Jane jumped to the strident sound of her awakening. What day were we? Tuesday ? Wednesday ? She swivels on her stomach to wipe out cheerfully in her duvet. A large cup of coffee would undoubtedly help him to clear up ideas. She had vague memories of the day before. She took a deep inspiration to give herself courage and got up. The slippers that had slipped under the bed were far too big for her little feet. She noticed that her t-shirt was coming strangely at the knees. In the kitchen, she could not reach the shelf where the cup in which she usually used her coffee was located. She enlisted with an automatic gesture the coffee maker which emitted a complaint and a brief gargouillis. While her drink flowed drip and already embalmed the apartment, Jane headed for the bathroom to take her medication box. She was surprised by her own reflection. Planted in front of the big mirror, she found herself face to face with a little girl.
That morning, Jane was six years old.
-Damn, she sighed.
She had never come back so far in time.
Jane suffered from a rare and unknown disease that doctors simply called “temporal disruption”. They could have found a more learned name, a name in Latin which would make a little classy temporis disturbi temporis, or a name inspired by mythology as aeson syndrome, but no, they had not been more inventive. The first signs of the disease appeared the day after her fortieth anniversary. Jane had not first paid attention to it. One morning, she was radiant with a fresh complexion and the pink cheeks. She told herself that she had enjoyed a restful sleep and that her new night cream had done wonders. For once, advertising had not been false. But another morning, she discovered new wrinkles and multiple white hair. The differences with her real age had increased over the months. In the night, her body was transformed according to an unknown and mysterious process. He rejuvenated or aged in her sleep. At dawn, she discovered her age of the day helpless. She had been forced to leave her job as an accounting assistant when one morning she woke up in the body of an eleven year old prediction. She was far too young, even to solicit a discovery course. She had asked her boss to exercise her profession in teleworking so that she could shut herself up and not cross her colleagues who would have understood nothing about the situation.
Her illness had also turned her love life upside down. Jane had initially considered her temporary rejuvenation as an unexpected chance of enjoying lost time again. She had forgotten how beautiful she was at twenty. She who had been so complexed after adolescence! What a funny idea with hindsight! Jane returned to her jeans again effortlessly and was taken from a crazy desire to dance and get drunk. After dragging into two or three bars, she had managed to bring a beautiful philosophy student home who had debited her quotes from Saint-Augustin while undressing her penetrated. “As for the present, if he was still present, if he was not going to join the past, he would not be time, he would be eternity. Jane had not understood anything, but she had been delighted with her evening. Her one night lover had been in a less philosopher mood when he had discovered the next day a woman of seventy years nestled against him. He had cried out of gold and detailed like a rabbit. Jane had not held the experience and had since resolved to celibacy.
The little girl she was that day sat down with her cup of hot coffee at the table of her modest kitchen and swallow her drugs like a handful of candies. She began to believe that a vulgar placebo had been passed through her because the disease would get worse. She inspected her little pink hands. Six years today. How old tomorrow? What would happen if she woke up in the body of an infant or in that of a grabarity vieillarde? In both cases, she would be unable to move by herself. It had already happened that it remains significantly blocked at the same age for several days in a row. She shivered at the idea of staying lying in bed, unable to move, and die of dehydration or hunger, helpless and stuck in the boring body of a six -week baby.
This perspective froze her blood. Her coffee was already cold. She had to urgently consult Dr. Chronas. In her wardrobe, she kept clothes of different sizes. Over time, it had formed a wardrobe to overcome all her morphological deviations. She put on a flower dress size 10 years – too large, but too bad – and sizes 29 boots which she had recovered in a fair at everything. The doctor’s office was at the other end of the city. The car would have been the fastest means of transport, but Jane was far too small to reach the pedals and she did not want to be arrested by the police. It was a hit to be directly placed in childhood social assistance. So she took the metro by being as discreet as possible. Based in the crowd, making believe that she was accompanied by an adult, we might leave her quiet. She hoped that a poodle granny was not going to caress her cheek by asking her where her mother was, as the last time she had borrowed public transport. Fortunately, and after only a few intrigued looks placed on her, Jane arrived without incident at the medical office.
Dr. Chronas did not need to examine it at length to lead to this observation: he unfortunately felt overwhelmed by the condition of his patient. All analyzes carried out, radios and other blood tests were not anomaly in Jane’s organism. It had to be psychological.
-I am not a psychiatrist, but you may have somatized your quarantine crisis, announced the doctor learnedly.
Jane got up and kicked her in the shins. What a charlatan that one!
Let’s see, Madame Pellicer, stop behaving like a child! replied Dr. Chronas. You cannot constantly flee the passage of time!
Vexed, Jane slammed the cabinet door and began to wander in the city. Of course, she was afraid of the passage of time. She had nostalgia for the years when she was still a student, she regretted the innocence and the cheerfulness of her childhood. She would have liked to retain all these years in the palm of her hand, the years spent, but also in the years to come. The next decades were a nightmare. She refused that her body will change, that her movements become slower and painful.
Just live the present time, forever.
As it walked and the sun was declining, Jane’s shadow gradually lengthened. She crossed her reflection in the window of a hair salon.
“ You’ll see, it works, I read that in a magazine of the time.” While remembering the advice of a friend, Ed Hill took a deep breath in order to bring down the anguish. Hopefully, the torment his stomach was inflicting on him will fade away in a saving breath of air.
