Film Genres

One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that juxtaposes concepts of the real and the unreal, and a very important component of fantastic narrative. Chin Wan (陳雲) notes the way different attitudes towards ghosts in Sinophone culture were shaped by colonialism and public policy: “Influenced by the colonialism of Western culture, Mainland China banned folk customs during the period when modernization was promoted. Chiang Kai-shek’s Republican Party had the (short-lived) ‘New Life Movement,’ while Mao Zedong’s Communist Party of China had ‘Destroy the Four Olds’ and the Cultural Revolution. Only Hong Kong has undergone modernization for one hundred fifty years without doing away with folk customs”[中國大陸受西洋之文化殖民影響，推行現代化期間，都禁制民間風俗，國府之蔣介石有「新生活運動」（為時不長），中共之毛澤東有「破四舊」與文化大革命。唯獨香港現代化一百五十年，不損民間風俗].  Chin’s comments obliquely refer to anti-superstition campaigns that were central to cultural policy from the early modern to the revolutionary period. I return to these campaigns below . . .

This paper is a discussion of the fantastic genre in literature and film. I employ the term genre in this paper in two ways. First, I attempt to define the fantastic as a genre of writing through the emblematic form of the zhiguai. Second, I link this genre of writing to fantastic film, a category of genre film that has dominated the market in China recently. One of the earliest forms of fiction in Chinese literature, zhiguai were often contrasted to textually verifiable historic writing. First, I contrast discussions of zhiguai to modern conceptions of the fantastic and Enlightenment and revolutionary conceptions of narrative and history. The zhiguai share some features with fantastic storytelling in Europe, notably the Gothic tale that emerged in the late eighteenth century. Second, I draw links between state intervention in religion and superstition and the early modern classification of fantastic literature and film. State anti-superstition campaigns in the early twentieth century would frame fantastic films as superstitious (shenguai dianying). Third, I discuss how the fantastic has been framed in the contemporary China. The modern and contemporary fantastic in China is a combination of Chinese and Western categories of the real and the supernatural.

Polska kinematografia ma opinię bardzo ubogiej w filmy grozy. W artykule autorka stara się obalić to przekonanie, które wynika z faktu, że podczas tworzenia list polskich horrorów zazwyczaj pod uwagę brane są jedynie pełnometrażowe, kinowe filmy fabularne. Tymczasem peerelowskim ekwiwalentem hollywoodzkiego kina klasy B, w obrębie którego kwitło kino gatunkowe, były filmy telewizyjne i spektakle Teatru Telewizji.
Telewizja, traktowana wówczas z lekceważeniem jako medium błahej, niewybrednej rozrywki, uratowała horror od cenzorskich nożyc, pozwalając mu przeczekać w ukryciu niesprzyjający klimat polityczny. Dzięki niej powstały takie zapomniane perły realizacji grozy, jak „Upiór” (1967, reż. Stanisław Lenartowicz), „Carmilla” (1980, reż. Janusz Kondratiuk) czy „Chciałbym się ogolić” (1966, reż. Andrzej Kondratiuk).

Cover copy:

In defiance of the alleged "death of romantic comedy," After "Happily Ever After": Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age edited by Maria San Filippo attests to rom-com’s continuing vitality in new modes and forms that reimagine and rejuvenate the genre in ideologically, artistically, and commercially innovative ways. No longer the idyllic fairy tale, today’s romantic comedies ponder the realities and complexities of intimacy, fortifying the genre’s gift for imagining human connection through love and laughter.

It has often been observed that the rom-com’s "happily ever after" trope enables the genre to avoid addressing the challenges of coupled life. This volume’s contributors confront how recent rom-coms contend with a "post-romantic age" of romantic disillusionment and seismically shifting emotional and relational bonds. Fifteen chapters contemplate the resurgence of the "radical romantic comedy" and uncoupling comedy, new approaches in genre hybridity and serial narrative, and how recent rom-coms deal with divisive topical issues and contemporary sexual mores from reproductive politics and marriage equality to hook-up culture and technology-enabled sex. Rom-coms remain underappreciated and underexamined—and still largely defined within Hollywood’s parameters of culturally normative coupling and its persistent marginalization of racial and sexual minorities. Making the case for taking romantic comedy seriously, this volume employs critical perspectives drawn from feminist, queer, postcolonial, and race studies to critique the genre’s homogeneity and social and sexual conservatism, recognizing innovative works inclusive of LGBTQ people, people of color, and the differently aged and abled.

