Big Picture Definitions
This is the quality of a movie displaying unusual self-consciousness about its generic identity
What is generic reflexivity?
The subgenre of the melodrama that focuses on the physical plight and material conditions that repress or control the protagonist's desires and emotions
What is a physical melodrama?
A common narrative structure in the rom/com, which features scenes centering one character that alternate with parallel scenes centered on the other
What is dual focus?
This subgenre of the musical centers around the production and performance of a musical show
What is a theatrical musical?
Films such as the Saw franchise, Evil Dead Rise, and Hostel are part of this subgenre of horror, in which the psychology of a character takes second place to the depiction of graphic violence
What is a physical horror film?
This is a spiritual, psychological, or cultural model expressing certain virtues, values, or timeless realities
What is an archetype?
In Rebel Without a Cause, Jim's troubled relationship with his weak father and domineering mother exemplifies how the film can be classified as this subgenre
What is a family melodrama?
In this comedic subgenre, humor takes second place to the emotional attachment of a couple who achieves a happy ending
What is a romantic comedy?
This famed filmmaker directed both Bringing Up Baby and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?
Who is Howard Hawks?
This subgenre depicts serial killers and originated with Psycho
What is the slasher?
A more limited version of a genre that adds its own specific conventions to the broader conventions and iconography of the genre as a whole
What is a subgenre?
A subgenre of the melodrama that extends its reach to include larger historical, community, economic, and racial issues
What is the social melodrama?
This type of film contains physical humor and stunts like pratfalls and a topper, a protagonist who is obviously unsuited for romance, and the dynamic of the little guy versus the big guy
What is a slapstick comedy?
There were no musicals before 1927, because the film industry lacked this necessary technology
What is synchronized sound?
Movies like Halloween introduced a new type of character, a young woman who survives the attacks of a serial killer and is referred to by this term
What is a final girl?
A category or classification of films that share similar subject matter, setting, iconography, and narrative and stylistic patterns
What is a genre?
This is the arrangement and movement of actors in relation to each other within the mise-en-scene
What is blocking?
A comic subgenre of the 130s and 1940s known for fast-talking Hawksian women and unpredictable, absurdist action
What is a screwball comedy?
This genre was one of the first to feature Black performers in major roles in mainstream films
What is the musical?
A subgenre of the horror film that locates the dangers and distortions that threaten normal life in the minds of bizarre and dangerous individuals like Norman Bates
What is the psychological horror film?
When a character displays psychological and social features that distinguish them as rounded and complex in a way that approximates realistic human personalities, then that character displays this feature
What is depth?
A genre that often intersects with the melodrama in which the main characters are criminals or otherwise operating outside the boundaries of the law is this kind of film
What is a gangster film?
A sub-subgenre of slapstick comedy that portrays comic teams engaged in male bonding
What is the buddy comedy?
In the melodrama, characters cry to express their emotions. In a musical, they do this instead
What is sing and dance?
A horror subgenre that features a spiritual evil that erupts into the human realm
What is a supernatural horror film?