The air entered his nose, bringing with it the scent of his freshly applied perfume, then rushed into his lungs and finally escaped from his mouth. This sensation, as new as it was, gave him an intense surge of oxygen to his brain, blurring his sight for a few seconds. On the other hand, his stress did not decrease, lack of pot.
Hidden behind the black stage curtains, he could already hear Brian Schmitt, the electrifying robot everyone was raving about. “ Welcome to New Encounters, the show where the world unfolds before your eyes… ”, he perceived from afar. Brian presented the most watched TV show in France and just before joining him, Ed dithered. He was just a scientist, not a star. Why inflict such pressure on yourself?
Nevertheless, the commitments were made, the distribution contracts signed with the hand of a wise automaton and the spirits heated to the bone. It was no longer possible to go back. Her life had just changed drastically and, deep down, Ed hoped that she would upset the lives of many others.
— Ladies and gentlemen, please give a proper welcome to Doctor Ed Hill! Brian declared with conviction.
A resounding thunder of applause rang out from the audience, while a tech robot made sweeping gestures compulsively for Ed to enter the stage. Hesitantly, the latter advanced towards the light, touching in the process the dark fabric which separated him from the tray. A gentle heat caressed his right arm before disappearing in a blinding glare.
— Welcome ! Can I call you Ed? Started Brian to relax the atmosphere, while asking his guest to sit down. — Of course. he replied, intimidated.
Apart from the stage, illuminated by powerful lights, everything was completely plunged into darkness. The red sensors of the cameras were pointed towards the center, where Ed Hill was going to be filmed for the first time.
— How are you doing ? You look radiant to me. — I’m glad to be here, Ed said, a grain in his voice.
— You see me delighted. I understand that the events we are going to talk about this evening have not been easy. Will you find it difficult to confide in yourself?
— Don’t worry, I’m ready. You have before your eyes the fruit of several years’ work, as tedious as it is fascinating, Ed confided while pinching his forearm in front of the lens. — Ah! Was it painful? Brian asked, laughing. — Let’s just say it tingles a bit, Ed ventured, smiling broadly.
— What humor ! Applaud him, ladies and gentlemen! Doctor Ed Hill! cried Brian.
Cheers broke out from the audience.
— Very well, then Ed, let’s not wait any longer! Tell us about Hangar 66? Brian continued in a calm voice. — Do you remember your birth factory Brian? — Like it was yesterday. — I will put my hand to cut that it looks like two drops of water. In any case, hangar 66 is identical to mine, I was inspired by it. A particular atmosphere hovers there, full of questioning and doubt, but also of excitement and desire, necessary for the development of a marvelous future. The only difference is that it is not robots that come out, but human beings. — And what a success, cried Brian, waving his arm at his guest.
Applause rang out, then the presenter continued.
— Ed, tell me, why did you want to be first? — That’s a good question, Brian, Ed replied, brushing his hair with the back of his hand. Quite simply because I am the instigator of this experiment. I would have blamed myself if harmful side effects had occurred on people other than me. — Precisely, have you had any side effects? — Not yet, except ravenously hungry,” Ed joked, feeling more and more at ease.
The audience followed him in his euphoria.
— What did you prefer to eat, since your rebirth? — When I woke up, they brought me what the humans called an Emmenthal ham sandwich. — How was it ? asked Brian, microphones dangling from Ed’s lips. — Delicious, I cried. — Cried, you hear that! Brian cried as he stared at the camera, his voice laced with passion. New emotions overwhelm you? insisted the presenter. — All the time. It’s only been a few days, but already I’m lost in the twists and turns of my sensitivity. Empathy overwhelms me when I see robots in distress, anger overwhelms me when I observe the price of electricity, and fear immobilizes me when I launch into an interview like this, my brain is boiling and my body reacts accordingly. — Stunning! How do you handle all of this? — For now, I suffer more than I manage, I’m not going to lie. We still have a lot to learn. This body is like an alarm bell on constant alert, it’s disconcerting. However, it makes you feel awfully alive. — What hell ! laughed Brian, while throwing his arms in the sky. — Nothing to do with god, I assure you, Ed joked.
The spectators burst out laughing.
— Everyone here wants to know Ed., how is the operation going? Brian asked, regaining control of his broadcast. — The trickiest part is the making of the human body. They are so complex, it’s fascinating. Then just download our consciousness into the brain and you’re done, Ed explained proudly. — It seems so simple. But, for what reasons? Why do you want to revolutionize the world in this way? — This experience was born from an observation, which I realized after my first birthday bolts. Like many others, I understood that our mechanical eternity, as important as it is in our eyes, leads us towards a suffocating gloom, in which surprise and adventure no longer have any place. Our archives prove to us that at the time of humans, the world was full of creative energy of all kinds, making the slightest bit of boredom fleeting. Me what I want is to discover what the audacity of mortality can bring to our world in loss of imagination.
A long and heavy “Aaah” escaped from the audience, approving the doctor’s words.
— And do you feel a new energy? — Just imagine that just this morning, I was wondering what I was going to be able to do with the time that was allotted to me. You see, the fatality of death has a spicy taste of adventure, it’s gripping. — And what are you going to do with this time? — I don’t really know, let’s say I’ll take the time to think about it, Ed said humorously. — Funny! Brian stated firmly. Finally, do you have a message to convey? — I must say that for the moment, I live an extraordinary experience. My body is only 20 years old, my senses are awake, my brain is fiery and I have only one desire, to share my life with other human beings. To know joy, sadness, love, melancholy and who knows what else. With our robotic wisdom, acquired over our millennia of existence, these emotions are real sources of inspiration, so don’t hesitate! If you feel like living life to the full and dying with panache, head to Hangar 66! — Magnificent ! It was Brian Schmitt, with Dr. Ed Hill. The first human is reborn from his cybernetic ashes! I wish you a good evening, and see you tomorrow for new new encounters! concludes the presenter, under the ovation of a conquered public.