Encompassing a rich range of screen media from the last decade, After "Happily Ever After" celebrates works that disrupt and subvert rom-com fantasy and formula so as to open audience’s eyes along with our hearts. This volume is intended for all readers with an interest in film, media, and gender studies.

Jauss, Neale and Altman agree that audiences bring to film spectatorship their own generic expectations and cultural preoccupations. Examine how diverse film audiences might read the same film generically and what filmic, historical, social and political factors may inform this reading.

An essay I wrote for 2nd year film.

Este artigo procura listar alguns recursos estilísticos recorrentes no som do cinema de horror, examinando e discutindo algumas razões pelas quais essas ferramentas narrativas se tornaram populares entre cineastas, compositores e sound designers. Assim, partimos de uma definição estável do horror como gênero e analisamos a recorrência de certas técnicas narrativas em cada componente do som no cinema – voz, música e efeitos sonoros – em filmes que encaixam nessa definição.

This paper aims to examine the recent trend of comic book film adaptations following 9/11, in the United States. This would be regarding what effect the event had in the making of each film and the themes which were incorporated into both adaptations during both presidential terms of George. W. Bush. Moreover, this paper also explores the inter- relations between different visual media.

By conducting a combined methodology of semiotics and social semiotics, the main objectives are to identify elements of other visual media in both adaptations in relation to Rajewsky’s concept of Intermediality. Second, I am going to investigate how the cultural and ideological terrain provided a perfect climate for comic book film adaptations to become a leading genre in a post-9/11 climate and how they are not just limited to the superhero genre.

Comedy thriller films are considered by many to be difficult to write. According to John Truby, the comedy thriller is problematic because ‘the comedy element sits uncomfortably with the tone required to generate chills and thrills’ (Truby, 2010).The screenwriter’s problem lies in the attempt to blend two contrasting audience states. Why do audiences laugh at a character’s pain in a comedy and yet flinch from it in a thriller?

In this study I examine the bodies of knowledge fundamental to the writing of a comedy thriller screenplay. These include the discipline areas of screenwriting, genre, psychology and theatre and performance. I also observe psychoanalytic theories that underpin the writer’s attempt to generate audience laughter and suspense thrills.

The outcomes of this study are a set of principles, conventions and techniques which may assist the screenwriter in blending the two genres of comedy and thriller without sacrificing the key emotional mandates of either - laughter and suspense. The insights gained from this study informed the writing of my own comedy thriller screenplay, Project Daybreak. My findings may also be useful to writers of theatre and popular literature who wish to explore the combining of dissimilar audience emotions in their creative works.

The sports film has become one of commercial cinema's most recognizable genres. From classic boxing films such as Raging Bull (1980) to soccer-themed box-office successes like Bend it Like Beckham (2002), the sports film stands at the interface of two of our most important cultural forms. This book examines the social, historical and ideological significance of representations of sport in film internationally, an essential guide for all students and enthusiasts of sport, film, media and culture.

Sport and Film traces the history of the sports film, from the beginnings of cinema in the 1890s, its consolidation as a distinct fiction genre in the mid 1920s in Hollywood films such as Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925), to its contemporary manifestation in Oscar-winning films such as Million Dollar Baby (2004) and The Fighter (2010). Drawing on an extensive range of films as source material, the book explores key issues in the study of sport, film and wider society, including race, social class, gender and the legacy of 9/11. It also offers an invaluable guide to 'reading' the sports film as well as an analysis of the place of the genre within national cinemas, including case studies of the British, Australian and Indian sports film.

