it is

now.The editing is more playful, using a range

of different transitions, such as this, it makes it more lighthearted and comical like

this and also gives it a comic book feel, which relates to the super hero character.

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2000Bridget Jones Diary

This is a romcom about Bridget Jones an average woman struggling against her age, her weight, her job, her lack of a

men, and her many imperfections. As a New Year's Resolution, Bridget decides to take control of her life, keeping a diary in which she will always tell the complete truth about

her life. It begins when her charming though disreputable boss takes an interest in Bridget.

She is accompanied by a band of slightly eccentric friends and an acquaintance who Bridget cannot seem to stop running

into or help finding attractive.

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The narrative for this story is stereotypical because there is a woman who is interested in a man and visa versa but there is a twist in this because she is also drawn to someone else even though throughout the start of the film you are lead to believe that he is one of the bad characters in the story.

She is a stereotypical character for this genre because she is

someone that the audience can relate to. It is targeted at a

female audience who are also around her age and likely to be in

the same situation.

The film is set in London, showing common british weather which it is

known for and using pros such as back cabs,

this also shows the busyness of the location.

It is also largely set in her flat, which againis something that the audience will be

able]to relatebecause this is the kind of life style they

are likely to have.

The editing in this film is moremodern. It frequently uses voice overs,has text look as if it is being written onto the screen in one scene and uses better cuts and transitions throughout. There is music that has beenedited and it of good quality, using popular songs from this time and the film uses different edits such as slow motion.