Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:38 pm
AFI offered the following definitions for each genre on its ballot...
Animation
AFI defines “animated” as a genre in which the film’s images are
primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced
by actors.
A skillful combination of caricature and artistry, animation amplifies
reality, offering stories that are visually stylized, but emotionally truthful.
Whether it’s a minimalist black squiggle or a full-blown tour-de-force of
color and movement, animation allows imaginary characters and
inanimate objects to spring vividly to life.
Fantasy
AFI defines “fantasy” as a genre where live-action characters inhabit
imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of
the natural world.
By presenting dreamlike realms where fairies flourish, witches scheme
and pigs fly, fantasy demands that audiences believe in magic and hope
for wishes to come true.
Gangster
AFI defines the “gangster film” as a genre that centers on organized
crime or maverick criminals in a twentieth century setting.
Profit-minded and highly entrepreneurial, the American gangster
is the dark side of the American dream. The gangsters’ lifestyles are
portraits in extremes, with audiences cheering their excesses and reveling
in their demise.
Science Fiction
AFI defines “science fiction” as a genre that marries a scientific or
technological premise with imaginative speculation.
Whether it’s a flying saucer whirling through space or a gleaming city on
a distant planet, at the core of all science fiction is the provocative
question, “What if...?” Science fiction presents stories and situations that
tap our brightest hopes and darkest fears about what might, one day,
turn out to be true.
Western
AFI defines “western” as a genre of films set in the American West that
embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier.
Brimming with subtext and mythology, westerns offer iconic images of a
time gone by and perhaps a time that never was. A man of action with
an unspoken code of honor, the western hero faces gun-toting
opponents, hostile natives, lawless towns, the harsh forces of nature, and
the encroachment of civilization. But the westerner keeps going, drawn to
the freedom of the open plains and the promise of a new life.
Sports
AFI defines “sports” as a genre of films with protagonists who play
athletics or other games of competition.
Whether smashing a ball into the outfield, landing a right hook in the
final round or crossing a finish line to the roar of a crowd, sports movies
create myths and larger-than-life heroes. The stakes in sports may be
simple—someone wins and someone loses—but cheering for a character
who faces adversity and aims for the top is an exhilarating reminder of
the power of the human spirit.
Mystery
AFI defines “mystery” as a genre that revolves around the solution of a
crime.
Steeped in the unpredictability of human nature and wrapped in a
tangle of plot twists, mysteries inhabit a world where the secrets are dark
and the agendas well hidden. Unlike the open-endedness that
characterizes so much of real life, a movie mystery delivers the ultimate
satisfaction of a solution in the final reel.
Romantic Comedy
AFI defines “romantic comedy” as a genre in which the development of
a romance leads to comic situations.
Romantic comedy spares no one in chronicling the horror and
humiliation, the hope and despair, the agony and ecstasy of Cupid’s
arrow. Wrapped in fantasy and charm, laced with funny little truths
about the human condition, romantic comedies remind us that we’re all
susceptible to that crazy thing called love.
Courtroom Drama
AFI defines “courtroom drama” as a genre of film in which a system
of justice plays a critical role in the film’s narrative.
Innocent until proven guilty. These four words inspire stories where the
outcome may be the difference between life and death. The drama
inherent in the theatre of a courtroom—the accused enters, prosecution
and defense state their case, and a jury deliberates—all build to the
moment when a verdict is read.
Epic
AFI defines “epic” as a genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic
interpretation of the past. Their scope defies and demands—either
in the mode in which they are presented or their range across time.
A bloody sword fight in an ancient coliseum; carnage on an open
battlefield; a country on the eve of revolution. With sweeping
interpretations of turbulent times, epics depict characters that,
whether nobly heroic or shamefully depraved, are living life on the
grandest of scales.
Animation
AFI defines “animated” as a genre in which the film’s images are
primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced
by actors.
A skillful combination of caricature and artistry, animation amplifies
reality, offering stories that are visually stylized, but emotionally truthful.
Whether it’s a minimalist black squiggle or a full-blown tour-de-force of
color and movement, animation allows imaginary characters and
inanimate objects to spring vividly to life.
Fantasy
AFI defines “fantasy” as a genre where live-action characters inhabit
imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of
the natural world.
By presenting dreamlike realms where fairies flourish, witches scheme
and pigs fly, fantasy demands that audiences believe in magic and hope
for wishes to come true.
Gangster
AFI defines the “gangster film” as a genre that centers on organized
crime or maverick criminals in a twentieth century setting.
Profit-minded and highly entrepreneurial, the American gangster
is the dark side of the American dream. The gangsters’ lifestyles are
portraits in extremes, with audiences cheering their excesses and reveling
in their demise.
Science Fiction
AFI defines “science fiction” as a genre that marries a scientific or
technological premise with imaginative speculation.
Whether it’s a flying saucer whirling through space or a gleaming city on
a distant planet, at the core of all science fiction is the provocative
question, “What if...?” Science fiction presents stories and situations that
tap our brightest hopes and darkest fears about what might, one day,
turn out to be true.
Western
AFI defines “western” as a genre of films set in the American West that
embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier.
Brimming with subtext and mythology, westerns offer iconic images of a
time gone by and perhaps a time that never was. A man of action with
an unspoken code of honor, the western hero faces gun-toting
opponents, hostile natives, lawless towns, the harsh forces of nature, and
the encroachment of civilization. But the westerner keeps going, drawn to
the freedom of the open plains and the promise of a new life.
Sports
AFI defines “sports” as a genre of films with protagonists who play
athletics or other games of competition.
Whether smashing a ball into the outfield, landing a right hook in the
final round or crossing a finish line to the roar of a crowd, sports movies
create myths and larger-than-life heroes. The stakes in sports may be
simple—someone wins and someone loses—but cheering for a character
who faces adversity and aims for the top is an exhilarating reminder of
the power of the human spirit.
Mystery
AFI defines “mystery” as a genre that revolves around the solution of a
crime.
Steeped in the unpredictability of human nature and wrapped in a
tangle of plot twists, mysteries inhabit a world where the secrets are dark
and the agendas well hidden. Unlike the open-endedness that
characterizes so much of real life, a movie mystery delivers the ultimate
satisfaction of a solution in the final reel.
Romantic Comedy
AFI defines “romantic comedy” as a genre in which the development of
a romance leads to comic situations.
Romantic comedy spares no one in chronicling the horror and
humiliation, the hope and despair, the agony and ecstasy of Cupid’s
arrow. Wrapped in fantasy and charm, laced with funny little truths
about the human condition, romantic comedies remind us that we’re all
susceptible to that crazy thing called love.
Courtroom Drama
AFI defines “courtroom drama” as a genre of film in which a system
of justice plays a critical role in the film’s narrative.
Innocent until proven guilty. These four words inspire stories where the
outcome may be the difference between life and death. The drama
inherent in the theatre of a courtroom—the accused enters, prosecution
and defense state their case, and a jury deliberates—all build to the
moment when a verdict is read.
Epic
AFI defines “epic” as a genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic
interpretation of the past. Their scope defies and demands—either
in the mode in which they are presented or their range across time.
A bloody sword fight in an ancient coliseum; carnage on an open
battlefield; a country on the eve of revolution. With sweeping
interpretations of turbulent times, epics depict characters that,
whether nobly heroic or shamefully depraved, are living life on the
grandest of scales.