H θεωρία των ειδών έχει μακρά ιστορία και ιδιαίτερη βαρύτητα στις κινηματογραφικές σπουδές. Στις σύγχρονες θεωρητικές και μεθοδολογικές αναλύσεις βρίσκουν χώρο ανάπτυξης τόσο τα κλασικά κινηματογραφικά είδη όσο και κατηγορίες όπως ο κινηματογράφος του δημιουργού, χωρίς τη διάθεση ενός στείρου διαχωρισμού τους με άλλα κριτήρια, εν πολλοίς αμφίβολα στην οριοθέτησή τους, λόγου χάρη καλλιτεχνικά. Γίνεται, έτσι, κατανοητό πως η οποιαδήποτε κατάταξη, ιδιαίτερα εντός του πλαισίου του κινηματογράφου των ειδών, μπορεί να είναι αυθαίρετη και μη επιχειρησιακή αν αγνοεί το ιστορικό πλαίσιο και εμμένει σε μορφολογικά ή στυλιστικά και μόνο χαρακτηριστικά. Eντός αυτής της λογικής, το κείμενο καταδεικνύει ότι η ανάλυση του Μπαχτίν για τα είδη μπορεί να είναι επιχειρησιακή στις κινηματογραφικές σπουδές, γνωρίζοντας τα όρια και τις συγκεκριμένες κάθε φορά οριοθετήσεις και κατανοώντας πως οι διακρίσεις και τα κριτήρα που παρατίθενται είναι περισσότερο διακρίσεις και κριτήρια ευκολίας παρά αρχής. Έτσι, είτε μιλάμε για μεγάλα ή μικρά είδη (major / minor genre), είτε για είδη ή υποείδη (genre / sous-genre), πρέπει να έχουμε πάντα υπόψη μας πως τα κινηματογραφικά είδη δεν είναι ουδέτερες και χρονικά παρατακτικές φορμαλιστικές κατηγορίες – επεισόδια στην κινηματογραφική ιστορία αλλά, αντίθετα, πρόκειται για νοηματικές πρακτικές που συνεχώς ανασημασιοδοτούνται και φέρουν εντός τους αξίες, στερεότυπα και κανόνες που επενεργούν στην πραγματικότητα διαλογικά, σύμφωνα με τον Mπαχτίν, τόσο ως κατηγορίες όσο και ως επικοινωνιακές πρακτικές και κατασκευές.

My focus is on the Netflix series Love and how that series both demonstrates and deals with the pathological aspects of the traditional movie/TV romantic comedy, including obsession, manipulation, and coercion. Specifically, the program uses addiction, both figuratively and literally (one of the main characters battles substance abuse in the series), as a way of foregrounding these pathologies, along with challenging the idea of marriage as a “happy ending.”

In a larger sense, I look at this series as part of an ongoing, at times contradictory, but ultimately productive overturning of traditional ideas of gender performance (especially heteromasculinity), sexuality, and generic expectation in the 21st century romcom. Beginning with the bromances that began appearing soon after the turn of the century, variations of the romcom have emerged that began exploring concepts—toxic masculinity and violence; gender double standards; the oppressive nature of mandatory heterosexuality and rigidly binary conceptions of gender—that have only grown more relevant in the age of #MeToo. An enduringly popular genre that foregrounds the importance of emotion, desire, and love in our lives, the romantic comedy remains among the most culturally conservative of narrative forms. At the same time, the destabilizing energies of comedy, parody, and satire complicate any easy reading of the politics of the romcom.

