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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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 Posted - 06/22/2007 : 08:13:40
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Just sounding out what people think about this issue, and to see what other examples there are of movies where the actual genre is hidden from advertising in order to protect plot elements (spoiler prevention). Here's a couple of examples:-
Inevitable SPOILERS on movies mentioned
The Prestige
IMDb lists genres as - Drama / Fantasy / Thriller
The astute would note that the genre "Fantasy" is actually the mother of all spoilers for this movie. If you stop and think about this half way through, then the only way this could be a fantasy movie is if the device actually works, i.e., it wasn't an illusion. However, I understand that this was not clear from the marketing, many saw this movie expecting a period drama involving practitioners of illusion, and in fact got a period drama / sci-fi flick. From the Prestige thread it's clear that some either don't like genre fusion of this nature, or don't like being sold a movie that is a different genre to what they thought they were buying.
The Village
IMDb lists genres as - Drama / Mystery / Thriller
There is nothing there about 'horror', although the trailer clearly suggested that that was what it was. So, this was another genre shock, those expecting horror got a socio-political drama set in what could arguably be called a retro-futuristic dystopia. 
I like genre-fusion whether it's food, music, books or movies. My favourite music defies genre-pigeonholing, e.g., opera/metal fusion, folk/metal fusion, Afro-blues etc etc. One of my favourite novels was set in France in about 1600 and became a fantasy/sci-fi mystery. And don't get me started on food...
Would The Prestige have been better promoted as a sci-fi thriller? I think not. If it was sold like that, then they may as well have had aliens arriving on earth at the beginning of the movie warning earthlings of the perils of experimenting with teleportation/duplication. I'm glad they didn't, as it would have been clear then that the device was going to work.
I saw The Village expecting a horror as that's what the trailer said it was. I enjoyed it anyway, it was cleverly done and slowly unwound expectations of 'nasty creatures', it wasn't a punch-in-the-face twist such as Crying Game. But I know for sure that some in the cinema walked out dissatisfied; they wanted a horror and didn't get it. Conversely, my parents saw the trailer and immediately crossed it off their list of movies-to-see as horrors are on their hated list. But, I quickly persuaded them to watch it (I had to 'spoil' it for them by telling them it wasn't a horror and there were no 'creatures') and they enjoyed it.
So, in my view, the movie makers and promoters did the right thing by protecting the public from major spoilers in these movies by withholding (or at least downplaying) the correct genres. I'm glad I saw them ignorant of their real genres and had no inkling of the 'genre twists'. But, there is clearly going to be collateral damage, as some who saw these movies will feel ripped off or at least disappointed, and some potential viewers will miss out as they think it isn't going to be what they want to see when in fact it's just what they were always looking for!
So, did the makers and promoters do the right thing? Is hidden genre-fusion a good thing? Should movie genres be hidden from the public to prevent spoilers? Any other examples?  |
Edited by - Sean on 06/22/2007 08:16:03 |
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GHcool
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 06/22/2007 : 18:40:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
Just sounding out what people think about this issue, and to see what other examples there are of movies where the actual genre is hidden from advertising in order to protect plot elements (spoiler prevention). Here's a couple of examples:-
Inevitable SPOILERS on movies mentioned
The Prestige
IMDb lists genres as - Drama / Fantasy / Thriller
The astute would note that the genre "Fantasy" is actually the mother of all spoilers for this movie. If you stop and think about this half way through, then the only way this could be a fantasy movie is if the device actually works, i.e., it wasn't an illusion. However, I understand that this was not clear from the marketing, many saw this movie expecting a period drama involving practitioners of illusion, and in fact got a period drama / sci-fi flick. From the Prestige thread it's clear that some either don't like genre fusion of this nature, or don't like being sold a movie that is a different genre to what they thought they were buying.
I haven't seen The Village, so I skipped over that part. As for The Prestige, I did not expect a period drama in the mold of Pride & Prejudice. I expected something more stylized like Nolan's Batman Begins, which is pretty close to what I got. However, what I did not expect was that this film would be have similarities in genre and theme to Kenneth Branaugh's Frankenstein. This bothered me a little bit, but I liked Frankenstein at least as much as I liked Batman Begins and so it didn't change my mind about the overall quality of the film.
One of my film professors' theory about plot twists is that they only works if the filmmakers cue the audience ahead of time to accept it as part of the reality of the film. He would write "CREDIBILITY" in capital letters on the black board virtually every week. Even if the story is total fantasy, the plot twists must be credible within the world of the film. The true nature of the mother in Psycho may have been unexpected, but Hitchcock went through great lengths to make the twist credible. Had it been the mother's ghost that was committing the murders, the movie would have lost its audience because there was nothing to cue the audience into following the plot into that direction. |
Edited by - GHcool on 06/22/2007 18:54:20 |
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TitanPa 
"Here four more"
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Posted - 06/24/2007 : 07:01:46
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Lady In The Water - Fantasy / Mystery / Thriller
I was expecting a Thriller from what I saw from the trailer. All I saw was CRAP. The name M Night and Thriller were big draws for crowds. But in the end. IT sucked! |
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Sneaky Genre Crossover
