Genre Criticism of Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite, the movie, captures a snapshot in the life of a high schooler strangely named ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and he and his friends exploits. The movie features a cast that is both quirky and strange including a dune-buggy and llama enthusiast grandmother, an overbearing, glory-days obsessed uncle, and a Mexican friend named Pedro. The plot emerges when Napoleon decides to help his friend Pedro win the role of class president in their school against ‘the popular kids’, whilst dealing with the bizarre eccentricities of his family back home and teenage life in general. I chose to analyze this movie because while it is indeed listed as a comedy, there are many elements that portray Napoleon Dynamite as an unconventional type of comedy that make it difficult to categorize as a true comedy.

Napoleon Dynamite is definitely not your traditional slapstick sort of comedy. The actors and circumstances do not seek to be humorous by using obvious jokes, or puns; but in capturing a sort of odd quirkiness in every moment of the movie, the littlest things become funny. Napoleon himself rarely ever smiles or laughs, but his expressions and the things he does prove quite laughable – for instance, his sheer conviction that ‘ligers’ do exist and that they do hold magical powers, or that his love for tater tots is so much that he stuffs them into his pockets to save for later. Many characters in the movie hold this same sort of defiant conviction that their behaviour is normal and believable, even though it is absolutely bizarre – Kip with his online girlfriend ‘Lafawnduh’ for instance, even though it is obvious that the other characters in the movie do not believe she exists (and in the end she does) – and this makes the movie quite funny.

Traditional comedies however have a sort of plot or movement that make the movie’s story move along and its characters with it; however much of this movie’s story appears to be quite stagnant, and moves away from its main plot a lot. The movie is not fully concentrated on achieving the success of Pedro’s class presidential campaign, but deviates amongst smaller, albeit funny, storylines as well. On the sidelines, Kip and Uncle Rico attempt to con people into buying their ‘strong as steel’ tupperware, Pedro and Napoleon attempt to ask the two most popular girls in school to the dance, and Napoleon at one point works in a chicken coop. The plot’s stagnancy appears to reflect on the stagnant nature of the small town Napoleon lives in as well – nothing really happens and few people really go anywhere. Traditional comedies also have characters with strong and assertive personalities with the ability to make witty and quick puns; however, Napoleon’s assertiveness is different. The brand of humor this comedy appears to be something that is more observed than something that is thrown right in your face, it doesn’t show you right away what is to be laughed at and many people may not get it right away, but once you take the time to observe it for its awkwardness and strange characteristics, the humor begins to emerge. Napoleon Dynamite successfully merges both the quirkiness of indie movies as well as the comedic grace and timing of great comedies, which make this movie an extremely successful one.

L.A. Noire – A Very Un-Rockstar Rockstar Game

Rockstar Games’ L.A. Noire is a video game that takes you back to Los Angeles circa 1940s. You play Cole Phelps, a detective for the L.A.P.D. must solve various crimes in the city that seem to add up to something much bigger. It is presented in the style of French film noire and focuses on analyzing crime scenes, interrogating suspects and connecting the dots rather than gunfights and brawls. It is also an open-world game that allows the player to explore a very accurate representation of Los Angeles 70 years back.

Rockstar Games, the studio that designed the game, is best known for the creation of the incredibly popular and controversial Grand Theft Auto Series. They are also known for pioneering the “open world” video with the creation of Grand Theft Auto 3 and then improving and innovating the open world genre with titles such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto 4, Bully and Red Dead Redemption. The main elements that make a game part of the open-world genre are a vast explorable world, and non-linear gameplay. The main draw of the genre is that it gives players complete freedom inside the world to do whatever they want whenever they want. Many players take this opportunity to do things they would never do in real life like commit violent crimes, jump off sky scrapers and other extreme actions. Furthermore, the player is encouraged to explore the world and are not placed strictly upon a linear plot structure.