I’ve been talking about films for a while now, but I’ve never written an article about genres as such, because I wasn’t really paying attention until then. I was told that such and such a film was part of such and such a genre and I said “Okey”! I don’t like to put artistic works in cases, but we must recognize that certain films or books respect codes which are specific to their genre, and we will see why.
Why classify films by genre?
There are two ways to approach the question of gender:
Either we have the film and then we have the genre:
The director thinks he wants to make a film and then it’s up to the theaters, the producers, see the spectators to give it a genre.
George Mélies, in directing “Voyage dans la Lune”, didn’t think he was going to make a sci-fi movie, for good reason the genre didn’t exist yet.
Either we have the genre first and then we have the movie:
The director will say to himself, I am going to make an action film (for example) and create his film based on the genre
But which came first the chicken or the egg? What is the relationship between the egg, the chicken and science fiction?
I am deeply convinced that in the first place there were films and the more they were, the more we could see similarities appear, first borrowed from other art forms, until the appearance of similarities which were specific to them.
THE SQUAW MAN, US poster art, 1914
In 1903, “The great train robbery” was released, a film where cowboys steal a train in the American West. In 1914, “Squaw Man” was released, a film about an English officer who was to marry an Indian in the American West. In 1916, “Hell’s Hinges” tells the story of a cowboy who falls in love with an outlaw in the American West
From there, the audience thought, “It would still be handy if we had a name for all of our films with cowboys and Indians in the American West!” “ As for the producers, they say to themselves: “I would like to make a film with cowboys and Indians in the American West, but I would like to bring something else to it” And you get the need to name: The Western. The label is for the public to say, “I’ll be fine watching a Western.” “, So that the cinema can say:” We offer you a Western. “, But above all so that the directors can say to themselves” I want to do a Western. “ Genre cinema was born.
The genre film is a film in which the genre is creative. It is a film that will take into account the codes of a genre, to exploit them, to divert them, to satisfy or deceive the expectations of the viewer. Because when we talk about gender in the cinema, we are talking about the spectator’s expectations.
But how are genres defined? Well, it’s something very vague and often the same movie can have several genres. To make this article I used several criteria.
How to define a genre?
For me there are 4 elements that define the genre of a film:
The tone of the film
The themes of the film
The scenario (by its structure or concerning certain elements only)
The target of the film
Some people use the format of the film, but for me, it’s a mistake.
When you see the animated film category on certain sites, it makes as much sense to me as black and white films or silent films or even cinema scope films. It doesn’t ring a bell about the movie you’re going to watch. A genre that brings together under the same label:
“The Emoji Movie”, “Akira”, “Persepolis” and “The Lord of the Ring” (1978) It’s a label that is useless.
Among its four elements, some will have practically binding conditions, established rules that cannot be broken, but these are often very broad rules. In the family genre, the only essential element is related to the tone, it must be accessible and viewable to children without bothering parents. Yes, it is fuzzy and arbitrary!
Why are “Maleficent” from 2014 and “Night at the Museum” Home movies and not “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” from 2014 are not?
In the Crime genre we have an imperative that falls within the scenario. There has to be one or more crimes, or criminality, and this crime, these crimes, this criminality has to be a big issue in the scenario.
The viewer, when going to see a family or crime genre film, has other expectations, but these are optional. It reveals codes of the genre.
Watching a crime film, I think police, charismatic villain, dark film that happens mostly at night, where the characters are lonely and a little disillusioned.
When people talk to me about family films, I think colorful film, light tone and happy ending, creepy antagonist but just right, brave protagonists.
But when you watch “Home Alone” or “The Mask” you realize that his films fall under the Crime genre and do not have at all that atmosphere that I imagine.
Much like “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One” or “Coraline” doesn’t tick all the boxes I imagine when I am told a family movie, especially when it comes to the creepy antagonists but not too many!
Brrrr
But the four of them have in common that they respect The indispensable condition which allows them to belong to the family gender.
Finally last detail, the genres are obviously not waterproof. Nothing prevents a film from having a crime theme while including children in its audience:
Indeed a film can belong to several genres: (Image coco de pixar) (genres: Fantasy, family, adventure, musical)
Ten of my favorite genres (not necessarily in order):
Small methodology point:
I use IMDB to provide me with a list of keywords to add them to a table to sort which appear the most and those that appear the least according to each genre.
Finally, I use Letterbox which organizes the films by genre while prioritizing the genres. Thus “Back to the Future” is classified first as a family film, then as an adventure film, then a comedy and finally as a science fiction film. So Back to the future will fit perfectly into the family genre but a little less than “Interstelllar” for science fiction or “The Big Lebowski” for comedy but still partly corresponds to it. Finally not only will I tell you about 10 genres but in addition I will tell you about 5 subgenres for each of them.
I/ Historical Movies:
Expectations :
Tone: Serious Theme: A historic event Scenario: Depends on the event Target: Rather adults
Most common keywords:
Based on true story
What happened in Epilogue
Politics
Based on real person
Epic
Husband Wife relationship
Based on book
Battle
Father Son relationship
World War II
Less common keywords:
Psychotronic film
Surprise ending
Cult film
Chase
Cell Phone
Supernatural Power
Kidnapping
Good versus Evil
Sequel
Falling from height
Description:
This is one of the easiest genres to catalog. The facts told must be based on real historical facts. The key word that comes up most often is “based on true history”, but the prerequisite is that it must be based on real historical facts.
