Critical Research Essay for Film Genre Studies

Within the movie industry, genre refers to a particular style or category of film production. Genre can be rhetorical, aesthetic, functional, or communicative. It may be best described as a category, grouping, class, or classification of a set of film production. There are different genres of films or movies that include comedy, animation, thriller, action, romance movies, science fiction, war film, crime, and drama. Others include epic film, fantasy, Indie movies, superhero, historical period movie, disaster film, spy films, mystery, television films, and black comedy among others. Hollywood and Bollywood have charted ways for film genres over the years with high returns in addition to serving specific purposes in the entertainment industry (Simoes et al., 35). Movie genres serve different meanings depending on the objective of the producers. This research paper is going to define a given period for the war movies spanning between the first world war and the second world war, discussion on the popularity of the films made during the period and their resulting impacts during the specific period of production. The focus will be on the period between 1918 and 1990, during and after the First and Second World Wars.

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According to Nelson (95), war films major on warfare, both on air, sea, and land. Even though war films gained prominence much earlier, they are mostly linked to the 21st century. War films center on themes such as escape, conflict, loss, in addition to inhuman acts against humanity. War films have always been favorite as they raise fundamental issues in the society that include regional and personal conflicts, superiority, democratic ideals, and the devastating effects of war. Nelson (100), argues that much influence that war films brought forth in the production of other films include the fact that war films addressed the plight of humanity, suffering, and cohesion. According to Barsam, Richard, and Dave (66), these are a critical component of the society that many other film genres adopted and infused in other productions such as science films and action genres. For example, war films produced during and after both the First and Second World war made up and set the pace for the production of movies related to the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Russian conflicts. Zanuck's production of Tora! Tora! Tora highlighted the happenings at Pearl Habor in 1941 became the focal point on the production of other war-related films such as the Final Countdown of 1980, Midway of 1976, and was later revisited in the production of Pearl Habor produced in 2001. Similarly, Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg in 1998 used much of the techniques such as staging, sound design, and audio-visual techniques that have continued to gain prominence in film production (Fisher 514).

The First World War and the Second War World had remarkable impacts on the movie industry with several movies such as West front 1918, The Big Parade, and All Quiet on the Western Front becoming instant hits after the First World War (Fisher 517). The movies served essential purposes in highlighting the reality behind the first world war in addition to impact and the roles played by leaders to in the entire period of the war. War films produced during and after the first and second world war was intended for general viewing with the single purpose of highlighting and creating awareness of the two wars that had the most significant impact in human history. Many without the films cannot and do not have a clue of the extent of the two wars. During the period of the productions, many countries only sent their soldiers but never had the first-hand information of the going in the battle film. The productions despite set behind quick productions enabled many states, individuals, and movie producers to understand and to come to terms with the reality of the two wars. War films are intended to bring the war zone closer to the audience who may have little knowledge on the goings on at the battlefield.

According to Barsam, Richard, and Dave (81), production of war films immediately after the first and second world war focused more on how the war turned the world upside down. Production of war films, on the other hand, contributed to how present-day films are produced. Present day films have many elements of war films as their productions have retained much technique and style of presentation. For example, "J" Accuse produced in 1919, depicted the pain, anguish, suffering, and confusion that reigned during the entire period after the first world war and during and second world war. War films became famous both for entertainment and education on the events that unfolded during the entire period (Simoes et al., 87). Production of the war movies during the period emphasized more on depicting the horror, bravery, and sacrifice in addition to the pain that countries went through during the entire period.

The production of "J" Accuse in 1919 became a great turning point for much of the movies that were later produced. It depicted the heroic attitude and action of the poet who went off to the battlefield and came back home to grieving mothers, widows, and children torn apart due to the effect of the war. While the first production highlighted on the negative effects of the war, the second and third productions focused on the victory that emerged after the first world war. "J" Accuse became a household name in highlighting critical aspects of the war that was initially ignored primarily on the effects of the war on the masses. At the same time, it opened up for other film producers to look away from the battlefield and highlight the plight of the war heroes, victims, and dependants.

