Genre

“A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.”

-Webster Dictionary

Pacific Rim, The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn, and Iron Man 3. All of these films are amazing in my opinion. They work so well to me because you can’t simply assign them a label and call it a day. That is to say, despite being marked as action adventure there was a whole lot more to these films then their ads would’ve had you believe. All of these films have long since left the theatres but as a fan of the action adventure genre I feel as though the label is being misused and these films were the most popular examples of this phenomena. For instead of just calling these good movies, at the time, they had to be assigned a label. For movies so dedicated to breaking the mold their production houses and ad houses were all too quick to slap on a label as if putting them on the shelf in their proper place. This begs the question, why were these films marketed as action adventure when they were so much more? And why is this still happening?

Pacific Rim to me was everything I wanted in a large-scale blockbuster. The reason I loved it so much is that it took that one extra step that most other movies of its nature try and fail to do. It created a large-scale film with big sweeping set pieces that at the same time had a very tightly focused and emotionally impactful story. One with nuanced characters, rich history, and very smart direction courtesy of Mr. Del Toro.

Yet for all the things it does right, it is still marginalized into a very well known stock category of film, and was marketed as just another big budget action flick with giant robots. To say this frustrates me would be an overstatement. It was frustrating to see this genuinely beautiful film outshined by Grown Ups 2 the weekend it came out. No, more confusing is that Pacific Rim gets looped into the action adventure genre when realistically it spans multiple genres. I ask people casually if they saw Pacific Rim and I get one of three responses. No they didn’t, yes they did, or they weren’t interested in seeing it because it looked like just another action adventure film. In all honesty I see why that is the most common response. The way that it was marketed you would be forgiven for thinking that it would be just another effects driven monster movie in the same vain of say Transformers, and in some respects it was.

Pacific Rim was a huge summer action movie; no one should be questioning that. Granted on film making level it was much better than Transformers if for nothing else than the cinematography. In reality though, Pacific Rim had all the trimmings and trappings of multiple genres, not just action adventure. The male and female lead’s performance and interactions alone could classify the film as a romantic drama. Idris Elba’s hard-nosed military commander and his dialogue could push the film firmly into the wartime epic genre. Lets even look at the obvious fact that having robots in it could by its very nature put into the sci-fi section on Netflix just as much as the action adventure section. If we define genres as similar styles and forms than why can’t Pacific Rim be defined as a romance, or a sci-fi, or wartime epic? All the trappings are there so why not? Is it easier to just call genre defying stuff action adventure, even when they aren’t purely rooted in that genre?

I mentioned Netflix and how you could easily put Pacific Rim under the sci-fi category just as much as the action adventure section. Well, in the case of The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn that kind of marginalization has already happened, it being firmly rooted in the action adventure section. Now with this film, I would be lying if I said the placing is without merit. The film is directed by Spielberg and the man bring along some of his best known film techniques that would make anyone nostalgic for a little Indiana Jones. With all that said though, I must ask again, does that make it and adventure story? Does it deserve that label?

To me, this sells the film short. Like Pacific Rim the actual content of the film is such that it has trappings of many genres, not just action and adventure. The film works so well in my mind because it uses so many diverse elements all at once and with all of those crazy things, comes the cohesive epic so many audiences saw and enjoyed. Yet again though we see the film industry perpetuate this idea of adventure and high action to market to audiences. Tin Tin as a character is so curious and so astute that he could easily push the film into that of a detective drama, and yet once again the film is marketed as something it is not all for the sake of the categorizing what doesn’t need to be categorized.

By far though the worst example of this comes from Iron Man 3. The final movie in the Iron Man trilogy the movie once again functions on so many diverse levels. The main character Tony Stark has fallen on hard times and is suffering from PTSD ever since the events of The Avengers. The film works again as both a standalone character study as we see Tony grapple with how he perceives himself as both a man and a superhero. We see his romance with his aid Pepper Pots reach its climax, and of course we the large sweeping action scenes the marvel movies are known for.

But just as there is nothing inherently wrong with calling Pacific Rim or Tin Tin action adventure the word “genre” to my mind has and always will be a fancy word for label. Labeling these movies as action adventure is not inherently wrong. We come for the action and the adventure so it’s only natural for producers to market them as such. I myself have used several labels myself throughout to illustrate their usefulness when analyzing films especially. Unfortunately the root of my problem is that these films are being looked as good action adventure movie first, and good movies second.

Again though the question is always asked, what is the problem? Why is this a bad thing? Services like the aforementioned Netflix along with others like Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video have made it so much easier to get the films we want and to make any night movie night. So it would only be fair to ask these services to organize these films in nice and neat places so we can find them through all the bloated menus and get on with the show.

Believe me when I say that if it were just that, I would have no problem with it. This kind of marketing, this kind of categorization is fine in conversation, not as a broad media system. The way the film industry is going, especially their partnerships with these services, they are unknowingly creating these very rigid taxonomies where everything must be listed as a certain thing before it can be enjoyed.

Right now the industry is in a rut they are mistaking for a groove, where many producers are happy to put out new and exciting movies that define genres, but still want to put them in genres anyway. If I have illustrated anything let it be that I love the genre of action adventure, and the reason I love it is because it can cover such a broad range of ideas and stories. That said, the last thing I want for any movie is to be just be defined by that one label. I consider a massive disservice to the adventure when after I leave the theatre, heart pumping after having my senses overwhelmed, only to then hear others call it a good action adventure movie.

Now all of this may seem like nonsense and in some respects it is. All of this is just a theory after and like all theories of mine I welcome debate, because a debate needs to happen. I myself consider action adventure my favorite film genre for the sole reason that it can cover such a broad range of topics. Hour to two hour to three-hour thrill rides of moving images dancing upon the silver screen. Some of my most memorable experiences as both a child and an adult are of seeing something like Indiana Jones for the first time. That sense of wonder, those grand sweeping moments, ad of course those great stories of adventure. All of the classics of the genre as well as the three modern films I’ve talked about here, they all tell a tale of grand adventure, of personal discovery, of challenges faced, and victories won. It is for this simple truth that I want to see this genre given the credit it’s due, and that starts with people recognizing when something truly is an action adventure instead of just slapping that label on to something that defies genre.

Fortunately the film industry is starting to see the wisdom in cross genre films and green lighting more ambitious genre defying films, especially in the next year. Films like Ryan Goslings directorial debut, How to Catch a Monster proudly wears the badge of American fantasy neo-noir action adventure film. Action adventure in this context is just another genre that this movie takes influence from. These are the kinds of things we need more of. Movies that aren’t just lazily labeled and actually strive to have more than one thing define them. In the end the term action adventure has its place in film. But to then use that term to define everything about that film is a grave mistake. These films should be marketed as new and exciting films, not just another action flick. So the next time you see another action adventure movie, go beyond the genre label, and actually see if you could call it anything else. Trust me; nine times out of ten a good adventure movie will not just have an explosion for the sake of having an explosion.

© 2013 Jared "I.J" Steinberg. All Rights Reserved.

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