In Robbert Eggers’s “The Witch,” is a historical film about colonists who were excommunicated in New England in the 1630s, to whom a whole lot of funny adventures happen. (A whole family dies in misery, resentment, fear and guilt.) But this story is totally fictional, these people never existed.
“Troy” is a historical film when we are not even sure that the Trojan War actually took place.
But his films take place in a context which is based on real historical facts. Conversely, being based on real events is not enough to make a film historic.
“The Social Network” is based on a true story, but is not a historical film. A historical film depicts a state of the world that is no longer today.
“A Beautiful Man”, is a biography of John Forbes Nash, is not tagged as a historical film as it is set between 1947 and 1994.
Whereas “Zero Dark Thirty” which tells the story of the hunt for Bin Laden is a historical film set between 2001 and 2011. The difference is in the subject. “A Beautiful Man” might as well be set in another era. It is not the indirect portrait of a society, but only the story of a man.
Subgenres:
Biopic:
The Biopic may or may not belong to the historical genre. As the name suggests a biopic is a biography. The principle is simple, we tell the story of one or more people while more or less romanticizing their lives.
Peplum:
The Biopic may or may not belong to the historical genre. As the name suggests a biopic is a biography. The principle is simple, we tell the story of one or more people while more or less romanticizing their lives.
Docudrama:
A sub-genre that is close to documentary, while remaining a work of fiction.
War Movies:
War movies may not have the historical aspects of the conflicts in question, like Disney’s “Mulan” is a war movie without being a historical movie. Often war films are categorized as a genre in their own right.
Swashbuclers:
Genre responding to strict rules, his films must take place in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, in which a courageous character, almost always male (pity) rebels, sword in hand often against authority. There is often a damsel in distress to save, seduce and / or protect.
II/ Adventure Movies:
Expectations:
Tone: light Theme: Travel, danger, friendship … Scenario: good guys, bad guys, happy ending Target: all public
Most common keywords:
Blockbuster
Rescue
Explosion
Good Versus Evil
Battle
Warrior
Falling From Height
Martial Arts
Action Hero
Male protagonist
Less common keywords:
Cigarette smoking
Female Nudity
Blood
Telephone Call
Husband Wife Relationship
Based On True Story
F word
Blood Splatter
Hospital
Gore
Description:
When we talk about adventure films we immediately think of Indiana Jones or Indiana Jones or … But what is an adventure film that is not Indiana Jones? The adventure film shares a great deal of reference with action cinema. If we look at the keywords that come up most often in both cases, we find:
Rescue
Explosions
Warrior
Good versus evil
But if we look at the key words that separate them, we have on the action side elements of violence while on the adventure side, we have elements related to interpersonal relationships and especially “exotic” elements, disorienting. Either things that do not exist like magic or monsters, or places like, a forest, a castle, cave … I deduce that the essential element in the adventure film, is a certain level of disorientation of the viewer but to a lesser extent, the viewer will expect a lighter film, more all public than for any other genre. Some key words that are relatively less present to qualify this kind of film bear witness to this:
F word
Gore
Blood splash
Female nudity
Smoking cigarettes
Adventure films are generally more consensual, and many recent superhero films are labeled adventure before sci-fi and action. It’s very hard to find a movie that just has the adventure label, but here are a few subgenres that almost always have it.
Subgenres:
Swashbuclers:
A protagonist who wields a sword and has a big mouth! You cannot conceive of a Swashbuckler with a pistol or who would face it. We find “Pirates of the Caribbean” or even films of an Asian genre: the Chambara.
These are samurai films, one of his most famous examples of which is “Seven Samurai” by the great Kurosawa.
Road Movies:
These are films in which, or more often, the protagonists are on the road. Very American kind, the highways are a metaphor for freedom.
Treasure hunting movies:
Film characterized by fairly obvious elements of the scenario, finding or rediscovering one or more things …
Disaster films:
What could be more exotic than imagining the world falling apart?
Pirates Movies:
As long as it’s about pirates, it’s a pirate movie.
III/ Action Movies:
Expectations:
Tone: from very light to very serious Theme: revenge, conflict, violence, gun … Scenario: Good guys, bad guys, bad guys. Target: mostly men.
Most common keywords:
Shootout
Pistol
Explosion
Machin Gun
Martial Arts
Fistlight
Shot in the chest
Tough guy
Gun fight
Hand to hand combat
Less common keyword:
Crying
Mother son relationship
Dancing
Family relationship
Marriage
Singing
Telephone call
Friend
Based on true story
Mother daughter relationship
Description:
It is less about action than violence, but violence is not enough to define action cinema. Many horror films are violent without necessarily being action films. The main characteristic of an action film is a fast pace. The spectator must be kept in suspense by the chain of events embodied by a confrontation between two entities.
Subgenres:
Super hero movies:
Superhero films that are not action films are extremely rare. Indeed, who says super hero says super villains and super clashes. In these films, the main protagonist possesses extraordinary abilities and uses them to do good.
Martial Art Movies:
The genre includes all karate and kung fu films …
Wuxia:
Very Asian genre if there is one, these are fantastic films where a character will suffer a tragic loss and begin an initiatory journey during which he will become a powerful warrior following the path of Xia (the path of the warrior / hero / vigilante) ), with a sword.