At first glance, L.A. Noire seems to fit quite nicely into the open-world genre. It gives you the whole city of Los Angeles to explore and the game is centered around crime just like Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series. But really that’s where most of the similarities end. Instead of controlling a criminal or outlaw in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption games you control an LAPD officer. This means that you aren’t allowed to commit crimes or senselessly harm the regular inhabitants of the world. Even when you’re driving you get penalized for vehicular damage at the end of the mission. Furthermore the game only lets you use violence once you’ve determined that someone is guilty of a crime or once they’ve already started attacking you. Secondly, although the game does let you roam around the world, there isn’t much to do. This encourages the player to stick to the main storyline and current case that they’re working on. In conclusion, although L.A. Noire looks like the typical open-world genre video game that Rockstar Studios is known for, it has far more differences than similarities to classify it in the open-world genre.

Generic Criticism of The Wire

The Wire is an HBO television show that aired between 2002 – 2008, for a total of five seasons, each season revolving around a new case for the police to solve in the city of Baltimore. Although it, at first, seems to be your run-of-the-mill crime drama, creator of the show, David Simon persists that it is “really about the American city, and about how we live together.” In the following post, I will explain how this makes the show fit more into the genre of historical fiction, than a crime drama.

According to Wikipedia, a historical fiction “tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the main characters tend to be fictional. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, attempt to capture the manners and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity.”

The main thing to know about The Wire is that it is based very closely of the lives of writers David Simon and Ed Burns. David Simon is a former reporter, and had a clear view of the city through the eyes of someone with all the information. He knew what happened, and when, why, who, where and how. His knowledge of the paper business became integral in the final season of The Wire, which explored corruption in journalism. In the late 80’s, he had the opportunity to be the first person to follow an entire homicide unit, where much of the material for the show came from.

Ed Burns was a former member of the Baltimore Homicide and Narcotics Units, where his knowledge of the streets and the people that walked them. Although this was a huge contribution to the show, Burns’ major contribution to the show was through his experience as a public school teacher. Through his experience, they could show the failings of the education system in Baltimore, and where kids are sent off the right path.

This world may seem ridiculous and unbelievable to some viewers. Take the following clip, for example.

It may seem unbelievable that someone would fall for this kind of interrogation, but this is a real technique used by Baltimore police, as seen in David’s non-fiction book Homicide: Life in the Killing Streets. The characters of the show are (almost all) based off of real people. Even the way each of the characters talks is true to the city. The Wire is absolutely drawn upon real events, and the writers capture the manners and social conditions of the the characters perfectly.

The Wire is, therefore, historical fiction.

Generic Criticism for Family Guy

Family Guy is an animated show about a dysfunctional family and their everyday wacky misadventures. This family consists of five members, Peter, Lois, Chris, Meg, Stewie, and Brian the dog. Family Guy is noted for using old cliche humor as well as making jokes out of recent events, but they do it in their own original way. It dwells on parodies of other shows, movies, real life events and other famous figures of the world. Family Guy uses serious situations and turns them around into something everyone can have a good laugh about. Although this show is a bit on the mature side for audience viewers, it has been running for ten years now and has greatly improved from when it first started. As much as this show contributes to the humor aspect of genre, I would like to focus on a more specific person from this series, his name is Stewie.

Stewie is the family’s youngest son who is barely even a year old, however, his intellectual capacity is extremely high for a baby. Stewie is generally depicted to be an evil child with vulgar, but vast vocabulary who is hell bent on two things, killing Lois (his mother) and world domination. In many episodes, Stewie is shown to have his own secret lab where he develops many futuristic and sci-fi inventions such as laser guns, clones of himself, developed many different time-traveling machines, and he even created the universe in one episode. With this said, there is clearly a strong relationship of a sci-fi genre associated with Stewie, as a lot of the criteria fit into that genre. When dealing with Stewie, it is like he has his own television show as there is a whole new story and life associated with him. He lives dual lives so to speak, one as a child in his family, the other as an evil genius who knows no limits when it comes to achieving victory. Although Family Guy touches on a lot of issues and topics, they try to bring together many different major genres all under one roof, and mix them together with humor as their main goal.

