Genre StudiesDystopian films Genre • A genre from French "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus is a loose set of criteria for a category of film. Genres are vague categories with no fixed boundaries, they are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. • I Have Chosen to do my genre study on dystopian films. What is dystopian ? • what is a dystopia?. Well dystopia is the opposite of utopia. So what is a utopia, a utopia is a were people live in a prefect world that has no disease, no wars, no Economic problems like money or food and they all live in prefect clean, future like age mega city's in prefect law and order. So if dystopia is the opposite of utopia this would mean there are problems with the world which could mean a number of things like some sort of disease affecting people or the food supply, there could be a war going on against a different nations, race, aliens, robots What is dystopian ? • Dystopian worlds or city's are mostly either two types. The first being a futuristic built up mega-city, slum/ ghetto like world, made famous by the film ‗Bladerunner‘. The second being a dying/ the human race is trying to survive everyday type world, were the world has been affected by some sort of naturel disaster or nuclear disaster and the surviving race is just trying to live. These types of dystopian worlds were made famous by films like ‗Mad Max‘ and ‗The Road‘. Staples Of The Genre • There Are five Main Types Of dystopian films: 1. Governmental/social 2. Alien controlled dystopias 3. Corporate based dystopias 4. Cyberpunk/techno 5. Post-apocalyptic Governmental/Social A government or society dystopia is a government or society attempting to exert control over free thought, authority, energy, freedom of information. Others focus on systematic discrimination and limitations based on a variety of factors genetics, fertility, intelligence, and age being a few examples. Films of this type of dystopia include: Demolition Man, Babylon A.D., Daybreakers, Equilibrium, Judge Dredd, Metropolis, The Running Man Alien controlled dystopias • Alien controlled dystopias are separate from general dystopias in that they are enacted on a people by an outside invader rather than members of the oppressed own species. Films that fall into this sub-genre are: Battlefield Earth, The Chronicles of Riddick, Dark City, Fantastic Planet, They Live, Titan A.E. Corporate based dystopias • A corporate based dystopia is similar to a government/societal dystopia with the exception that the repressing power is a private company rather than a government. These stories generally include the motive of commercial profit instead of, or in addition to, the benefits of increased power and authority. These type of films include: Alien series, Daybreakers, The Fifth Element, The Final Cut, Fortress, Gamer, Hardware, I Robot, The Island, Robocop. Cyberpunk/techno • Cyberpunk is a science fiction sub-genre, characterized by a focus on advanced technology where in itself is viewed as dystopian. "Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopian futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous data sphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body. Films of the type would be: Aachi & Ssipak, Akira, Avalon, Blade Runner, eXistenZ , Ghost in the Shell, Johnny Mnemonic, Metropolis, Natural City, Renaissance, The Terminator, Videodrome , The Matrix Post-apocalyptic • Post-apocalyptic storylines take place in the aftermath of a disaster - typically nuclear holocaust, war, plague - that justifies a civilization's turn towards dystopian like behaviors. Although not a requisite, most post-apocalyptic visions have a man-made cause. These films include: 12 Monkeys, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, The Book of Eli, Cyborg, I Am Legend, Logan's Run, WALL-E, Water world, Tank Girl, The Road, The Postman, Metropolis • Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. it was one of the first true dystopian films. The plot of Metropolis ―A vast future city of sixty million people is divided between the ―Workers‖ who slave at the machines in the city‘s depths, and the ―Thinkers‖ who live in palatial comfort high in the city‘s towers. Freder, son of the city‘s leader Joh Fredersen, is struck by the beautiful Maria when she leads a delegation of children up into the upper towers from down below. He follows her down to the city depths. Horrified to see the state the workers exist in there, Freder implores his father to make changes. But instead his father goes to the scientist Rotwang and gets him to build a robot double of Maria that invokes the workers to rebel and bring the city smashing. (www.philfilms.utm) Metropolis • Visually, thematically and in terms of tone and technique, this ranks among the most significant and visually spectacular films in the history of cinema. A flawed but fascinating masterpiece - the 2010 restoration is a must see. (Film 4) • Fritz Lang‘s ―Metropolis‖ stands as a definitive achievement of modernism as an art form, using the visual rather than literary medium to put forth its message in a way not previously possible due to previous technological limitations. (simonsrantingsandravings.blogspot.com) • Lang's impossibly vast skyscraper-ziggurats (inspired, it's said, by his first view of the Manhattan skyline) are the blueprint for nearly every science-fiction movie city of the past 30 years. (www.rottentomatoes.com) Bladerunner • The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants—visually indistinguishable from adult humans—are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega–manufacturers" around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on Earth's off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down. Bladerunner • • • • From the opening shot of a Los Angeles cityscape at night in the year 2019, it is clear that Scott has conjured up something special. (www.rottentomatoes.com) Through science fiction, we are able to grasp the values and lessons of a time now alien to us. Though the specifics have changed, these lessons are just as valuable as their ancient counterparts. Through Blade Runner, we see an epic quest filled with meaning and symbolism applicable to the human condition. (br-insight.com/1998/11/23/analysis-of-blade-runner/) As a display terminal for the wizardry of Designers Lawrence G. Paull, Douglas Trumbull and Syd Mead, the movie delivers (www.rottentomatoes.com) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_saUN4j7Gw The End