The following is an assignment on the communication of genre in the film trailers for John McTiernan's Die Hard (1988) and Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz (2007). Here are the trailers:
In the Die Hard trailer, the action genre is communicated through a variety of codes and conventions. For example, the trailer uses a deep-voiced, dramatic voice-over. Early in the trailer, it says: “A New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) has come to see his wife; instead, he's going to have to save her.” This connotes that the film is of the action genre because the voice-over explains the basic premise and protagonist and increases the dramatic effect, something common in action trailers. The quote also leads onto another action film convention, a romantic sub-plot. McClane's wife has been taken hostage by the terrorists and now he has to save her. It's common in action films to have a romantic interest for the protagonist: something to fight for or to “win”. Another example of romantic sub-plots in action films is the “Bond girls” in James Bond films.
Another convention that has become expected of action films are binary opposites. These are clear protagonists/antagonists. The trailer makes it clear that John McClane, the protagonist, is a recognisably normal cop that goes out of his way to do the right thing. He can be seen participating in gun fights with the antagonists and rigorous amounts of physical activity for his cause. However, you can also clearly see who the antagonist is: Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). He's the ring leader of the terrorists. Gruber is differentiated by his smart attire compared to the rest of the terrorists and that he is doing all of the negotiation work while the rest of them do the 'grunt' work. Finally, a reliable convention of action films is lots of explosions, weaponry and violence. Approximately halfway through the trailer, you can see McClane being fired at by a helicopter. He continues to blow up an office and an elevator shaft, with the whole top of the tower exploding at the end of the trailer. This connotes that Die Hard is an action film because they increase tension and make the film exciting and dangerous.
The Hot Fuzz trailer also communicates the action genre strongly but in parody form. As such, it also has lots of elements of various other film genres. For example, it also uses a dramatic voice-over. However, it itself is exaggerated and it also serves to further the exaggeration of the protagonist, Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg). The voice-over says: “Expert in hand-to-hand combat, armed response, and high speed pursuit.” This connotes the action genre because of the added drama from the voice-over and the highly skilled protagonist. Another action convention is violence, weaponry, and special effects. The characters can be seen equipping unrealistic and unnecessary amounts of weaponry and ammunition in the trailer. There are also a multitude of exploding buildings. These exaggerate the action genre. The film continues to mock the action genre with a very normal, uninspiring location. Action films conventionally feature exotic, dangerous locations. However, Hot Fuzz is set in the countryside village of Sandford, quoted “the safest village in the country.”
As aforementioned, the film also uses a lot of conventions from other genres. For instance, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) is shown sitting with the children on a school visit. He asks Angel: “Is it true that there's a place in a man's head that, if you shoot it, it will blow up?” This connotes that the film is also of the comedy genre due to the childishness of the comment from an adult. Action films do have humorous dialogue, but conventionally in the form of one-liners, such as “Lady, do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?!” in Die Hard. The film trailer also features a horror convention, with a violent murder scene halfway through the trailer. The murderer uses a scythe as a murder weapon to kill a man while a blonde woman looks on, screaming shrilly.
Rick Altman believes that genre is constructed through semantic and syntactic elements. Die Hard clearly falls into the action genre. It uses a large variety of semantics common to action films such as the dramatic narration, exciting music, multitude of weapon props, violence, and special effects. There are also the syntactic elements such as right versus wrong with binary opposites, love through a romantic sub-plot, and humour through one-liners and quips. Another genre theory is that of Steve Neale, who believes that genres are part of a cycle: “Form finds itself”, “classic”, “pushes boundaries”, “parody”, and “homage”. Die Hard is a “classic” which means that its associated with the genre by most audiences and adds elements that will become conventional of the genre.
On the other hand, Hot Fuzz doesn't fit into a particular genre, as per Robert Stam's theory that genre doesn't really exist as most texts overlap genre boundaries. Hot Fuzz has a variety of aforementioned action and comedy elements, but also crime elements (due to the twin detectives), horror elements (due to the murder scene in the dressing room), and western elements (due to the stand-offs and gun fights). The film also fits in to Steve Neale's theory in the “parody” stage. Hot Fuzz parodies the action genre. Parodies focus on elements commonly repeated in films of a genre and mocks them, often through exaggeration, the specifics of which for Hot Fuzz have been mentioned.
The action genre has stayed popular throughout the years because audiences love an energetic experience that allows them to live vicariously through conquests, explorations, and confrontations with the main characters. This has been demonstrated by the large amount of Bond films that have been made: twenty-three official films in total. The series started with Dr No (1962) and has so far continued to Skyfall (20H12). The Die Hard series itself has also proven this itself with five instalments in its series so far, starting with Die Hard (1988) and continuing to A Good Day to Die Hard (2013).
Parodies have remained popular for a long time because they make the audience feel intellectual through referential humour. The audience understands the references that the film makes and feels smart because of it. Parodies have been around for a long time, since The Little Train Robbery (1905) which was a sequel to The Great Train Robbery (1903) but with all of the actors replaced with children. Parodies continue to this day in much higher numbers with films such as The World's End (2013).
In conclusion, Die Hard communicates the action genre really strongly with conventions such as binary opposites, a romantic sub-plot, violence, dangerous situations, and humorous dialogue. Through these semantic elements and a variety of aforementioned syntactic ones, the trailer acts as evidence of Rick Altman's genre theory. However, Hot Fuzz doesn't lend itself to a particular genre and can only really be described as a parody, as per Steve Neale's theory. It uses a lot of conventions from a lot of genres, crossing the boundaries so much that it doesn't really have a specific genre, fitting in to Robert Stam's genre theory very well. Action has stayed popular because people love to live vicariously through the main characters' experiences, whereas parodies have stayed popular because they make the audience feel intellectual.
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