The period which took long time before Yeşilçam was not so productive in terms of
detective movie. During the genesis of Yeşilçam period (1948-1959), five dominant
film genres (melodrama, historical, comedy, detective and village movies) got
standardized by the systematization of mass film production. The tandem of Lütfi
Akad and Osman Seden produced the detective movies in symbiotic relationship with
crime melodrama for Kemal Film, which got back to the production in this typical
context: The hybrid movies such as In the Name of the Law, Murderer, The Killing
City, They Paid with Their Blood and The Flame of Vengeance combined melodrama
and detective aesthetic around the themes of crime and adventure between 1952-
56. Beyond the Nights which was the precursor of social realist film movement is the
piece which brought a new critical image socially, politically, and economically the
detective genre stereotyped by Kemal Film, and also, modernized this genre in terms
of both content and form. By this way, the detective genre which got away from the
conventions of melodrama established a syncretic link to realism. The aim of this
article starting from the perspective of “aesthetic history” which focuses on cinema
genres as much as on form and style among the basics of movie art is to demonstrate
how Beyond the Nights renovates detective movies. It had been assessed only based
upon its social and realist representations, and even its sociological aspects by
ignoring its genre identity in Turkish cinema historiography. With which aesthetical
aspects does Beyond the Nights take place both within the detective movie and social
realist movement? How and why does this film differentiate from the tradition of
detective movie initiated by the tandem of Akad-Seden? The problematic of this
study was defined within this framework. The theoretical aspect and analytical
method is based upon the theoretical approach of Raphaëlle Moine who considers
“concept of cinematic genres” not only to be a simple taxonomy activity or labeling,
but also a “category of interpretation."

Sinema ile toplumun karşılıklı bir etkileşim içinde olduğu genel kabul görmüş ve üzerine pek çok araştırma yapılan bir olgudur. Sinema gerek ortaya çıktığı yerin ve zamanın tanımlanması bakımından, gerekse toplumsal yapıyı oluşturan siyaset, ekonomi, tarih ve özellikle kültürü aktarması bakımından toplumu anlama çabalarında iyi bir yol göstericidir. Bu bağlamda filmleri tek tek değerlendirmek yerine tür bazında ortak özelliklerinin belirlenmesine dayanan tür çalışmaları, onları bir bütün olarak görebilme açısından son derece yararlıdır. Bu çalışmada amaç, 1970 ile 1980 yılları arasında çekilen Türk filmlerini tür bazında inceleyerek sınıflandırmak ve bu bulguların dönemin siyasi, ekonomik ve toplumsal olaylarıyla etkileşimini ortaya koymaktır. ABSTRACT The relationship between cinema and society has long been accepted and searched for various academicians. Cinema describes the place and time that it was made in, at least it carries the political, economic, historical and cultural elements composing the social structure. So it can assist people with their effort to understand society. From this perspective genres studies based on identifying the similarities of the films, enable academicians to see them as a whole instead of evaluating them one by one. The aim of this study is to classify Turkish films produced between 1970-1980 according to their genre, and to analyze the findings of the classification in order to discover their interactions with the political, economic, and social issues of the era.

The relationship between cinema and society has long been accepted and searched for various academicians. Cinema describes the place and time that it was made in, at least it carries the political, economic, historical and cultural elements composing the social structure. So it can assist people with their effort to understand society. From this perspective genres studies based on identifying the similarities of the films, enable academicians to see them as a whole instead of evaluating them one by one. The aim of this study is to classify Turkish films produced between 1970-1980 according to their genre, and to analyze the findings of the classification in order to discover their interactions with the political, economic, and social issues of the era.

What do we mean when we talk, e.g. of westerns, musicals, biopics, comedies? What defines a film genre? What functions do genres serve in film production and consumption? Do genres survive? This paper deals with such questions - and more - in the form of an Interactive Workshop.

