Titanic: Genre and Audience

I. Genre and Audience

The 1997 film Titanic, directed by James Cameron, is a dramatic romance paralleled with the tragic event of the grand passenger liner RMS Titanic: a modern Romeo and Juliet. The film follows two lovers who come from different social classes. Rose Dewitt Bukater is a young woman in a family struggling to maintain their high status. She is engaged to the rich, Cal Hockley, who could potentially lift the family from their wealth problems. The love interest, Jack Dawson, won a pair of ticket for the Titanic for himself and his friend in a gamble, and boarded the ship. The two engage into an epic romance, only separating during the ship's collision with an iceberg, sinking the ship. James Cameron, during pre-production, decided that the film that he'd taken on was one that needed to be accurate; it needed to depict the tragedy to allow the audience to fully experience this tragic event. He portrayed Jack and Rose's love aboard the Titanic. 

Cameron's intention of making the movie constantly changed, and originally it may not have turned out to be the depiction of the Titanic. He found interest in the project because he had always wanted to go deep-sea diving, and this film would provide him this experience. Cameron, during production, was expecting financial losses because the film had taken over $200 million to make. The film was inevitably going to make substantial losses. It ended up being the first film to break the $1 billion mark and to this day stands at the second most grossing film ever behind Cameron's Avatar. The audience was mixed between both male and females, viewing the film multiple times.

Ideology in Film

Ideology: Implicit vs. Explicit.
Ideology are beliefs and interpretations that one may exert. Ideology refers to a socio-political belief and this has found its way into film. Directors and film-makers have incorporated these ideologies into their film to bring in their own beliefs or the belief of the time period. These can range from, but not limited to,  political equality, racial problems, and social pressures. The film's ideologies can be communicated in a variation of two ways -- implicit and explicit. Explicit ideology refers to the director directly communicating the ideology to the audience, and is the film's declared ideology. Implicit Ideologies are the under-the-surface meaning. These are debatable and are up to the audience to determine.

Ideology and Expectations.
Will Smith

Will Smith often plays in movies with some form of comedy, although he has a large filmography ranging from action to drama. Despite this, his films are commonly comedies, because this is where his career launched. Beginning with the 90's television show, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", he was deeply seeded into his comedic roots. Often, he exaggerates his body language after he cracks a joke, hinting at his humor. Will Smith embodies a character of lightheartedness, but when needed, he assumes a serious role. In his recent movies, he's played a struggling protagonist that has to overcome his emotional struggles. Movies he's starred in recently are "I am Legend", "Seven Pounds", and "The Pursuit of Happyness". In these films, he in emotionally struggling and strives through them, finding solutions and ways to adapt to the harsh realities of life. Smith often plays a character that needs much emotion to portray, and his performances are phenomenal, making him the ideal actor for emotional dramas. His versatility between genres allows him to play in roles from comedies to dramas.

Personal Ideologies and Enjoyment
Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies is a character that I admire. He plays a pirate that struggles to gain the respect that he desires. His judgement may seem distorted at times because of his foul habits, but ultimately, his character finds a way to overcome obstacles, defeat his enemies, and reach his goals. His character appeals to me because of his bizarre behaviors, his uniqueness, and his weirdness. What is the most interesting, in my opinion, is his unorthodox personality. He, despite being a pirate, doesn't hurt the innocent and avoids violence until his own life is at risk. His slyness also is a trait that is admirable. His fast talking and quick judgement allows his to avoid dangerous encounters and acquire what he wants. Being a movie geared to children, it promotes selflessness and teaches good character by using Jack Sparrow as a contrast to the typical pirate image.

Changing Ideologies
Ideologies can effect a culture because of their beliefs at a given time period. What we perceive at a norm may not necessarily be acceptable in the past. This can even be applied to foreign films. We may not understand the ideologies presented because of our lack of exposure to other cultures. Ideologies and societal beliefs change over time; we are inclined to accept certain things. Film makers may consider the fact that the audiences may want to see certain aspects of society shown, and therefore change how something is perceived through what is shown on the screen. An example we often see is in comedy films. Ideas change constantly and film makers have to consider what the audience will see as humorous. This can range from alluding jokes to the entire atmosphere of the movie. Some comedies today have are more intelligible and therefore touch upon more complicated ideas such as the movie "Up in the Air" where are films such as "Pineapple Express" are much more simple.