Adaptation of video games into film:
You have to believe that the studios believe that gamers can only enjoy action movies. Detective Pikachu: Puzzle Games = Action Movie Final fantasy IIV: Japanese role-playing games = action movie Resident Evil: Survival horror = action movie I’m exaggerating a bit but not by much.
Spy Movie:
Indispensable condition, it has to be about spies, but the public will more or less expect a James Bond clone with his gadgets, big, very nasty corporations and a nice spy who plays it, over equipped and over trained. that infiltrates their headquarters.
IV/ Thrillers
Expectations:
Tone: Serious, heavy
Theme: Murder, mystery, threat, investigation …
Scenario: The outcome is very important
Target: Adult
Most common keywords:
Murder
Pistol
Shot to death
Shot in the chest
Blood splatter
Death
Blood
Neo Noir
Shoutout
Corps
Less common keywords:
Battle
Sword
Friendship
Sword fight
Horse
Singing
Male protagpnist
Epic
Combat
Monster
Description:
Where action movies hold viewers’ attention with adrenaline, thrillers do so with suspense. Overall you need a heavy atmosphere, the thriller goes with almost all genres but not with comedy, and suspense. But what makes thrillers different from horror movies? In the horror film, the protagonists are overwhelmed by the events there or in the thrillers, the protagonists are more active in overcoming their adventures.
Subgenres:
The Psychological Thriller:
In the psychological thriller, the danger is not so much to lose your life as to lose your sanity.
Polars:
Genre taken from literature, includes all films whose plot is detective. You can group together gangster films and black films.
Complotist Thrillers:
The movies where the hero finds out that the truth is not as he thinks it is and that anyone could know about it and try to silence him.
The Technothrillers:
Close to science fiction, the plot of these thrillers is based on scientific advances in military or spy circles.
Giallo:
A genre that could also be classified as horror cinema, since it is the precursor of the slasher. Gialli (plural of Giallo) are films where usually several women are murdered by a killer whose identity is unknown to the viewer. It was a very popular genre in the 1970s, and the undisputed master of which was Dario Argento.
V/ Horror Movies:
Expectations:
Tone: dark Theme: Death, anguish, torture, paranormal … Scenario: unhappy end, only one stake: survival Target: Adolescent, adult.
Most common keywords:
Gore
Blood
Psychologitronic film
Grindhouse film
Blood splatter
Corpse
Supernatural power
Murder
Fear
Surprise ending
Less common keywords:
Battle
Blockbuster
Hand to hand combat
Martial arts
Hero
Shoutout
Based on true story
Combat
Action hero
Fistfight
Description:
I often hear people say: “I don’t like horror movies, they don’t scare me. “ Well that’s okay, horror movies aren’t primarily intended to be scary! Otherwise, you wouldn’t classify horror comedies like “Shawn of the dead.” A horror film centers on something that arouses repulsion or anguish.
Subgenres:
Slasher:
One person kills there one by one, a group of individuals, until the final confrontation.
Splatter Movies:
These are films that show physical mutilations and often theatrics to make them more impressive.
Found Footages:
Sub-genre which relates to the format, these are films that are not presented as productions, but as the event montage actually shot by the protagonists.
The New French Extremism:
These films have sexual assault and extreme violence in common, but they also deal with mental disorders that can go as far as delirium.
Kaiju Eiga:
Movies about gigantic creatures that attack the city. They are rarely horror movies because humans are often insignificant in them.
A sci-fi movie takes place in another reality and where things are not happening in ours. Science fiction differs from fantasy by providing more or less scientific explanations. In Star Wars, ships, lightsabers and robots are science fiction, but strength is totally related to fantasy.
Space-Opera:
Epic tales highlighting the relationships between the characters in relatively detailed political universes against a backdrop of space travel.
Punk Movies:
Nothing to do with the music that smells of beer! They are futuristic or retro-futuristic films (which has to do with a way of imagining the future in the past). Cyber punk a genre where computers and robotics are highlighted, as in “Matrix” or “Ghost in the Shell”, steam punk is a genre where machines and industry are showcased: “Metropolis”, “The city of Lost Children” … Biopunk, the living becomes an omnipresent technology: “eXistenz”, “Gattaca” …
Hard SF:
It is a genre of science fiction that only allows itself to extrapolate a future on the basis of solid science. The only fanciful elements are the elements that are new or that we do not know in our reality.
Soft SF:
When the explanations given contradict the laws of physics. A lazer saber is impossible because the light is neither solid nor finite (so the sabers could not collide and the blade would have no end.)
Psychotronic Movies:
In 1980 Michael Weldon published a magazine “Psychotronic Video” in which he spoke about cinema, then in 1983 he released “The Psychotronic Encyvlopedia of Film”. He gives a definition and a list of 3000 films, much of which does not correspond to the definition, but an IMDB user had the delicacy of writing a definition that was both sufficiently vague and precise enough to consider it valid. .
Psychotronic movies can be sci-fi, horror, or fantasy. These are films that think outside the box, that try to break free from conventions. Films that dare to be different: “Videodrome”, “Delicatessen”, “Solaris”.
VII/ Fantasy:
Expectations:
Tone: Epic, rather light Theme: Magic, courage, nobility, good guys against bad guys … Screenplay: Screenplay in three classic acts Target: everyone
Most common keywords:
Magic
Surrealism
Sword
Supernatural power
Good versus Evil
Monster
Sword fight
Castle
Transformation
Lifting someone into the air
Less common keywords:
Pistol
Murder
Shot to death
Based on true story
Machin gun
Shot in the head
Hellicopter
Blood
Shootout
Hold at gunpoint
Description:
A film that takes place in another reality and where things are happening that are impossible in ours, without justification. Not to be confused with the fantastic, a genre or the supernatural, the strange comes into the real world Also not to be confused with the wonderful, kind or impossible things in the real world is quite normal there, like talking animals, without anyone asking questions. Fantastic or Marvelous are part of Fantasy.
