Film Genre Analysis - Essay Example

? Movie genre analysis The film industry is one of the most dynamic and broad entertainment industries in this current generation. The dynamic element is attributed by the fact that film technologies keep advancing to meet the audiences’ demand. There are various film genres or types, and this depends on the content, the theme and even the running time among other film elements. The genre determines the targeted audience with respect to age among others. Horror film genre is one of the most marketable among the youths and adults. Horror films are meant to create some negative emotions like fear, shock and tension among the audience or viewers. This discourse is about genre analysis of Near Dark, produced by Kathryn Bigelow, in 1987. Horror films incorporate various aspects beyond human imaginations to inflict some sort of fantasy, supernaturalism and the thrilling effects among others. Majority of horror films incorporates the evil and scary scenes through ghosts, serial killers, ogres, zombies, demons, aliens and cannibals among others. This film genre is however restricted to adults above the age of 18 or 21, who can deal with their fears or nightmares without compromising their social and spiritual lives (Wilkins, 2009). Horror films have various influences in the society. It is one of the most selling or marketable genre after sci-fi and animations. The horror films are the opposite of the old movies where the main theme was to satisfy men’s desires. The horror movies incorporate both men and women's roles in the society and thus are good attribute to gender equality. Women are also the main audience and actors, or the main contributor to the ideas behind the horror films. The majority of female horror films usually begins as a vulnerable scared being to who develop to be strong and confident as the films come to an end. This has really impacted confidence and the strength to endure life frustrations among several women and men facing some sort of difficulties (Plaisance, 2008). Horror films also include the elements of motherhood, pregnancy and lesbianism to attract more female audience. However, it is being revealed that the evil and scary scenes in the horror films have compromised the spiritual and social lives among several audiences. For instance, the Christian clergies have lamented that the movies inflict fear and social withdrawals among teenagers. They also lament that movies based on Halloween celebrations are not in accordance with the Biblical teachings, but some sort of an evil cult. Some social and psychological studies indicate that a pregnant woman could miscarry when shocked or frightened by the evil and scary scenes in the horror films. The films also kill the sense of humanity in frequent audiences, for instance, Children who watch horror films are likely to adopt some criminal minds when they become of age. This is because their humanity and affection is replaced with anger, terror and revenge among other undesirable characters. Near Dark is a horror movie produced in 1987, directed by Kathryn Bigelow but produced by Steven-Charles Jaffe. It was written by Eric Red alongside Kathryn Bigelow. Its main actors and actresses are Adrian Pasder, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Bill Paxton. Its music and cinematography was done by Tangerine Dream and Adam Greenberg respectively. The 95 minute movie was based in the United States, and the entire script is in English. Near Dark is about a young man who tries to choose between the normal human family life and the vampire family. The main struggle is attributed by the fact that each choice has its consequences. In 1980, there was need to revive the vampire movies and Near Dark was one of the releases. The movie begins with Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) meeting a young beautiful woman Mae (Jenny Wright). This happens before the morning sun appears. Mae bites Colton’s neck before running away. The sun rises and Colton realizes his body system is not the same anymore, his flesh burns when exposed to sunlight, a common feature with the vampire families. It is from here that the audiences realize the movie belongs to the horror genre, since a normal human being would never burn when exposed to direct sunlight. The film sound changes as some shocking events are likely to occur. Mae later gangs up a group of vampires to take Caleb. However, one of the vampires, want to kill Caleb but Mia convinces him that she had turned him, and he is part of the vampire family. Vampires take time to trust a newly recruited member, and the leader opts to welcome Caleb into the family and monitor if he has the hunting abilities and can be trusted. As the movie advances, the vampire hunt human in their blood and flesh. They kill humans without any mercy and this is disturbing. However, Caleb is not willing to kill any human and this makes him look different from the rest of the vampires. Mia feeds him, by making a cut on her wrist and letting Caleb drink from it. Caleb however decides to risk his life and help the rest of the vampires in a police raid that took place during the day. Caleb’s father keeps tracking the vampire group, since he believes his son is their newest recruit. Police on the other hand as information about a young man in the vampire family. Homer, another young vampire tries to transform Caleb’s sister, Sarah (Marcie Leeds) but Caleb would never allow that. This creates rivalry among the group members and starts to argue. Caleb’s father appears with a gun, as he threatens to shoot the vampires if they do not release his daughter. One of the vampires wrestles him down and Sarah saves the situation by opening the door to allow sunlight into the room. The vampires run away as Caleb sustains some burns but manages to escape with his dad and sister. He suggests a blood transfusion to get rid of the vampire blood from his body. The audience must realize the importance of sunlight in scaring away the vampires. The transfusion is done successfully and Caleb resumes his normal body system. The vampires keep looking for Caleb since he poses a big threat to their operations. Mae keeps sweet talking Caleb to return to the vampire family while Homer cannot wait to have Sarah as his girlfriend. The vampires later kidnap Sarah to make attract Caleb’s attention and make him turn to be a vampire. Caleb later chases the vampires on a horse. Caleb engages one of the vampires in a fight that is supernatural, in other words, it is beyond ordinary human abilities. Caleb runs over the vampire with a tractor trailer, but the vampire still manages to get into the truck back and fights Caleb. In ordinary life situation, the Vampire run over would leave him dead. We learn that the vampires are immortal despite the severity of the injuries sustained. Caleb manages to get out