How to Analyze a Movie Like a Boss: Story & Genre

To learn how to analyze a movie, aside from understanding the camera, lighting and sound, editing and the signs and codes of film language, you need to know how story and genre can tell you about the message the creators intend to share with their audience.

Story, or Narrative

Stories are infinitely important to us human beings.We use “schemas” to make sense of our world – we organize events and our surroundings into certain categories to structure the world we live in. Story plays a large role in our making sense of the world. We learn about action and reaction, cause and consequence and many types of people.

Stories are often told following a certain form and structure, no matter whether the story is fiction or non-fiction. We’re so used to stories as a tool to recount events, we don’t even know when it’s used! The power of narrative, however, is that it can create an illusion of authenticity.

The basic template of story

Most stories are told through a few always-returning elements: the three acts – beginning, middle and end.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre (2003) before the shit went down – source: New Line Cinema

First, the world is presented as a calm, stable place. All is well, until the second act starts: the calm and stable world is rudely disrupted, often by a villain. Now, the hero has to resolve the issue and make sure the world returns back to normal. The end will show the hero did just that.  We’re used to this kind of structure and in fact, expect the disruption to be resolvable and the world to be able to return back to normal.

Story versus Reality

In story, the characters are often presented as wholly good and wholly evil. The hero vs the villain. In the real world, however, most people aren’t as black or white, but are many shades of grey. In the real world, conflicts and issues aren’t as easily resolved as stories often present them to be.

Story teaches us about the world; after all , it is (presented to be) a window on the world, showing us situations and people we may not ever experience or meet in real life. We unconsciously take story to be true, and with that, our view on the world can be skewed.

We have to realize, constantly, that “story” is something applied liberally and generally – it’s not just in books and movies, even non-fiction is presented like a story, as well as the news. News can give one as unrealistic view on the world as a movie can.

Story in Movie

What we need to be aware of in movie analysis is how the story has been constructed. While the most basic story structure exists out of a beginning-middle-end, has a hero and a villain, certainly not all movies follow this structure. If they don’t, know what it is the makers are trying to tell you.

The Maltese Falcon – source: Warner Bros.

For instance, film noir has often drifted away from the original story structure to point us on the fact that in reality, the world is grey and that the end is not always a happy one – not all issues can be resolved.

Genre

Genre is the kind of narrative, or story, being told. Genre is just as important as story on its own – it manages our expectations and schemas. When we watch a horror, we link it automatically to all we know of the horror genre, and with that we have certain expectations of the movie as well. This isn’t only limited to the events within the story, but includes its characters and settings. Moreover, it helps us predict where the story will lead to.

For example, when I pick a random horror movie, I’d expect it to be set in a forest or in an old, dingy house – of course in the middle of the night, so that the setting is rich in shadows. I’d expect there to be a screaming blonde cheerleader, some sort of trashy tough guy and a nerdy smart dude, and I’d expect there to be a lot of blood, gore and death. That’s how specific expectations regarding movies can get.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre – source: New Line Cinema

Through genre, directors can create a seeming reality. It makes us fail to see what is reality and what is a media convention – for instance, to stick to the horror genre as an example, in reality, it may be the cheerleader that will save people from a tough situation. In film, she’s always presented to be the victim, but in reality, she doesn’t have to be.

Use of Genre by Film Companies

Genre can be very useful to film companies – they keep track of what popular genres are, and make movies in that genre. A movie in a popular genre decreases cost (sets can be reused, stories are more easily available) and increases revenue as more people will go to see it, meaning genre can greatly help toward making a movie a commercial success. The downside is that it can also limit creativity and reduce the audience’s choice of movie types.

You can always see genre popularity clearly throughout time. For instance, in the past five years, the super hero movies have been amazingly popular. The 80s showed a rise in popularity of science fiction, and in the 60s, romance, comedy and psychological horror were popular. It’s good to be aware of such trends, as they influence the audience’s (and your) mindset on the genre these movies present.

That’s it for this week! Please share your thoughts in the comments, I’d love to hear what you think. If you have any questions, those are also very welcome.

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