A2 Media Studies genre research

1. Genre Research
Action
(Comedy)

2. History of the Genre:
• The main genre of the film is action, comedy is a sub-genre of it.
• The first action film in history was believed to be ‘The Great
Train Robbery’ in the 1920’s.
• The first action-comedy films were created in the 1980’s with
Beverly Hills Cop
• The action film genre was developed through the 1940s and
1950s with the creations of war and cowboy films.
• In the 1960’s, the James Bond franchise was started and was
what dominated the 1960’s film industry.
• During the 1970’s, detective and crime story films began to
emerge, as did martial arts films such as Bruce Lee’s ‘Enter the
Dragon’.
• In the 1990’s, CGI became a popular trend with film-makers and
became the basis for action films, the success of Star wars and
The Matrix sparked a new era of film production that greatly
involved CGI in the film-making process.

3. Famous Examples:
Famous examples of Action films are :
• The James Bond franchise which was started in the
1960’s
• In 1977, the first Star Wars was created by George
Lucas.
• In the 1980’s, the Rambo series was started
• In 1987, Lethal Weapon was created
• In 1988, the first Die Hard was produced
• In 1989, Tim Burton created the first Batman
• In 2008, The Dark Knight was created by Christopher
nolan.

4. News Stories/Controversies:
• One of the most recent action films that have
been criticised is ‘American Sniper’- a film about
a professional sniper in Afghanistan, however
people have regarded the film as being
propaganda for the immense amount of civilians
being killed by the US army.
• In the recent film ‘The interview’, North Korea’s
leader Kim Jong il threatened the US with nuclear
war as the film depicts him as a weak person and
mocks his power and country.

5. Common Conventions:
In an action film, the common characteristics that
make them up are:
• Guns
• Explosions
• Upbeat music
• Running
• Quick camera shots
• A good guy and a bad guy
• Destruction of property (e.g. houses, doors,
windows, cars)
• Chase scene

6. Other information:
Records:
• Fast and Furious 7 became the latest film, after
Avatar, to take $1billion the fastest in box office
gross
• ‘Avatar’ has currently made the world’s highest
amount of worldwide grossing at $2,787,965,087
Awards:
• ‘Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Action
Movie’ awarded to ‘American Sniper’ and ‘Fury’
in 2014