Genre theory offers a useful means of classifying films according to their tropes and conventions. Although films constructed purposely to fit into a specific genre can be criticized for being overly commercial, genre theory does reveal how American audiences do react favorably towards familiar themes, actors, directorial styles, plots, and imagery (“Movie Genres”). Moreover, genres reveal the power of archetypes in storytelling. Even when a film does not fit neatly within one and only one genre, or when a film straddles many genres at once, the plot and characterization may still reveal familiar themes. Fantasy can be considered a universal genre in that all cultures have a collective body of myths and storytelling about superhuman or otherworldly creatures. Therefore, fantasy films are about much more than escapism. Fantasy is a genre that offers filmmakers and audiences alike a great degree of flexibility in terms of symbols and motifs. Audiences are free to interpret a fantasy film and its protagonist’s motives liberally. However, the cornerstone of the fantasy genre is “situations that break the limitations of the real world,” (“Movie Genres,” p. 12). In The Wizard of Oz, the limitations of the real world are broken down after an ordinary farm girl named Dorothy is knocked unconscious after a tornado. The directors capitalize on the new Technicolor technology, using color film to render the fantasy/dream sequence and black and white for the Kansas sections. Ironically, Dorothy’s fantasy world is realer and more vivid than her “real” life. The Wizard of Oz therefore...
As such, the audience vicariously solves personal psychological issues or comes up with creative solutions to broader socio-political problems through interacting with the protagonist and the fantasy world. Fantasy “allows one to gain insights into social problems and conflicts and to appraise the dominant socio-political problems and crises of the contemporary moment,” (Kellner, 2016, p. 1). In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy does solve an immediate problem: the menace of a mean member of the community whose life consists only in meddling in other people’s affairs. The old woman finds Dorothy’s cute little dog Toto to be a problem and instead of resolving the issue kindly with a preadolescent girl, she goes on the offensive and tries to use her power to exterminate an innocent creature. Dorothy, old enough to know the difference between genuine ethical conduct and the senseless moral framework constructed by the old woman, tries first to run away, and she fails. As she does try to run away, an act of God—a tornado—transports the protagonist to a genuine world apart. Dorothy finds herself in Oz, and is now on a fantasy quest to seek the Emerald City. Ironically, after trying to escape her home, Dorothy now finds herself in a position where she wants nothing more than to…
Released in February of 1939, The Wizard of Oz has become one of the most iconic and enduring motion pictures ever produced. The Wizard of Oz was based on a novel of the same name, but the film has far surpassed its namesake novel by L. Frank Baum in terms of popularity and critical acclaim. The film is a relatively rare example of a situation in which the adaptation to
Rob Reiner's 1987 film The Princess Bride enjoyed only moderate box office revenues, but developed popular underground appeal and has become a cult classic. The enduring respect for Reiner's quirky romantic comedy is immediately apparent: it is far from formulaic, and does not truly fit in either to the "rom com" designation or that of a fantasy. The Princess Bride also includes a cast filled with luminaries like Peter Falk,
The Wizard of Oz some regard as ‘like a dream’, a kind of Alice in Wonderland motif set in America. It represents a means of witnessing the culture of the mid-west, but also a dream world that allows someone like Dorothy to find herself and her way home. Dreams influence films and vice versa. How those that made The Wizard of Oz convey the dream element was through key decisions
Figure 3. Cover art for Miyazaki's Nausicaa DVD set Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t68ar0SFX54/SrvMLVUJMyI/AAAAAAAADy4 / Ol1Z06z6YdE/s400/Nausicaa.jpg The economic success of Nausicaa convinced its producers that the market for their type of work was viable, resulting in the explosion of the global manga and anime markets (Schilling, 1997). Launching Studio Ghibli as a framework in which to produce his theatrical follow-up to Nausicaa, Miyazaki's worked on Tenku no Shiro Laputa, another fantasy adventure story concerning a
Pan's Labyrinth The movie 'El Laberinto del Fauno' with 'Pan's Labyrinth' as English translation of the title directed by Del Toro revolves round the issue of the reason behind story telling. Although it is fact that in traditional fairy tales the validity and authenticity of magic and wonder is not questioned yet many characters in modern fairy tales fiction as well as movies are shown arguing that magic does not exist.
However, critics complain that although the creatures created are fascinating as will be discussed later, the merging of special effects with the film itself is far from seamless. "Alas much of the effects work is considerably underset by thick matte lines - uncharacteristically poor work from Brian Johnson" (Scheib). Those thick matte lines are very visible at times during the film, particularly during the flying sequences when Flagor flies
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