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The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Genre Analysis

Micayla Rose
Professor Cassandra Blandford
UWRT 1101
November 1, 2015

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A genre is a type or kind. Genres can be very complex and are extremely diverse. They
appear under categories to classify different moods and emotions used in individual works of
film. Sometimes these genres overlap. For example, the movie Bridesmaids can classify under
both romance and comedy. This shows that labeling a specific movie into one genre can be
nearly impossible. This paper will focus on horror, comedy, and romance movies and how they
compare and contrast.
The rhetor refers to the speaker. In movies, the speaker can be several different people, or
even multiple people. The rhetor can be the screenwriter, director, and/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 make a finished movie. The screenwriter,
director, and/or editor hold the power when it comes to movies because they make the executive
decisions, although the audience influences them. They base their movies off of a specific target
audience because they have to please their viewers in order to make money. Money rules the film
industry.
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
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

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authority, they wander into a small town populated only by sinister children who want to
sacrifice them. At the end, they flee. This movie brought about fear and nausea that no parent
would let their child see. Grown ups is a comedy about the reunion of friends who gather
together with their wives and children. This movie expresses that age does not always equal
maturity. This movie is directed to teens and adults due to sexual innuendos and a more mature
sense of humor. The Notebook is classified as romance. 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 more for teens and adults because of the sex
scene. In all three genres, the plot is targeted at teens and adults due to the mature, dramatic
content.
The message behind each genre varies significantly, even thought they all serve one main
purpose to entertain the audience. Horror movies, like Friday the 13th, are 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 merciless opponent.
This movie and other horror movies of the 1980s present people with obstacles and they have to
overcome them to live. 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 favorites survive
and fall in love. This compares to romance movies. Most of the time with romantic films, two
people fall in love, which calls for 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 if the
two characters get back together or not. This is an account where romance movies can have sad
endings and relate to horror movies in that aspect. Comedy movies almost always have a happy

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ending. They are made to make people laugh and lighten the mood. Identity Thief is an
impeccable representation. This movie is about a lady who has a lifestyle revolved around retail.
She steals peoples identity 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.