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The Films that Define Each Genre

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RL_Nice Bigfoot Puncher from a computer. Since: Jul, 2009
Bigfoot Puncher
#1: Oct 14th 2011 at 7:10:02 PM

Your Mileage May Vary, of course.

* Indicates a film I haven't seen, but put up because of its reputation.

edited 15th Oct '11 12:30:10 PM by RL_Nice

A fistful of me.
Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#2: Oct 14th 2011 at 7:25:31 PM

High Noon defines the western.

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C0mraid from Here and there Since: Aug, 2010
#3: Oct 14th 2011 at 8:29:42 PM

[up] Not unless you have a low opinion of Westerns.

I guess Rocky defines the sports underdog movie, Seven Samurai for films about assembling a team of badasses, Love Story for romance and The Third Man for noir? I'd nominate Iron Mam for Superhero film. There's a lot I'd like to challenge ( Clockwork Orange for dysotopia, really?) but I'm too tired now.

Edit: Sorry, I think I sounded a bit rude. But this is a great idea for a thread.(Too tired/lazy for pot holes but sincerity mode)

edited 14th Oct '11 8:34:08 PM by C0mraid

Am I a good man or a bad man?
MetaFour AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN from A Place (Old Master)
AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN
#4: Oct 14th 2011 at 10:13:18 PM

The Searchers was a great film, but it also had enough Deconstructed Tropes that I'd be reluctant to call it the defining film of the genre.

edited 14th Oct '11 10:13:33 PM by MetaFour

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Oct 15th 2011 at 1:48:23 AM

That's a long list but you should be more specific on what "define each genre" means. Does that mean the pinnacle of the genre (Most Triumphant Example)? The entry that everyone copies (Trope Codifier)? The one that lays out the foundations (Trope Maker)? I would go by trope maker, the film that laid out the elements that became standard for the genre.

I would say Stagecoach is what defined the western and made it last some 25-30 years in that form (as well as established the dynamic pairing of John Ford and John Wayne) before The Man with No Name reinvented it. The Searchers is one of the best westerns ever made but I don't think it really changed the way people looked at westerns.

Slapstick belongs to The Three Stooges, Chaplin was comparatively a much more serious and ambitious filmmaker with some dramatic undertones to a lot of his movies. How many people would recognize the The Tramp before any of the Stooges antics?

The Fantasy genre also owes everything to Conan The Barbarian, The Lord Of The Rings films are excellent but they are far too recent to define a genre.

RL_Nice Bigfoot Puncher from a computer. Since: Jul, 2009
Bigfoot Puncher
#6: Oct 15th 2011 at 6:22:58 AM

I basically named what I thought was the most famous film in each genre.

I've also never seen The Searchers, so I didn't know it deconstructed so many tropes.

A fistful of me.
Pyroninja42 Forum Villain from the War Room Since: Jan, 2011
Forum Villain
#7: Oct 15th 2011 at 6:25:22 AM

For Documentary, I nominate Restrepo.

WHAT!? WE DON'T HAVE A PAGE ON RESTREPO!?

edited 15th Oct '11 6:25:40 AM by Pyroninja42

"Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person that doesn't get it."
EgregiousEric from space (I am from space) Since: Jun, 2009
#8: Oct 15th 2011 at 6:27:17 AM

I've also never seen The Searchers, so I didn't know it deconstructed so many tropes.

I have, and i didn't.

And for me - Wuxia - Hero. But Zhang Yimou has said that the visuals are not something most wuxia would have - hopefully that's changed since 2002.

edited 15th Oct '11 6:38:45 AM by EgregiousEric

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CommanderObvious intellectual rapist from Unmei no Itaru Basho Since: Jul, 2011
intellectual rapist
#9: Oct 15th 2011 at 6:29:57 AM

i dont think The Godfather is the dramatic magnum opus
and for romance
Casablanca

edited 15th Oct '11 6:32:28 AM by CommanderObvious

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RL_Nice Bigfoot Puncher from a computer. Since: Jul, 2009
Bigfoot Puncher
#10: Oct 15th 2011 at 7:04:05 AM

[up] What would you nominate instead of The Godfather, then?

