Amy Willett

Do film genre change over time?

Film Genre has changed over time, but not dramatically. This can be seen through the changes in narrative, audience and in technology. By watching films from different era’s it is quite obvious that they are more and more advanced as years pass. I am looking into how the genre of Romance has changed, using references to films I have watched.

In Romance’s the narrative structure has remained fairly consistent, involving the love interests who meet and their love blossoms, until there is a conflict where the couple are apart, until it is resolved and the film ends with a ‘happily ever after’ style ending. There are also other narrative conventions that are expected to be seen within a romance to add to the story:

A love triangle, which is normally part of the main conflict within the story An interfering authoritative character, such as a mother, or other opinionated family

member The main female character is often strong willed, with even stronger friends or

relations An accidental meeting between the love interests on the first or second meeting The story/ film has the ability to get the audience to feel involved by causing them to

cry, or show other emotion towards characters

Although most romance’s keep to the rules, some film writers like to add twists into the stories to make them unique from others of the same genre. This is becoming more and more apparent, especially over the last decade. The film Titanic, (1997) shows the story of the maiden voyage of the great vessel, and the love story is set amidst the drama, making it a story of two halves, one being the love between Jack and Rose and the other, the sinking of the ship and all the lives that were lost. This film also lacks its happy ending, as one half of the love interest dies, leaving Rose to let him sink into the cold Atlantic.Another film that is more challenging for the conventions is P.S I Love You (2007), where the male half of the love interest dies within the first 20 minutes of the film, and he is replaced by a second male character, with which the conventions involving the conflict remain the same. Holly, the main character does not however secure a happily ever after in her love but it is hinted towards and leaves possibilities for future filming.Films like these do not necessarily follow the rules that are so typical of the genre and have become more versatile over the years, and it is something that the audience appear to like, because the story is not as cliché as it used to be.

The audiences have shaped the way that romance has changed quite dramatically, as everything that is produced is made to keep them entertained. It is due to the audience that romance, nowadays, is unlikely to be the only genre of a film. Other genre such as, fantasy, comedy, drama and action are now combined with romance to add a different scope to the films. Rom-coms have become exceptionally common in the recent years, making the storylines slightly less tedious and allowing the films to be more varied. This suggests to me that, the writers were running low on original stories and there was a need to combine genre in order

Amy Willett

to regain the unique narrative they want and the audience were desperate for. Recent examples of Rom-coms include:

Love Actually (2003) Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days (2003) There’s Something About Mary (1998) 50 First Dates (2004)

The other combined genre, are not mainly focussed on the romance side, but it is used to add different elements to the story, and also helps to create a broader appreciation from the audience as it is more likely to appeal to others that like the romantic elements within the action or fantasy, films like this include, Lord Of The Rings (2001-2003), Twilight (2008) and The James Bond Films. The audiences for this type of genre would normally be mainly male, whereas now it is seen that many women are interested in them too.The audiences have higher expectations for variety of the genre, individuality and also use of technology. Titanic, showed a fantastic use of technology in the sinking of the vessel, this is obvious in the reaction of those that watch it who feel such emotion and believe everything that is happening on screen is real. This is a big part of what an audience like and their expectations to be impressed and drawn into the story by the means of technological advances is growing more and more. The younger generations have been brought up to see films full of technological brilliance and expect it to improve; this is something the writers and production team work very hard to present.

It is the films that are mixed in genre that have the most technology, as Rom-coms do not tend to hold such daring stories that use vast amounts of technology. Fantasy films, however are well known for using impressive technology to create other worlds and creatures. Twilight (2008) was filmed using special effects that had the ability to make the vampire’s run exceptionally quickly and to show one being thrown across a room.Other genres such as action and sci-fi have been the best when it comes to development of technologies and are by far some of the better examples of its use. For me, the best example of fantastic use of special effects for a romance is Titanic, which displays the tragic sinking of the famous cruise liner with such precision and finesse that I was so involved in the story, and all of the characters that were re-enacting the tragic story. It looks real and I forget that it is only a fiction representation I am watching and I was emotionally involved with all of those that were scared, and that lost their lives. It is when you feel that way about a film that you know those responsible for the production did a fantastic job in sucking the audience into the story.

Overall, Romance, as a genre has remained fairly consistent with the story that is told, but the way in which it is presented has changed a lot. This is mainly due to the development in the audience’s expectations and the ability to feed those expectations.I would also say that since it has developed, Romance as a whole is much more popular than it has been in the past and a vast majority of films made in the past decade have had elements of romance within them. Making the films suitable for a wider range of people and enjoyed over and over again.

Amy Willett