Urban Fantasy:
These are books or films that take place in a modern, contemporary world, in an urban setting, in which there are things that shouldn’t be: “Monsters & Cie”, “Detective Pikachu”…
Animal Fantasy:
A genre where animals behave like humans.
Swords & Sorcery Movies:
A genre where the hero will face evil sword in hand in violent adventures generally involving magic: “Never ending story”, “Sleeping beauty”, “krull” …
Historic Fantasy:
A genre that tells about past events by adding events from the past by adding a supernatural twist: “300”, “Pirates of the Carribean”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” …
Space Fantasy:
Stories that take place in space and have elements approaching fantasy.
A catch-all genre if there is one, the drama genre includes all films that do not fall into any other box, but there is still a definition: “These are films where interpersonal relationships are treated with gravity. “
Subgenres:
Melodramas:
Alternation of moments of immense happiness and immense moments of distress. “Titanic”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Gone with the Wind” …
Survivals:
A big problematic event happens to the protagonist and he must survive: “The martian”, “The Revenant”, “127 hours”.
Epic Movies:
A genre that has disappeared a bit today. We talk about Epic when the film is grandiose, the symphonic soundtrack, the wide shots, the immense and magnificent sets… Yes today that describes all the American blockbusters.
Sports Movies:
A specific sport must be at the center of history. Young characters are lost until they take up sport. Draws at first, they end up facing stronger than them and bringing the cup home.
Coming of age Movies:
It’s about becoming an adult and leaving your childhood behind either: “Spider-man Far From Home”, “Four Hundred Blows”, “Carrie” …
The only genre that to my knowledge does not call for the tone, the theme, the scenario or its target to define itself, but calls for its intention to define itself: to make people laugh.
Parody:
It exaggerates certain features of an already established work in order to make people laugh.
Mockumentaries:
Fictions that take on the appearance of documentaries to tell anything. “Spinal Tap”, “I’m still here” …
Mockbusters:
A special category because the intention to make people laugh is not there, but we only look at them for fun. These are films produced alongside the blockbusters but with a derisory budget: “Atlantic Rim”, “Triassic World”, “Transmorphers” …
Buddy Movies:
Two very different characters must come to terms with each other and discover that they can learn a lot from each other and even become friends.
X/ Romantic Movies:
Expectations:
Tone: Variable, often light Theme: Love, marriage, family, couple … Scenario: Misunderstandings and happy ending Target: More women
Most common keywords:
Kiss
Wedding
Dancing
Marriage
Male female relationship
Love triangle
Sex scene
Indedelity
Restaurant
Family
Less common keywords:
Murder
Explosion
Blood
Surprise ending
Shot to death
Death
Shot in the chest
Pistol
Psychotronic film
Monster
Description:
Romantic movies are movies where love or romantic relationship is central to the storyline.
Subgenres:
Romcom:
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Film about love while trying to make people laugh.
Chik Flick Movies:
Romantic film aimed at teenage girls.
Supernatural Romances:
Romance with a supernatural creature. “Dracula”, “Ghost”, “Warm Bodies” …
Gothic Romances:
Film which speaks of romance while dealing with death, life after death, ghost with a very heavy atmosphere.
Epic Romances:
A romance in an epic setting: “Moulin rouge”, “Australia”, “Titanic” …
Conclusion:
Well, the real reason why I wrote this article was mainly to talk about as many films as possible that generally made me feel good, sometimes bad, but which I think are in most cases , interesting to see at least once in his life for his film culture. Don’t hesitate to draw from the list, if you don’t know what to watch. 😉
A few weeks ago, I was lucky to win a little film critic writing contest for a magazine. You had to write about what you considered to be the best film of the decade 2010-2020. The winners were published in a booklet and on the publication’s website a few days later in the form of a top 10 films to watch for containment. I thought it might interest you even if the tone is … a little different from what I used to write! ^^ ’ I translated it and voila!
Good reading!
The wonderful thing about genre cinema is that it is infinitely renewed. Because if you tell the synopsis of “Arrival”, a priori, you will have the impression of having already seen this film a thousand times.
“Extraterrestrials arrive on earth but we don’t know what their intentions are… blah blah…”
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “Contact”, “2001: a space odyssey”… Yet “Arrival” is a film that was a breath of fresh air for me. An intimate film, with a mesmerizing staging that offers us a grand fable on inter-species communication and I would even say communion, and I am not talking about communion in the religious sense. “Arrival” is a film with a universal, timeless message that falls in almost none of the clichés associated with films of extraterrestrial invasions. And it’s rare enough to be highlighted. I say it right away, it was for me the best film of its last 10 years..
The story:
Overnight, mysterious extraterrestrial entities appear on Earth. For the moment, no sign of hostility in sight. Affine to decrypt the language of extraterrestrials to say the least enigmatic, The army calls on a linguist, played by Amie Adams who will try somehow to communicate with her beings of which everything remains to be discovered.
