Genre Research

Action(Comedy)

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.

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.

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.

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

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