A movie that features outsiders or troubled people experiencing and expressing heightened emotions communicated through close-up shots and an increasingly confining mise-en-scène is this genre
Melodrama
A film genre that celebrates the harmony and resiliency of social life, typically with a narrative that ends happily and often emphasizes episodes or “gags” over plot continuity
Comedy
In a melodrama, characters express their emotions by crying. In a musical, they do this
Sing and dance
This is the term for the iconic gunfight between the hero and the villain in the Western
A film genre with origins in Gothic literature that seeks to frighten the viewer
Horror
The subgenre of the melodrama that focuses on the physical plight and material conditions that repress or control the protagonist’s desires and emotions
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
Dual focus
A subgenre of the musical that uses cartoon figures and stories to present songs and music
Animated musical
This is the job of the Western hero
To make the West safe for settlement
Films such as the Saw franchise, Evil Dead Rise, and Hostel, in which the psychology of a character takes second place to the depiction of graphic violence, are examples of this subgenre
Physical horror films
In May December, Joe’s troubled relationship with his children and his anxieties about his own weaknesses as a father exemplify how the film can be classified as this subgenre
Family melodrama
If a film contains physical humor and stunts like pratfalls and a topper, a protagonist who is obviously unsuited for romance, and a dynamic of the little guy versus the big guy, it is most likely this subgenre
Slapstick comedy
If a movie features song and dance numbers that occur in the real world and are part of the narrative rather than set aside as performances, then it is this subgenre
Integrated musical
Films like Stagecoach and The Great Train Robbery, which concentrate on action and movement with a heroic character on a quest, are examples of this subgenre
Epic Western
A subgenre of contemporary horror films depicting serial killers that originated with Psycho
The slasher
This subgenre of the melodrama extends its reach to include larger historical, community, economic, and racial issues
Social melodrama
A comic subgenre of the 1930s and 1940s known for fast-talking “Hawksian women” and unpredictable, absurdist action
Screwball comedy
Movies like The Producers or Tick, Tick…Boom, which center around the production and performance of a musical show, are examples of this subgenre
Theatrical musical
This subgenre communicates a more introspective worldview, in which the traditional hero is troubled by his changing social status and the frontier is more populated and civilized
Existential Western
Movies like Halloween, in which a young woman survives the attacks of a serial killer, introduced this new type of character
The final girl
Two major cultural anxieties that are evident in the post-World War II melodrama are fears of deviance and indiscriminate threats like nuclear warfare. What is the third?
The crisis of masculinity
A subgenre of comedy in which humor takes second place to the emotional attraction of a couple who achieves a happy ending
Romantic comedy
This technological development was necessary for musicals to emerge as a genre after 1927
Synchronized sound
Naturalized use of violence is a convention of this Western subgenre
Political Western
If a movie features a spiritual evil that erupts in the human realm, it is this subgenre