Film Genre Analysis Essay

Genre is the term given to the classification system that is used by the film industry to categorize films according to the theme of the story. Our text, Film: From watching to seeing (Goodykoontz, 2014), lists the most popular genres as westerns, gangster, mysteries, film noir, horror, fantasy, science fiction, romantic comedy, and musical. There are certain desired elements of each genre of film, and this is what the film makers use to classify their film into its respected category. These same elements are also expected by the audience, and are often what draws someone to watch one genre of film over another. If someone interested in film noir sees that a new science fiction movie is opening, they will not generally plan to spend their time and money on this movie; rather

There is frequently more than one genre attached to a movie, allowing it to attract a larger audience. Some movies classified as fantasy may also contain some elements commonly seen in a romantic comedy. There are also sub categories under many genres, further narrowing their viewing audience. For instance, a horror movie may be further classified as a zombie or vampire horror movie. The genre I selected to focus on is the gangster movie. This is a genre of movie that I enjoy watching, and can focus my attention on greatly. I think that this assignment is going to allow me to analyze this genre of film a little better because I do tend to get very drawn into these types of film. Gangster movies could be considered a sub-genre of crime movies or even westerns, due in part to the basic premise of good versus evil that encompasses all of these genres (Goodykoontz, 2014). The biggest difference between gangster films and westerns, is the time period in which the film is portrayed. Most gangster films are set in the time period that they were made, whereas westerns are meant to portray a certain part of