of the truck and leave Severen explode in it. This marks the death of Severen and the rest of the Vampires seek revenge but they are forced to run off as the sun is about to appear. It was unique how the vampires knew when the sun is about to appear yet they did not have any special gadget to do that. Mae tends to have mercy on Sarah and uses her supernatural powers to break the back of the car and escape with Sarah. She risks getting burned from the sun and deliver Sarah to Caleb’s custody. This scene indicates that women will always treat all kids as their own; they have that heart, mercy and compassion to comfort every kid. Mea does not wish Sarah to become a young vampire as she understands the pain and difficulty associated with the Vampire life. She also realizes that Sarah is so dear to her father and this could compromise the family’s wellbeing. She takes a huge risk of being exposed to the sunlight just to save the young Sarah. Homer is however not comfortable with Sarah’s act and decide to follow them. However, the sun burns him off and he dies. The remaining vampires, Jesse and Diamondback are also exposed to the sun and dies as they try to run over Caleb, Sarah and Mea. Mea later wakes up with her burns and then taken for blood transfusion. The transfusion is successful and the movies end with Mea, Sarah and Caleb watches the sunrise in deep joy. There are several aspects of the film that categorize it as a horror film. First, the norm of the vampires drinking human blood and tearing human flesh is not normal. A normal human would never do that unless subjected to some sort of demonic cult. Such scenes were meant to create fear and panic to the audience. The issue of sun burning is also one of its kind. A normal human can be exposed to direct sunlight without such impacts. We are meant to believe that the Vampires are the strongest creatures yet their body systems cannot sustain a mere sun burn. It is entertaining but when some science is added, it makes no sense. We expect the vampires to be strongest beings; they tear human flesh as if they have some cutting machines in their teeth or claws only to be scared of the sun. The vampires are faster than the normal humans, Severen manages to stop Caleb’s track, which was on a very high speed, a normal human would never manage such. The movie starts in a very scary and awkward manner, Mea bites Caleb then run off. We realize they are not in any physical conflict but Sarah does that to transfuse Vampire’s blood into Caleb’s body system. Caleb has started experiencing sun burns and this is shocking, not only to Caleb himself but also to the audience. Horror movies are associated with deaths and human suffering among other undesirable human traits (Langford, 2005). The vampires keep killing humans for blood and flesh. They treat humans as some kind of animals which do not deserve life. They kill humans by biting then they drink the oozing blood. A normal human being will be scared by the sight of blood and the audience is disturbed to watch the blood ooze out of human bodies. Some human blood is sucked while alive and this is disturbing. I would say the movie is demonic or evil because, the devil is always pleased when humans are suffering or in some sort of pain. Any normal mind will never kill for pleasure as the vampires do. The victims’ family members are left in pain as the pick the bodies of their loved ones. The vampires do not care about the human family values provided they get new converts and humans to feed on. This can be demonstrated when Caleb’s father appears with a gun to save his family. The vampire instead fights him and one of them takes a bullet for the sake of having Caleb and his younger sister Sarah. The film tends to comprise the Christian and Muslim faith among other religions. According to Quran and the Bible, God created man to feed on a few selected animals’ flesh, fruits and vegetable. There is no single verse in both the holy books supporting man feeding of fellow man’s blood or flesh. This must be the evil’s idea to corrupt the innocent men’s’ minds. The issue of property destruction, human conflicts, and law defiance is also incorporated in the film and all these are in accordance with the devils’ deeds and plans. A normal Christian and Muslim would never fight the police who is meant to maintain order and justice, however, the vampires did this with pleasure. Apart from being a horror, the movie could also be categorized as thrilling as it engages some fast and skilled human fighting tactics. The fight between the vampires and the policemen involve gun shots and war instructions among other thrilling actions. The confrontation between Caleb’s father and the vampires is fascinating. He manages to shoot one of the vampires but the victim never dies but manages to escape when the door is opened to allow sunlight into the room. Finally the fight between Severen and Caleb in a tractor-trailer is entertaining and special. The motor scratches, the sound thrill the audiences. The movie could also be categorized as comedy as it has several humorous scenes. The vampires argue in some ways that leave the audience laughing. Caleb’s father is funny as he appears with the gun to scare the vampires. He is shaking as he talks to the vampires who are ready to kidnap his family in some funny way. Sarah, Caleb and Mea finally watch the sun as they had never seen before and this is funny. To conclude, horror movies are meant to scare or inflict some sort of fear or panic to the audience. The films incorporate some evil or supernatural aspects. Near Dark qualifies to be categorized under the horror genre as it has several scary and evil schemes. The element of feeding on human blood, killing innocent humans and biting human necks to convert them is not normal. The film’s sound inflicts panic to the audience and this is accompanied by different scary dark lightening and background among others (Livington, 2012). The film could also be a comedy or a thriller, but it is majorly horror. However, the audiences are surprised when Mea risks her life to save Sarah from being converted into the vampire family. We learn that women have that mercy or compassionate when it comes to dealing with children. The film ends with Sarah, Caleb and Mea watching the sunrise and this is a happy ending. The vampires are dead and Caleb’s family is sound. We hope Caleb married Sarah and they later lived normal human life. References Bigelow, K. (Director). (1987). Near Dark [Motion Picture]. Langford, B. (2005). Film genre: Hollywood and Beyond. New York: Edinburgh University press. Livingston, P. (2012). The Routledge Companion to philosophy and Film. New York: Routledge. Plaisance, P. (2008). Media Ethics: Key principles for resposbility. New York: SAGE publications. Wilkins, L. (2009). Handbook of media ethics. USA: Taylor & Francis. Read More