And I hadn't thought of Casablanca. I'm adding that now.

edited 15th Oct '11 7:05:01 AM by RL_Nice

A fistful of me.
CommanderObvious intellectual rapist from Unmei no Itaru Basho Since: Jul, 2011
intellectual rapist
#11: Oct 15th 2011 at 9:10:17 AM

while drama is a broad and vague category
i think of To Kill a Mockingbird as a milestone for dramatic films

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terlwyth Since: Oct, 2010
#12: Oct 15th 2011 at 9:35:48 AM

The Dark Knight DOES NOT DEFINE SUPERHERO GENRE

Try [[Batman]],no dark superhero film would exist without it,nor would any of Nolan's "Look into the mind of Bruce Wayne" stuff exist without the casting of Michael Keaton.

And what else do people falsely laud The Dark Knight for,oh yes deconstruction. Sorry, Nolan did not start that,...MNightShyamalan did

edited 15th Oct '11 9:37:29 AM by terlwyth

Kentok Earth-Pig Born from Upper Iest Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#14: Oct 15th 2011 at 11:27:18 AM

I would say the three most genuinely influential superhero films are Superman The Movie, Batman and XMen. Superman for giving the genre the care and love it needed to be a great movie, Batman for treating the material seriously and giving a downright evil villain and X-Men for handing these kinds of projects to established indie filmmakers who ignore the more typical hollywood glitz.

The Dark Knight is an excellent movie but it is almost outside the genre altogether.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#15: Oct 15th 2011 at 3:14:08 PM

The Thin Blue Line defines documentaries. The movie even freed a guy wrongly accused of murder.

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CommanderObvious intellectual rapist from Unmei no Itaru Basho Since: Jul, 2011
intellectual rapist
#16: Oct 15th 2011 at 7:16:39 PM

[up][up][up]seconding The Maltese Falcon
its the classic textbook example

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AtomJames I need a drink Since: Apr, 2010
I need a drink
#17: Oct 16th 2011 at 4:51:50 AM

I would have to say that From Russia, with Love would be a more appropriate pick for the spy genre.

Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.
Mattonymy Mr. Dr. from The Evils of Free Will Since: Jul, 2010
Mr. Dr.
#18: Oct 16th 2011 at 4:09:16 PM

If we're including Western Animation as its own genre, what about Anime? I think Hayao Miyazaki warrants for Most Definitive Anime films.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.
CommanderObvious intellectual rapist from Unmei no Itaru Basho Since: Jul, 2011
intellectual rapist
#19: Oct 16th 2011 at 6:59:18 PM

[up]Spirited Away
obviously
even though it's overrated as hell

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Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#20: Oct 16th 2011 at 7:10:01 PM

My Neighbor Totoro.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#21: Oct 16th 2011 at 7:20:27 PM

For Film Noir, while The Maltese Falcon is definitely the proto-typical (Trope Maker) film, the archetypal (Trope Codifier) film is Double Indemnity. Everything "film noir," morally questionable protagonist, crime centered-story, chiaroscuro, venetian blinds, the femme fatale, and narration are there in greater extent than The Maltese Falcon (Sunset Boulevard would be a sort of Deconstruction).

Also, I think Rocky Horror ought to be on that list somewhere. tongue

edited 16th Oct '11 7:26:36 PM by Eschaton

RichReeders Official Muffin Watcher from Watching this muffin. Since: Feb, 2011
Official Muffin Watcher
#22: Oct 16th 2011 at 7:28:19 PM

The second Superman movie was good, too.

The third and fourth movies never happened.

Don't you try anything, you baked good you.
Pyroninja42 Forum Villain from the War Room Since: Jan, 2011
Forum Villain
#23: Oct 17th 2011 at 8:42:47 AM

The problem with the Superman movies is that, while entertaining, they completely (AND I MEAN COMPLETELY) fall apart from lethal dose of Fridge Logic when looked at with just even the smallest amount of scrutiny.

Like horizontally flying ICB Ms? The fuck?

"Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person that doesn't get it."
CommanderObvious intellectual rapist from Unmei no Itaru Basho Since: Jul, 2011
intellectual rapist
#24: Oct 18th 2011 at 4:24:28 AM

[up]whole point of thread is to find films that define a genre
not find plotholes

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Recon5 Avvie-free for life! from Southeast Asia Since: Jan, 2001
Avvie-free for life!
#25: Oct 20th 2011 at 12:04:54 AM

[up][up]So.. The Silver Age Of Comic Books at a glance? That makes the film even more suitable as a genre definer for superhero movies.


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