- Genre: Fantasy
- Genre conventions - content: Fantasy films generally feature a made up world, for instance Neverland in ‘Peter Pan’ or Narnia from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia.’ They will usually have a simple narrative that is easy to follow. Elements such as magic, made up creatures, and the supernatural are often seen in fantasy. The ending/resolution of fantasy films are usually happy and positive. Fairy tales are popular types of fantasy films and, many tend to take place in Medieval Times. Generally, in fantasy films a hero embarks on a journey where at the end they must go up against a villain/antagonist.
- Genre conventions - production techniques: Fantasy Films rely heavily on color to give it the fantastical feel and to show which characters are good (usually blue) or bad (usually red or green); the darkness or lightness in both lighting and colors (of costumes) of a character or their surrounding environment can also give way to a characters inherit nature and also create contrast between protagonist and antagonist
- Institutional conventions – how is genre marketed: The target audience of fantasy films are younger people - children, teenagers, young adults- however, there are plenty of fantasy films that appeal to an older audience as well as the intended younger audience. Fantasy films are generally marketed as an escape from reality.
Film/magazine sample #1: “Alice in Wonderland” (2010) is a movie about a girl, Alice, who in this version of the story follows a familiar white rabbit down a rabbit hole and into the world of Underland which she has not been to since she was a child. In Underland Alice meets many characters such as The Red Queen, The Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire cat, which are all made up characters who could never possibly exist. This movie was marketed as a nostalgic and familiar tale so that people would be more inclined to see it since they’d be reminded of their childhood.
- Film/magazine sample #2: “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” (2016) is about a group of children with special powers or “peculiarities.” In the film the main character, Jacob Portman, travels back in time and ends up staying in a house with other children his age who like him have special abilities, some of these abilities include: being weightless, controlling fire, controlling nature, and being filled with bees, all of these are attributes that a real person would never have thus, giving the film it’s fantastical element.
- Other Popular Fantasy Films:
“Enchanted” “The Princess Bride”
(2007) (1987)
“Mary Poppins” “The Wizard of OZ”
(1964) (1939)
“Twilight”(2008) “Coraline”(2009)