These are some of the episodes that Stewie and Brian go back in time in, which shows a very physicist/futuristic approach to Family Guy. He also perfects Multi-Universe travel, which further adds to the Sci-Fi genre.

Two clips are below:

Season 8 Episode 1 – The Road to the Multiverse

Season 9 Episode 16 – The Big Bang Theory

http://familyguydirect.com/watch.php?episode=916

That is the full episode.

In conclusion, although Stewie can be seen as an evil genius with many creations and references to a futuristic/sci-fi genre, his part in the show cannot be classified as such since the whole purpose of the show is to bring in as many different genres possible so that it not only relates to a broader audience, but also shows that Family Guy can be a show of intelligence and stupidity at the same time.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas –

Have you ever written a story that involves yourself and personal experiences, but by the end of it, the entire story revolves around you? Chances are you were experimenting with “Gonzo Journalism,” a genre that was invented by Hunter S. Thompson. “Gonzo Journalism,” favours a stylistic approach rather than fact or information. It uses personal experiences and emotion to describe and explain the events occurring in the story, which allows for an uncorrupted story straight from the author’s mind. It strives for a more gritty personable approach, rather than a formal news report. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” either the book or the movie, are great examples of this genre of “Gonzo Journalism.” Experiences and perceptions come through, and the “truth” is something that is interpreted subjectively by the audience. Hunter S Thompson said it best himself, “If I’d written the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” is a perfect example of “Gonzo Journalism,” for a few reasons. It involves a first person point of view of personal experiences and emotions that occur throughout the story. It is more focused on a stylistic, raw, gritty, and personable approach, rather than telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Another key element of gonzo journalism Is the narrator becoming the centre of the story, after he was otherwise just semi involved. We see this happen when, Duke is driving to Vegas, and at this point he is only involved ready to report on the motorcycle race. By the middle of the movie, Duke Is engulfed in his drug trips and forgets completely about the race and pursues his own endeavors of chasing the “American dream.” I chose this piece to exemplify Gonzo Journalism because this is the first instance of it, and the genre really spawned from this book and movie. “FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.”

David Garrett’s music vs. the Classical music genre

Classical music is the Western art music rooted in Western liturgical and secular music, ranging from the 11^th century to modern day. This term is not to be confused with the Classical Era.  Classical music is usually perceived as being elegant and refined for its music was once entertainment for the upper-class society. Nowadays, classical music is not as popular as it used to be yet David Garrett seems to have gained popularity for this old music genre.

The classical music genre has several characteristics that make it distinctive from popular music or other music genres. The musical instruments of an orchestra are one of the most important elements in the genre; they fall into four families – Strings, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion.  The piano, harp and organ can also be found in an orchestra. The symphony orchestra is the most well-known medium for classical music. Classical music can take on another form just like how some popular music take on classical music. Classical music can take on forms such as the symphony, sonata, opera and dance music.

Usually, when people hear the term “classical music”, they would immediately associate it with orchestras and performances but this does not mean that the potential audience is interested in this type of music. If you ask teenagers, it is quite likely that they prefer popular music such as pop and rock over classical music because classical music is boring and old. Similarly, when I saw David Garrett’s tour poster on the newspaper, I thought he was probably just a young violinist with talents that were recognized by the classical music industry. To my surprise, he managed to capture the world’s attention by adding a twist to classical music by introducing crossovers referred under the term “Rock Symphonies”.

Just like other classical musicians, Garrett performs with an orchestra. His music is not only classical music, but a combination of both rock and classical. During his performances and while recording for his album, the orchestra plays in the background while Garrett plays his violin and his band plays the drums and electric guitars. “Toccata” is a classic piece played by Garret and the drums and electric guitars make the music very exciting, upbeat and strong; it’s a type of excitement that you would not have when listening to classical music. Sometimes, people sing to his music. For instance, in “Vivaldi vs. Vertigo” from his album, he integrated this crossover with someone saying “1, 2, 3, 4” and singing at the climax of the piece.