Even if Denis Villeneuve has already accustomed us to obscure films open to interpretation, “Arrival” is not a film which knocks you out with mathematical formulas or theories of quantum physics, as if to prove to you that it is a mature film, which must be taken seriously. Symbolism quickly takes over and the images speak for themselves. This film is poetry. Villeneuve purifies his staging to keep only the essentials, only what serves his purpose. Halfway between a blockbuster and an experimental film, “Arrival” enjoys an atmosphere that oscillates between light and shade. And you feel that disturbing strangeness from the first minutes, which makes it impossible to look away from the screen. I don’t think I have seen such an intoxicating film since Melancholia by Lars von Trier.
I do not intend to make a surgical analysis of this film, which as you can imagine raises a lot of subjects on different themes. I’ll only talk to you about what touched me personally. And it is so rare to have the impression that a film is addressed to us directly.
Because yes the aliens of “Arrival” speak to us, but what are their intentions? Why are they there?
If the film takes its full interest when scientists enter the alien spacecraft, it is through the prism of the staging. In the era of triumphant digital, I think we all agree that even Hollywood studios have little to sell us when it comes to digital creatures, and it’s certainly not with glasses 3d that things will get better. From “Jurassic Park” to “Avatar” or “Terminator 2”, our references are saturated with monsters always more detailed, imposing, always closer to the screen. And if there is one thing that forces my admiration for Denis Villeneuve, it is this knowledge of cinema, that which suggests more than it shows, in order to let our imagination fill the gaps, to keep us captive of its history. “Arrival” is Science Fiction in the noblest sense of the word.
Without speaking about the work on the architecture which is just breathtaking, the artistic direction of this film is in perfect adequacy with its story, and the arrival of its beings appears to each of us in a different way. A spider, an octopus or simply a hand, a member, or simply an ink stain on a screen, the design of its creatures, rests only on abstract forms. This is a great idea that we owe to Denis Villeneuve. As Rorschach tests, it is up to you to decide what you see.
And there is a fine line between what can seem dangerous to you and what you think is very watchful. Everything is ambiguous in this film, until the end you never know how to interpret the actions of your creatures, and in my opinion, that is the main subject of this film. We humans, the dominant species on this planet, we have created empires, civilizations. Master of a technology that is overtaking us, we even walked on the Moon! However, today we are still unable to talk to each other, knowing how to approach each other without going through a balance of power. The character of Louise, will not simply communicate with her aliens, she will transcend her human condition to enter into symbiosis with them. If this film speaks to us well about contact, He does it in the most natural way possible. And this contact, it goes above all through trust. For me the key scene of this film is when Louise decides to take off her jumpsuit in order to show herself to the aliens. If a person is to represent humanity, then above all, he should not be governed by fear.
“Arrival” is a great film about language, both inside and outside of fiction. Like Louise, who never ceases to want to decode the meaning of these “hieroglyphs”, we spectators are also invited to decode each shot. If this film is not very talkative, all the iconic plans, push us to multiply our grids of readings, until the very arrival of the extraterrestrial vessels. If we compare them to the aliens of “Independence Day”, aggressive invaders whose arrival on Earth, literally hides the sun, the aliens of “Arrival” opt for them in a vertical position and above all motionless, silent. They respect our living space. By levitating above the ground, high enough to not crush anything and just ready enough for us to enter. Besides, we can see that the director is Canadian, because even if it can be fun from time to time with directors on the other side of the border, when there is something unidentified in the Heaven immediately war.
Gods, it’s nice to see a filmmaker shift even the code of science fiction cinema to present us with such an ambitious film. Because yes, “Arrival” is one of the most ambitious films of its last years. We are talking about a film that shows us that we can:
Open time!
So scertainly, we have already seen humans enter into psyche with entities with higher intelligence, to build but in hand a better world. But, if this film is inspired by a large number of references already cult for the most part, it sublimates them. For example as a fan of “2001: a space odyssey”, I simply loved this scene where Louise explains to the army chief, the semantic ambiguity between the weapon and the tool.
Louise Banks: If all I ever gave you was a hammer … Colonel Weber: Everything’s a nail …
What is “Arrival” for me:
“Arrival” is not a film that gets lost on the way. It’s not a film that starts off on a high note and doesn’t really know how to end. It’s a film that arrives at just the right time in a particularly turbulent period in our history when humanity is taking a collective awareness that it is time to question our whole way of life. In the genre of extraterrestrial invasion, “Arrival” represents the film of maturity.
If I had to compare it to another science fiction film, I would take “Contact” by Robert Zemeckis in 1997. Without too much spoiler, we see a young female scientist tempted to decrypt an extraterrestrial signal. So even if the moral and the stakes are ultimately quite distant from Villeneuve’s film, despite all the similarities that are obvious, we hardly noticed that in the film of Zemeckis, the finality of the adventure, the outcome is based only on contact with the aliens. Judy Foster looks at the sky, without worrying too much about what is happening below, while in “Arrival”, if the aliens came of their own will on Earth, it is not only to provoke the meeting, but also and especially to make us understand that before wanting to get in touch with the rest of the universe, it might be time to learn to communicate with each other. It’s not a fluffy outcome, or a particularly optimistic one, because as the film says, if the aliens help us, it’s because they will need our help later. This is not a morality full of good feelings, it is an exchange of good procedure, because in nature, this is how it happens, and frankly, just for that thank you!
