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The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Genre Analysis

Micayla Rose
Professor Cassandra Blandford
UWRT 1101
November 10, 2015

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Genres can be very complex and are extremely diverse. They appear under categories to
classify different moods and emotions used in individual works. The category I chose was
movies. Under this category I have three genres: horror from the 1980s, present-day romance,
and comedy. The movies in these genres have unique facets about them that make them fit into
their individual genre. Sometimes these genres overlap because the characteristics can be
intertwined to reach a more broad audience. Therefore, labeling a specific movie into one genre
can be nearly impossible.
The rhetor refers to the speaker. In movies, the speaker can be one specific person, or
even multiple people. The rhetor can be the screenwriter, director, or editor; it all depends on
how much influence each person puts into making that movie. The screenwriter is the person that
creates screenplays and develops the characters. They are the backbone to the movie industry.
Directors are the people who direct the making of the movie. They deal with the dramatic aspects
of the film and guide the actors and crew to fulfill their vision. The film editor fits the pieces of
the movie together. They finalize all decisions to create a complete movie.
Each genre has a target audience and some even have multiple audiences. Horror,
romance, and comedy all have a primary target audience teens and adults. These genres are
mostly geared towards a more mature population. Horror movies in the 1980s were very gory,
terrifying, and started to have special visual effects. Children of the Corn exemplified these
characteristics perfectly. In this movie, a physician and his girlfriend drive across the Midwest to
his new job. Their trip ends quickly when they come across the body of a murdered boy. While
searching for authority, they wander into a small town populated only by sinister children who
want to sacrifice them. At the end, they flee from the town. This movie brought about fear and
nausea that no parent would let their child see. The comedy Grown Ups differs from the horror

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movie Children of the Corn. Grown Ups is about the reunion of friends who gather together with
their wives and children. This movie expresses that age does not always equal maturity. It is
directed to teens and adults due to its sexual innuendos and more mature sense of humor. The
Notebook is classified as a romance movie. One the main characters, Noah, is a mill worker who
is in love with a rich girl named Allie. Their love affair seems to end when Noah goes off to war
and Allie gets involved with another man. When Noah returns, they eventually realize that their
romance is not over. This movie is also for teens and adults because of the sex scenes. In all three
genres, the plot is targeted at teens and adults due to the mature, dramatic content, although some
of these genres have movies that made specifically for younger audiences.
The message behind each genre varies significantly, even though they all serve one main
purpose to entertain the audience. Horror movies, like Friday the 13th, were made solely to
scare people and put them on the edge of their seats. Friday the 13th is about a group of
counselors who set up a summer camp and find themselves struggling to stay alive against a
ruthless opponent. This movie and other horror movies of the 1980s presented people with
obstacles and they have to overcome them to survive. These movies usually have a sad ending
because so many people die. There are certain occasions where there are semi-happy endings
when the two favorite characters outlive the merciless monster and fall in love. This parallels to
romance movies nicely. Most of the time in romantic films, two people fall in love, which leads
to a happy ending. In Dear John, two people fall in love but one of the characters deployment
gets in the way. At the end of the movie you never find out whether the two characters get back
together or not. This is an account where romance movies can have sad endings like horror
movies. Comedy movies almost always have a happy ending. They are made to lighten the mood
and make the audience laugh. Identity Thief is an impeccable representation of a comedy. This

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movie is about a lady who has a lifestyle revolved around retail. She steals peoples identities in
order to have this luxurious lifestyle. This movie is all about the chase and at the end everything
is resolved. These examples show how each genre can relate and differ based on the messages
they portray.
In all three genres horror from the 1980s and modern day romance and comedy the
power lies in the hands of the screenwriter, director, and editor, but also in the audience. The
screenwriter, director, or editor holds most of the power when it comes to filmmaking because
they make the executive decisions; the audience influences them. When producing the movie
Bridesmaids, their intentions were to reach a wider audience by making the movie fit into two
genres. It is about a single woman whose life is a mess. While juggling her own problems, she is
asked to be the maid of honor in her best friends wedding. She is lovesick and has to deal with
her best friends go-to gal. Determined to make the wedding festivities perfect, many unfortunate
events occur. This indicates a love story along with a few humorous mishaps; therefore
Bridesmaids would be a romantic comedy. Producers base their movies off of a specific target
audience because they have to please their viewers in order to make money. Having a bigger
audience bring more viewers, which in turn brings more money. The film industry thrives off of
money.
Genres fit under a wide range of categories. The three genres I chose, horror from the
1980s, present day romance and comedy, fit under the category of movies. These genres are
evident in what they want to portray. For example, when people go to see a horror movie, they
expect to get scared and see either half naked people running around or a demonic child. They
also expect the music to be dark and bloodcurdling. This proves that nothing is really lost in
movies; you get the full effect of what is happening with the lines and actions of the actors, as

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well as the sounds effects and visuals. Overall, movies allow watchers to relax and experience a
different world for a few hours, and display different emotions based on their specific genre.