During the period of the two world wars, war films became famous both for home and commercial viewing. Countries, war heroes, victims, leaders depended on the battles to catch up on the devastating effect of the two depressing periods. Other film genres depended on the war films to combine different aspects and styles for the production of other genres such as science-fic films, silent movies, and action movie. To a great extent, action movies picked and used numerous production styles selected from war movies. With the collaboration of the military, war films became instant hits as the military forces focused on the improvements and enhanced public relations exercise. It came in addition to countering public propagandas on numerous of warfare and military actions in the battlefield (Barsam, Richard, & Dave. 101) War movies that have had remarkable input from the military include Top Gun, Gathering of Eagles, and the United States Navy produced after the Second World War. The production and makeup of these films went a long way in involving the military forces not only for technical assistance but also infusing various elements of productions majorly from the military. The effect of these cooperation's include opened and enhanced the relationship between film producers and the military in addition to working hand in hand with the government. These efforts created more interest from third-party players and commercial agents who entered into business relationship with movie makers. The film industry expanded with widened cooperation, relations, and partnerships.

As the industry expanded and more players joined the fray, various societal themes and topics became the center stage of home-based films. The war films expanded their target audience, in addition to production settings. These developments not only enhanced productions but also called up various actors and players to join the film industry with further positive financial returns for the producers and higher earnings for the film stars. Significant and prominent actors rose and found new set places in various roles in the film industry. With less demand in action oriented movies, multiple producers concentrated their efforts in producing action-packed films that derived much of their design, setting, audiovisual techniques, and formats from the war films (Nelson 107). For example, Western movies set in the struggle and embodiment of the new frontier of America became the new production set as they concentrated more in exposing some of their efforts in liberating their nation within and in the context of the two major wars. It further led to the production of specific target audience movies such as the low budget movies, big-blockbuster movies and the B-movies that gained prominence in the early and mid-eighties. Famous and renowned blockbuster movies such as A Fistful of Dollars arose from the ideology of centralizing the theme of nation-struggles from the concept of the experiences of American soldiers in both the first and second world wars.

Continued rise and success of war films after the two wars further gave rise to the development and creation of anti-war films that concentrated more on highlighting the horror and pain of war in the face of upholding human dignity and being. For example, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb produced in 1964 soon after the end of the second world war became an instant hit. The movie highlighted the psychological destruction, pain, and the horror that civilians went through during and after significant warfare (Barsam, Richard, & Dave.112). The production of the movie coincided with the success of major war films such as "J" Accuse, The Battle of Somme, and The Battle and Fall of Przemsl produced in 1915.

Conclusion

All through the period after both the first and second world wars, major cooperation's and movie makers concentrated in picking up the most recent occurrences to bring on the motion pictures. It further led to a heightened concentration on new releases in addition to the commercial and financial benefits of the productions. From the United States, Europe, Asia, and Indian motion makers, film production used war movies as the backdrop of their productions with a greater emphasis put on improving on aspects such as audiovisual features, graphics, action, and themes. Significant producers combined ideas to enhance their films with the aim of widening their target audience. The technique gave rise to new genres in the movie industry such as a combination of fantasies, romance, historical spectacles, and drama within one movie epic. These led to the massive development in the production of movies with the effect of increased earnings and influence of film both for commercial and private consumption.

Works Cited

Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at movies. WW Norton & Company, 2015.

Fisher, Jaimey. "Film and Affect, Theories Entwined: The Case of the War Genre in Saving Private Ryan (Steven Speilberg, 1998)." The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017. 513-541.

Nelson, John S. "Atmosphere and Argument: From Vicarious to Virtual Experience in War Movies." Politics in Popular Movies. Routledge, 2015. 94-116.

Simoes, Gabriel S., et al. "Movie genre classification with convolutional neural networks." Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2016 International Joint Conference on. IEEE, 2016.