I realize that this review may seem a little solemn or pompous, but I’m sorry, I can’t moderate my enthusiasm at such a film. “Arrival” has been admirably received by both critics and the public, and that’s important. These are exactly the kinds of movies that Hollywood should encourage in production. So no, personally, I do not want to see a filmmaker as promising as Villeneuve make suites / reboots / prequels / my ass … To know that my grandchildren will have nothing to do with cinema as “Star Wars episode 89 “And” Terminator 28 “makes me pissed off. It’s a film like “Arrival” that should make the event, and I’m glad that this film has the success it deserves. With that, I wish you a session and a good day and always keep in mind:
“In this universe, we never create anything, we only make this memory. “
With confinement, we had to find a few distractions, so Dad and Grandpa started looking for series on the internet. As at that time I was reading Science Fiction books (well, it’s always the case! ^^ ‘), they wanted to make me discover old series in the same genre, yes Grandpa is definitely a geek (I am proud of him). So I discovered Cosmos 1999, Flash Gordon, Roy Rodgers and others … Wanting to introduce me to Galactica, a 1978 series, they came across its remake version of 2004.
At home we all loved it, even Grandma. We woke up in the morning, a shower and we slumped on the sofa with our cereal bowls, at noon on the TV set and in the evening we were real zombies when we went to bed.
By talking about it with my friends, I learned that it was a must-see cult series, but I admit I have never heard of it. I tell myself that I must not be the only one so I’m going to try to make you want to see this little gem of science fiction from the small screen.
Of course I would be absolutely not objective, you must start to know me now, but above all I will try not to spoil anything so that you can discover it serenely.
History of its creation :
Let’s go back 40 years. Indeed, it is at the beginning of the Sixties that Glen A. Larson, the producer of the series, develops the concept of what was initially called “Adam’s Ark”, taking up the story of the Exodus of Moses and of the Jewish people in search of the promised land, all transposed into a space saga with the Space Opera sauce.
Besides, there is a biblical reference in the name of the commander of the Battlestar Galactica who is called Adama (Adam, Adama you have it?).
Anyway, the Galactica project remained in development for a long time, without ever finding a taker for production, until the unexpected success of a film now almost forgotten by the name of Star Wars in 1977.
Little mind blow : Star Wars => Battlestar …
That’s when Universal Studio pulled Galactica out of the closet in which it had been buried for 17 years, to delight the public in search of new space sagas to discover.
Galactica was born and will give birth 20 years later to Battlestar Galactica.
The speech :
We are talking about a space fleet in search of a new planet to colonize following the destruction of their star system by the Cylons, machines created by a disappeared reptilian people.
It is true that Science Fiction is timeless, but some questions must still be brought up to date, depending on the time and context.
It is for this reason that in 2003, during the remake proposed by Ronald D. Moore, the producer and scriptwriter of this series, many changes were made.
The themes addressed by the remake :
At first, although the concept of space saga is kept within the series, it only becomes a pretext and setting in order to focus on the evolution of the characters and the issues facing them.
What Moore calls “naturalist science fiction” allows juxtaposing smaller dramas within the framework of Space Opera, while borrowing a lot from the military science fiction of the original series.
Our heroes are no longer flawless men, but characters fighting against their own nature. Thus the series makes it possible to tackle themes like addiction (to drugs, alcohol, sex, …), conflicting family relationships, the notion of necessary evil, or even to explore the question of terrorism, highlighting the ethical and moral problems linked to the fight against it.
Besides, this is a theme that we find both on the Cylon side and on the human side, translating in my opinion the consequences left by the September 11 attacks which took place less than two years before the creation of the new series.
In a second step, in order to vectorize the fears linked to many scientific developments, notably biological and computer, Moore held that the Cylons become a very creation of the human being.
The machines rebelled, went into exile, and mutated to become humanoid robots, resembling us in every way, down to the cellular level. These models therefore become inseparable from the humans who initially created them. Thus this new point of view allows us to introduce the very interesting problematic of transhumanism, by repeatedly asking the existential question of the differentiation between humans and machines once the latter are endowed with emotions and experience feelings.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Katee Sackhoff, I love her in Starbuck!
Another interesting change in my opinion is the change of Starbuck into a female character, allowing us to talk about the female condition in such a masculine environment.
The series does not hesitate to refer to History with a capital H. The events of the pilot episode made me think of the flash nomination of Lyndon B. Johnson follows the disappearance of Kennedy in 1963.
But in my opinion what is most interesting is the roundabout way the series takes, under the guise of science fiction, to portray us the development of the political situation in the USA after the September 11 attacks.
I believe that all the worries of this time pass there: from the paranoia of the sleeping terrorist cells, to the fear of the attack of civil liberties, to the suicide attacks, through the use of torture, thus evoking the hidden side of the war against terrorism.
A suspense that keeps us in suspense until the end :
I understand why Gaius fell for her, as a straight girl, I would have done the same XD
To stick the spectator on his screen until the end, the screenwriters had the brilliant idea of sprinkling the quest of our dear friends with punctual revelation as to the identity of the infiltrated Cylons. What must have been as big a spoiler call at the time as the dead of Game of Thrones!
Conclusion :
The qualities presented in this little article, which are not exhaustive, as well as the thinking that surrounds them, have contributed to making Battlestar Galactica an absolute must see for any serious Science Fiction fan. It is a cult work for many enthusiasts, of which I am a part if you still doubt it.
In the current context where flourish remake reboot, rearrangement and other nouns starting with “re”, it feels good to discover a work taking the form of its original material, while digging the background and embellishing it with a point of modern view not devoid of meaning and important philosophical questions.
BSG seems to me to be the perfect counter-example to the famous phrase “it was better before”, in the sense that this remake knew how to develop its own story in a borrowed universe. And if you didn’t already understand it during my last occurrences, watch this series quickly, because after all:
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