Film genre - Fantasy
Film genre – Fantasy
Fantasy films are a particularly interesting genre of films belonging to the fantasy genre with themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre itself is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, however genres overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary.
Fantasy films can be split into several sub-categories, although the delineations between these subgenres, like in fantasy literature, are quite fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres genre shown in movies are High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery. These two categories typically have quasi-medieval settings; wizards, magical creatures and other elements that are often associated with fantasy stories.
High fantasy films tend To feature a more developed fantasy world, and may also be more often character-orientated or theoretically complex. Usually they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between Good and Evil set against each other in an chaotic struggle. Many people consider J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Novel as the prototypical modern example of high Fantasy in literature, and the recent Peter Jackson film adaption of the books is a good example of the High fantasy subgenre.
Sword and Sorcery movies are most often more plot driven than high fantasy and focused heavily on action sequences, quite often pinning a physically powerful but unsophisticated warrior against an evil wizard or another supernatural endowed enemy. Although sword and sorcery films sometimes describe an epic battle between Good and Evil much like those found in many high fantasy movies they may alternately present the hero as having more important motivations such as a need to protect a vulnerable Maiden or Village even being driven by the desire for Vengeance.
The 1982 film adaption of Robert Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, for example, is a personal (non-epic) story concerning the hero’s quest for revenge and his efforts to prevent a single megalomaniac, while saving a beautiful princess in the process. Some critics refer to such films using the term Sword and Sandal rather than Sword and Sorcery, although others argue that the Sword and Sandal label should only be used for the subset of fantasy films set in ancient times on planet earth, and others broaden the term encompass films that have no fantastic elements at all. The term, The Sword and the Sandal means to some that this means the film has a low quality script, bad acting and poor production values.
Another subgenre of fantasy films considered important and has become more popular in recent years is contemporary fantasy. Such films feature magical effects or supernatural occurrences in the “real world" of today
Films with live action and imagination such as Disney’s Mary Poppins, Pete’s Dragon, Enchanted and the Robert Zemeckis film Who framed Peter Rabbit are more commonly known as Live action/animation hybrids.
I personally think the fantasy genre of film is unique as they always tend to be different and take unexpected turns as they all differ from each other. This id because are created with imagination not based on every day events and the writer has to go into lots of detail and specifics to project their ideas into a film and the time and effort spent on these films are much more then most other genres.
Fantasy films are a particularly interesting genre of films belonging to the fantasy genre with themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre itself is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, however genres overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary.
Fantasy films can be split into several sub-categories, although the delineations between these subgenres, like in fantasy literature, are quite fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres genre shown in movies are High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery. These two categories typically have quasi-medieval settings; wizards, magical creatures and other elements that are often associated with fantasy stories.
High fantasy films tend To feature a more developed fantasy world, and may also be more often character-orientated or theoretically complex. Usually they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between Good and Evil set against each other in an chaotic struggle. Many people consider J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Novel as the prototypical modern example of high Fantasy in literature, and the recent Peter Jackson film adaption of the books is a good example of the High fantasy subgenre.
Sword and Sorcery movies are most often more plot driven than high fantasy and focused heavily on action sequences, quite often pinning a physically powerful but unsophisticated warrior against an evil wizard or another supernatural endowed enemy. Although sword and sorcery films sometimes describe an epic battle between Good and Evil much like those found in many high fantasy movies they may alternately present the hero as having more important motivations such as a need to protect a vulnerable Maiden or Village even being driven by the desire for Vengeance.
The 1982 film adaption of Robert Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, for example, is a personal (non-epic) story concerning the hero’s quest for revenge and his efforts to prevent a single megalomaniac, while saving a beautiful princess in the process. Some critics refer to such films using the term Sword and Sandal rather than Sword and Sorcery, although others argue that the Sword and Sandal label should only be used for the subset of fantasy films set in ancient times on planet earth, and others broaden the term encompass films that have no fantastic elements at all. The term, The Sword and the Sandal means to some that this means the film has a low quality script, bad acting and poor production values.
Another subgenre of fantasy films considered important and has become more popular in recent years is contemporary fantasy. Such films feature magical effects or supernatural occurrences in the “real world" of today
Films with live action and imagination such as Disney’s Mary Poppins, Pete’s Dragon, Enchanted and the Robert Zemeckis film Who framed Peter Rabbit are more commonly known as Live action/animation hybrids.
I personally think the fantasy genre of film is unique as they always tend to be different and take unexpected turns as they all differ from each other. This id because are created with imagination not based on every day events and the writer has to go into lots of detail and specifics to project their ideas into a film and the time and effort spent on these films are much more then most other genres.
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