The Genres
By: Mir Faisal Talpur
Tags: Drama, Historical, Movies, Cinema

Genres

Genres are the most practical way to categorize different styles of stories and content for writers, artists, and filmmakers. (Aldredge, 2020)

Historical

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it”- George Santayana. (Clairmont, 2013) Most of the films I watch are of the ‘Historical’ genre. According to Wikipedia, a Historical Genre is a story based on a real person, group of people, or event. (List of genres, 2020) Most of the films cannot be labelled as to be purely from a certain genre, rather a film can belong to many genres, hybrid genres, at the same time. Nowadays, most of the films are based on hybrid genres. Similarly, the Historical genre is a big umbrella that covers various themes.

Historical Themes

The most famous theme under the Historical genre is biography and autobiography. A biography is the real story of a person told by someone else such as Hacksaw Ridge (2016), whereas an autobiography is a story by the same person who is the subject of the story, for example, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). A slight variation of these is a memoir, which is the real story through the subjects’ eyes and point of view. Still non-fiction yet more subjective than the biographies. (List of genres, 2020) The Sky Is Pink (2019), one of my favourite films is a good example of a memoir.

Most people think that the historical genre is one hundred percent non-fiction which is not the case. At times, films based on history needs to be dramatized due to real-life limitations and for entertainment purposes. For example, Sanju (2018) based on actor Sanjay Dutt’s life is criticized for detracting from the actual events to show the subject in a positive light.

Another major sub-genre of historical is documentary films. Documentary films intend to document reality, primarily for instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record. (Oxford English Dictionary, 2018) Most documentaries are combinations of real-life footage and reenactment with narrations, such as Wild Wild Country (2018).

One of the most interesting sub-categories of historical is the theme of alternate history. Alternate history is a more extreme variant of historical fiction which posits a “what if” scenario in which some historical event occurs differently (or not at all), thus altering the course of history; for instance, “What if Nazi Germany had won World War II?” is an alternate history concept that has had treatment in fiction. (List of genres, 2020) For example, based on the alternate history of Franklin D. Roosevelt losing the 1940 presidential elections, The Plot Against America (2020-).

Why do I like the Historical genre?

Most people think that this genre is repetitive, follows the same pattern over and over again, and is boring, especially the biopics.

Everyone complains about biopics, but no one does anything about them. It is a well-known fact among cinephiles and people of taste that the biopic is an abject sort of entertainment, ruled by cliché, and following a narrative arc more rigid than Calvinism. The genre is excoriated in polite conversation with meticulous regularity. (Clover, Spring 2009)

I do not think this is the case. Every historical film is unique in its way. For example, The Aviator (2004) is a film about a successful business magnate of the 1920s, who is also patient of few psychological illnesses, The Social Network (2010) is about a young Harvard student who revolutionizes the way we interact on Social Media in mid-2000s, and Spartacus (1960) is about a slave who leads a revolt against the Roman Republic in 73 BC. What similarities can be there in these diverse characters, backgrounds, and periods? On the contrary, you get the human emotions, feelings, relationships, struggles, and dreams in each biopic that you can relate to. Everyone can relate to some parts of the biopics. They either have experienced those experiences, experiencing it, or dreaming of experiencing it.

The historical genre is a lot more than just repetitive biopics. Historical genres help us record the history for coming generations. Through movies like Schindler’s List (1963) we have recorded Hitler’s atrocities for the generations. With movies like Malcom X (1992), Lincoln (2012), and Ali (2001) we immortalize our heroes. With movies like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and Mary Kom (2014), we give recognition to our sportsmen which they deserve. Historical films also play a crucial part in preserving our roots, culture, traditions, and histories behind it.

Drama

“I like a drama” –Clint Eastwood, and so do I. (Drama Quotes, n.d.)

Drama films incline more towards realism and usually have a slower pace than other genres. Drama shows intense conflict within the characters and between the characters. A good drama film will involve the audience and take them on a journey of intense emotional rollercoasters with conflicts and contradictions. I cannot specifically point out that why I like the drama genre, it is just that most of the films I like usually have drama elements in them. I can relate to the characters and become an active participant in their life. The intense feelings, sometimes unexplainable, one gets following the intense drama film is worth it. At times, the feeling of not being at peace with oneself can go on for a couple of days.

“If there’s not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something” –Eminem (Drama Quotes, n.d.)

Drama Themes

Drama is the most diversified genres. Any film can have elements of it. Just like dough in pizza, drama can be the foundation in a film for other genres to be built over it. Name any other genre, and you can merge it with the drama.

If you want crime-drama, you can have The Godfather (1972). If you want historical drama, you can have Schindler’s List (1993). For drama-romance The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), for drama-action The Revenant (2015), for drama-adventure The Martian (2015), for drama-science fiction Her (2013), for drama-mystery The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), for drama-comedy you can have We’re the Millers (2013) and so on.

This much variety makes the drama one of the best genres for films.

References

Aldredge, J. (2020, June 10). Blog. Retrieved from Premium Beat by Shutterstock: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/guide-to-basic-film-genres/

Clairmont, N. (2013, July 31). Retrieved from Big Think: https://bigthink.com/the-proverbial-skeptic/those-who-do-not-learn-history-doomed-to-repeat-it-really

Clover, J. (Spring 2009). Based on Actual Events. Film Quarterly, 8–9.

Drama Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from Brainy Quote: https://www.brainyquote.com

List of genres. (2020, August 6). Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genres

Oxford English Dictionary . (2018). Oxford University Press.