Does he meet the requirements of the classical music genre? Yes, but his music does not necessarily fit into the genre.  Classical music is the foundation of David Garrett’s music and he also plays the violin, which meets the criteria of instrumentation in the genre. What he has been doing is modifying the classics by adding popular musical instruments to classical music to make them more popular and more acceptable to people all over the world. Although some people say that electric guitars were introduced to orchestras in the 20^th and 21^st century, I think that the incorporation of electric instruments into classical music or orchestras is innovative but not traditional. Therefore, his music should not be classified into the classical music genre, but a genre in between rock and classical or perhaps one that is the combination of both.

Generic Criticism of Se7en

Originally released in 1995 the Movie “Se7en” Starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt is the dramatic story of two detective attempting to discover the identity of an elusive serial killer who uses murder to illustrate the evil of the seven deadly sins. Generic criticism is an excellent method in which to identify if Se7en truly belongs to the mystery film genre or perhaps to another genre.

Some argue that the epitome of the mystery genre is seen in the famous Sherlock Holmes novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and if this is the case then I do believe Se7en belongs in a sub-genre of this category. The principle of the mystery genre is the search for answers to some event, usually a crime and Se7en certainly is the search for the perpetrator of horrendous crimes. Although if following traits exuded by Sherlock Holmes then Se7en is more than just a mystery.

Se7en contains sequences of action, and has a particularly ‘thrilling’ ending. The ending is one of the most definitive scenes from the movie and it is partly what seperates Se7en from the mystery genre and places it into a sub-genre. The final scene is the culmination of suspense in the movie which has been building the entire time and this stylistic approach leads me to believe the movie is more than just a mystery. Also, throughout the movie are scenes of action and pursuit that continue to add suspense and thrill to the movie. For example, there is a chase scene, there is also a scene where SWAT is involved in entering a crime scene. Organizationally the film focuses on suspense and thrills through the score, cinematography, scripting, and blocking.

In conclusion then, Se7en belongs to a sub-genre of mystery that I would call the Suspense-Thriller. The effect this has on the movie is that it can appeal to a more specific audience while also maintaining its roots in the mystery genre. I think that Se7en played a significant role in the development of the mystery genre because of the added suspense and action that have become a part of the mystery film as we know it. Although Se7en did not accomplish this simply on its own it is worth understanding that this film played a part in developing the mystery genre and solidifying the suspense-thriller as a legitimate sub-genre.

Old Spice Commercial: Generic Criticism (Generic Application)

There are many different kinds of genres for commercials that appeal to different audiences.  The classic Old Spice commercial of “I’m on a horse” fits into the genre of a comedy commercial.  The comedy Genre is a perhaps the mod effective type of commercial genre because it gets the audience to laugh and feel good, and when people laugh and feel good, they genuinely seem to enjoy that moment.

The Old Spice “I’m on a horse” commercial fits perfectly into this comedy genre.   The commercial begins with a ridiculous situation (a man asking women viewers to look at him, then at there man, then back to him, etc.) and carries on with that ridiculousness throughout the commercial.  The response created by this absurd commercial and acting often amuses people, the very reaction that is wanted by the rhetor.  When people laugh they feel good, and when people feel good they enjoy the moment they are in, and so people ultimately start to enjoy the product of Old Spice.

This commercial successfully fulfilled the requirements of the comedy genre.  The commercial is completely  ridiculous therefore making it funny an enjoyable.  The expectations of the audience are met very well in both the genre and reality.  From a women’s perspective, they want there man to smell good, and not like some rotting garbage.  From a mans perspective, they want to smell good to satisfy the women’s want.  And by making this commercial a comedy genre, both types of audience are happy with the commercial because it meets the expected requirements of being funny and enjoyable.