Ideology and its Effects
I definitely think that films can manipulate an individual to act a certain way. For myself personally, I find myself action differently after watching certain movies. These films are often action, fighting movies. When walking away from the movie, I feel that my actions are affected because of my views towards the individuals of the movie. If the character was brave and rebellious, I tend to want to embody what the character was. Characterization plays a huge role in how audiences react to a character and through their action, we see how they possess the traits that influence the audience's actions after the film.

Ideology and Realism
Suspension of disbelief is a way of reasoning with film. It allows the authors to incorporate implausible fantasies into their work and the audience ignores the sense of realism that the film is supposed to have. The audience would suspend their judgement of the irrelevancy of the film in order to take in the fantasy world. An example of this suspension of disbelief is in "Paranormal Activity". Where as the audience knows that ghosts and demons are not real, we disregard this in order to be emerged into the film. Another example are superhero movies such as "Spiderman" and "The Fantastic 4". Although onlookers know that these superhuman abilities are but a fantasy, we suspend our familiarity with a realistic world in order to enjoy the qualities that make this superhuman unique.

Ideology and Ownership 
The financial issues of a production company influences what is represented in a film. If the film does not meet the standards or does not appeal to what the producers want, then they can suspend or even take away funds from a project, affecting the final product. An example of the financial difficulties that influence a film is the recent film "Red Tails". Director George Lucas had worked on this project for many years, but because of the discontent with the cast (in fear that this film would not be a success) they decided that the society was not ready for a type of film like "Red Tails".

Genre Study

Action Films
Examples:
1. James Bond (began 1962)
2. Terminator (1984)
3. Enter the Dragon (1973)







Narrative Conventions:
Oftentimes, the action genre has scenes that cause the audience to experience of feeling of escape through the actions scenes. Shots are used to create impact and escalated force, done through quick cuts and short average shot length. These are done through managing the pacing of the film through rhythmic cuts and edits. The scenes can include chase scenes, fighting scenes, escape scenes, rescue scenes, adventurous journey scenes and much more. Action and adventure films are similar in that both genres can branch similar sub-genres such as science fiction films or thrillers.
The main character is oftentimes male and serve as the "action hero" so to say, where as the women usually play a supporting role as accomplices or the love interest of the protagonist. The protagonist, in actions films, commonly face odds that seem impossible to overcome and, in the end, the hero emerges victorious above.


Comedy Films (Dumb Comedies)
Examples:
1. Borat (2006)
2. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
3. Superbad (2007)

Narrative Conventions:
Comedies are designed to create amusement for the audience; the purpose of the genre of comedy is to amuse and entertain the audience and provides an "escape" to everyday life. This is done through various traits of the genre including jokes, mockery, exaggerations, and other techniques. Comedies can generally fall into the many sub-categories of the genre, including dark comedies, horror comedies and action comedies. Comedies are seen in in its primitive stage before the 1900's, in which sound was not needed and relied on the slapstick aspect. Slapstick is the most primitive type of comedy; it relies on over exaggeration, where they began to bloom in the 1940s and 50s, assisted by comedians such as the Marx Brothers, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. With the introduction of dialogue in movies, comedies began implementing it to further add additional humor to comedy films. The plot often follow the convention of another genre such as action, drama, horrors, etc. A film can be categorized as comedy by its visual entertainment and humor.



War Films

Examples:
1. Inglorious Bastards (2009)
2. The Hurt Locker (2008)
3. Defiance (2008)







Narrative Conventions:

War films often explore the destructions and effects of war, hence its name. It frequently takes place in areas of war, and much are made during times of war. In the past, war movies were used as a means of propaganda in order to influence the population to enlist and provide assistance in the military. War movies were used to glorify a certain idea that a together a nation shared and acted as a call to action. As the genre developed to how it is seen today, it depicts the physical and emotion struggle of the protagonist in entering the war. Characters are usually a group of men that are thrust into the war zone unprepared and unequipped with the skills needed to survive. As the plot progresses, the character undergoes an emotional change to adapt to the environment of war. Oftentimes, the main protagonist has a love interest back home away from the war and this can be the reason for his perseverance and strength in order to return safely. The war genre's plot is often fueled by either revenge or personal issues.