The Rise Of The Melodrama

During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,

This film highlights the flaws of humanity in a western world. The films ability to touch on topics of classism, prostitution, and alcoholism makes the content mature and unlike typical western films. This revolutionary and innovative western created a foundation for many future films. The sophistication of the content, and lack of adherence to the production code makes this film an “adult”

Before beginning of this quarter, I had no formal education on the topic of love or cinema studies which made this course seem the most intriguing. This was a completely new topic to me. Through the many assignments and group discussions, I have a much greater understanding of the world of film and understanding love in east Asian countries. With the help of my peers reviewing my assignments and providing a different perspective on my essays, I have honed my abilities in writing and thorough film analysis.

In the contemporary context, when one tries to analyze the idea about women from previous decades being an audience and not the crew of a film industry, one wants to question and ask: why were women only an audience or, actors? Maybe there were some culturally held values and beliefs with respect to their contexts? However, with the passage of time, cultural and professional values improved. Technology began to improve and so did the mind-set of professional groups along with the audiences. Film industry has had an impression of providing first entertainment and, second education. Hence those working for the films might have had hurdles in choosing working for films as their career or vocation. At different times in the history, women in different cultural contexts have worked for certain film industries. I want to explore the idea about women and their talent in the film industry. Since I am primarily a viewer of the Bollywood industry and an occasional viewer of the Hollywood cinema, I want to compare the cultural and professional values of those who work for films in different settings. Since the course readings provided information with respect to certain cinema contexts, I wanted to add some ideas providing a comparative analysis of the women talent in diverse film settings.

Early cinema is often referred to as a progression to narrative cinema, Tom Gunning would argue that it was not a progression but had its own purpose and coined the term The Cinema of Attractions in his essay ‘Now you see it, Now you don’t’. This is the concept that a large quantity of the first film makers produced films that were more about the spectacle, most of the films leading up to 1900 reflected the fascination with technology and how things happened rather than why. Gunning noted that there were three assumptions of film; the general ideas that people had about the timeline of film and where it would end up. There is the cinematic assumption, the idea that film was ‘restricted to the technological reproduction of theatre’ (Gunning T.1993) early cinema was primitive and only a practice for what was to come. The narrative assumption is that film is ‘only important as it is a predecessor to a more engaging and effective form of film,’ (Gunning T. 1993) this suggests that narrative cinema is the natural form of film. The final assumption is the idea that ‘cinema only truly appeared when it discovered its mission of telling stories.’ (Metz C. 1974) These assumptions all encompass the idea that narrative is the end form of film. In this essay I am going to discuss Tom Gunning’s theory of The Cinema of Attractions and the differences between them and narratively driven films.

During the 19th century, theater adopted a realistic viewpoint by romanticism but also a rise in modern nationalism to give people a sense of belonging in a community or culture (Carlson 2014: 21). In the 20th century, realism in theater was challenged and plays were now easier to attend due to the improvements of communication and the ability to reach other areas of the world by travel (Carlson 2014: 23-24). Theater is another addition to the world of art that is continuously evolving and adapting to the world and cultures influencing its

Being one of the world’s most popular art forms, it was inevitable that these archetypes would find their way into film as well. In this essay I will argue that the

So, now the question of how they could entertain without offending anyone come into play. Films from this period have been named the "Cinema of attractions" by film scholar Tom Gunning, in part, because they treat show over narrative. The popularity of film in its first decade was for some, a cause for concern. It faced challenges to produce longer pictures, which not only would advance their profitability, but also needed to be narrative, which in turn allowed films to carry ethical and good messages.

Most romantic comedy movies fulfil the viewers’ expectations of the perfect love story whilst incorporating comedic elements. Typically there is always a pretty girl who falls deeply in love with a male character, often less popular and less attractive, who makes multiple comedic attempts in winning her heart until eventually they both fall madly in love and live happily ever after, in this case a genre movie is expressed as “those commercial feature films which through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters in

Films like Honeymoon, a story about a newly married couple, whose honeymoon goes drastically wrong when the wife starts acting weird, after being found standing in the woods naked. She beings hiding things from her husband, along with showing more aggression. It is later revealed that she had become impregnated by an alien life force. This film shows the emotional ramifications of rape. It shows how this young woman tries desperately hard to make sure that her husband doesn’t find out that she was “raped”. It shows her emotional struggles, and the struggles of those who love

The producers will develop a test and the audience will tell the producers whether it is something they want to see or they are not going to see. This can affect the next text to be produced in an attempt to conform to the audience demands. Looking at the development of different types of genres and the development of films within the same genre, it’s possible to look at similarities and differences and identify changes in society and audience ideologies and tastes.

Genre theory is used to study films and put them into a classification so that audiences know what type of film it is before they see it. Genres are categories based on the story of the film, sometimes the actors and actresses, or even the directors. All films fall under a genre or sub-genre category. Romantic Comedy is an example of a genre which is light-hearted, humorous story involving people in love, sometimes overlapping with subgenres such as screwball comedy teen comedy, or gross-out comedy. ( Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, table 4.1). This paper will focus on the romantic comedy genre and movie Rocky. It will take a better look at the specific conventions of this genre and how this movie fits the gangster genre.

From the first time it was presented at the start of the nineteenth century, melodrama attracted big audiences. It started out very popular with the lower classes in society but as the century progressed melodrama became appreciated by large sections of society(Leaver,444). It usually contained themes of love, murder and honour. Audiences that went

The evaluation of a film assigns some form of value to a film and the experience you encountered while watching the film. Evaluation can imply the criteria and standards that you can argue about to place value on a film. Thus, giving people a reason to question a film to develop reasons, make such standards are met and to understand the film. These standards can stem from the classical evaluation and pluralistic-category method which has given viewers a blueprint of how you should properly evaluate a film. There are certain ways that you can go about judging a films effectiveness. For instance, the classical evaluation method imposes the use of cinematicity within three concepts that all films should have. Like medium specificity, cinematicity allows film to distinguish itself from theatre with the use of close-ups, camera movement, etc.; thus, creates a universal structure for critics to judge a film. This is based on the creative style of the director and how much the viewers admire the way the has stuck with its cinematicity. However, the pluralistic-category does not base its evaluation on style and opinion. In all, these types of evaluations are used in different ways which will be further explained throughout this essay.

In today's busy world, people usually struggle to find time for fun and a way of relaxation but when it happens, they often spend it on entertainment. One of those forms of entertainment is watching stage or film productions. Theatre and film have lots of aspects in common and depend on each other, however, they involve differences. People choose between theater and film based on factors and their own preferences. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast between those two forms of art.