URL LINK:       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX5au0LOJp8

Generic criticism of Harold and Maude

The focus of my blog today would be the cult classic Harold and Maude and what I feel is the often incorrect placement of the movie in the genre of romantic comedy or under the category of dark comedy.

This movie was made in 1971 and it is a tale about a young rich man who is obsessed with death and who is on a quest to find the perfect way to die. Early on in the movie Harold meets an older woman named Maude at a funeral, they both share an interest in death however they both hold different perspectives of death. Maude who is aged believes that her time to die is near however she is filled with all the wonder of youth and excitement for life, quite the opposite of Harold. The two form an odd friendship and for Harold especially this peculiar friendship turns to love.

Yes there are traces of love and most definitely dark humor especially with the movie’s treatment of death in such a light hearted manner but I believe that most audience members would take away Maude’s tremendous effect on Harold, how she has opened up his eyes to the way life should be lived, like every day was your last rather than pursuing an end to life and the way in which she challenges preconceived notions of the world. If we look at other movies under the genre of romantic comedy, we will find movies such as Valentine’s day, You’ve got mail, Serendipity and various other Meg Ryan movies; the depth of Harold and Maude makes it differ greatly from such movies and the same can be said when we compare the movie to dark comedies such as The royal Tenenbaums.  These characters would definitely be considered unusual in any society with their many peculiar idiosyncrasies however I think the movie is trying to depict two extremes with each character sharing only one common factor, death, hence the movie for me is trying to convey the deeper message of how life is often taken for granted and this is why I find it hard to accept the movie as a rom-com or merely a dark comedy.

Link to the movie’s trailer –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hh-OEWkC9o&feature=related

Generic Criticism of Toy Story

According to filmsite.org, “Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, or make-believe creatures. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary.” It is only in fantasy films that the protagonist journeys through a “magical” adventure and usually gains help from befriending others along the way. Good examples of these types of stories are Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, etc. Magic spells, genies, flying carpets, witches and flying brooms are common elements found within a fantasy film. Usually, fantasy films also contain many unrealistic events and things only the mind can imagine. The settings of the film are generally local or common settings whereas the settings for a science fiction film are usually more bizarre or imaginary.

The Disney film, Toy Story, possesses many of the characteristics of the Fantasy film genre, yet it is still debatable whether or not it can be classified under this genre. First off there is a very specific time when the toys come to life. They possess characteristics of humans, along with whatever attributes the makers of the toys manufactured them with. For example, Slinky the dog can stretch, and Buzz Lightyear can use his “laser beams” which are usually just coloured lights. These specific characteristics are not exactly “magical” powers, but they are used as an asset in their ongoing journey. It is also not exactly explained, but the toys can come alive whenever they so please, but they choose to hide it from the presence of any humans. The reason as to why and how they come alive is not so clearly defined. Is it something magical? Or is it something that actually does happen when humans just aren’t looking?

The idea of there even being a probability of the toys coming alive sounds absolutely preposterous. It’s not believable, which is why it seems perfect to fit as a fantasy film. An additional factor that suggests that this film is a fantasy film is the setting of the story. It is plotted in a regular city, where the interactions between humans and toys are present. The coming alive of the toys does not take place until the humans are no longer present. Also, the protagonist of the movie, Woody, faces many obstacles on his journey to go back home. Along with the help of comrades befriended along the way, he is able to reach his goal and achieve a happy ending to the movie.

What brings this away from the fantasy film genre is the lack of magical aspect to it. It is a pretty supernatural event that toys come to life, but there is no presence of “magic” that is visibly present in movies such as Harry Potter or Aladdin. Woody does not depend on some “superior force” or “magical being” to aid him on the way, but just a regular fellow toy. Although there are many aspects of this film that need to be considered before accepting it as a fantasy film, it is quite evident that the lack of magic would not qualify it as a fantasy film.