Films revolving around big natural catastrophes, the end of the world, and global pandemics are viral in Hollywood. Some authors claim that 9/11 enticed the proliferation of disasters, zombies, and apocalyptical narratives. Will the coronavirus further increase these narrative tropes? A cinematic apocalypse takes many shapes, including zombie infestation, nuclear war devastation, and aliens' attack. Watching films such as Twelve Monkeys (1995), Children of Men (2006), or Contagion (2011) during a real-life global pandemic creates a much different viewing experience than when these films were released. Certain films kill humans with a deadly virus and turn them into zombies emphasizing and pushing forward to a cinema of genre its entertainment features, such as I Am Legend (2007), Train to Busan (2016), or Blood Quantum (2020). However, they also use horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres to portray a realistic compelling family drama or discuss structural racism and systemic colonialism against America's indigenous peoples. In all these films, scientific ambition, political greed, and economic power intermingle, becoming the unknown forces and real detractors behind these catastrophes. Whether or not the end of the world is an appropriate story for entertainment attracts most viewers to Hollywood cinema. Conventional postapocalyptic tropes create a film riddled with relevant political concerns. Every year, hundreds of films transpose to the screen compelling narratives related to pandemics and their effects. In Coronavirus's times, I analyze and contextualize several of Hollywood's viral outbreaks to situate their narratives to current political subjects and understand how disaster and pandemic films have become entertaining.

Filipino film adaptations have always been historically and culturally linked to theatre and comic art. However, the relationship between printed literature and film adaptations remains underexamined. In addition, works of literary journalism are not generally sourced for film translation. For this reason, Mike de Leon's Kisapmata (Split-Second, 1981), an adaptation of Quijano de Manila's 1961 work of reportage, ‘The House on Zapote Street’, published in the Philippines Free Press and republished in the anthology Reportage on Crime: Thirteen Horror Happenings that Hit the Headlines (1977, 2009) is a celebrated rarity in Philippine film history. This paper analyses the translation of ‘The House on Zapote Street’ from English-language reportage into a film that combines family drama, crime thriller and political allegory. It tackles how the difference in language used in the film version has reshaped the visuality of the translation. It also interprets the appropriation of the techniques of literary journalism, such as the treatment of time and space, dramatic reconstruction and status details, to the screen. The intention is to show how a piece of literary journalism can be transposed visually and to understand the cultural significance that can be derived from this process of visual transformation.

Contemporary Portuguese cinema has become a privileged meeting point for several aesthetic tendencies inherited from film modernity. Filmmakers such as Pedro Costa, João Canijo, João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata, Miguel Gomes, João Nicolau, Susana de Sousa Dias and Gonçalo Tocha, among others, have developed new forms of storytelling away from mainstream conventions, in which they suggest the possibility of joining national identity and transnational links. This paper, therefore, aims to discuss some of the main aesthetic features shared by these filmmakers, such as the experimentation with genres, the mixture of documentary and fiction, the critical revision of archival footage and the aesthetics of distance. These links have strengthened the position of Portuguese cinema in the interconnected network of reciprocal influences that has recently replaced the old paradigm of national cinemas. Arguably, then, contemporary Portuguese cinema addresses national issues as part of an ongoing dialogue with other film industries.

Che cosa intendiamo quando parliamo, ad esempio, di western, musical, biopic, commedia? Che cosa definisce un genere cinematografico? Che funzione svolgono i generi nella produzione e nel "consumo" di film? Esistono ancora i generi, oggi? Una risposta a queste ed altre domande in questo contributo che si presenta come Laboratorio Interattivo.

A journey through one of the most fascinating and popular film genres, from the early talkies of the '30s (with the stunning performances of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) through the glamorous productions of the '40s and '50s (from An American in Paris to Singin' in the rain), from the new interpretations of this genre in the '60s and '70s (from West Side Story to Saturday night fever), to the most recent innovations (from Moulin Rouge! to La-La Land). However, this Dossier also explores the stylistic development of the musical through time, the meanings it has conveyed and the social functions it has fulfilled in different historical and cultural contexts.

Film adaptation studies focus almost entirely on the proces of adapting a novel to film and in their exhaustively approach to prove that fidelity is not an issue, they have neglected the diversity of other processes of adaptation. This essay examins the historical fiction film to explain that fidelity can be an important issue in understanding the genre from both the production and audiences point of view.

The historical fiction film have the possibility to shape viewers understanding of the historical discourse it is presenting, which is interpreted by both historical researches and the director. When the historical fiction film reaches a wide audience this historical understanding, correct or not, have the power to shape a public knowledge of the history and situating it as a historically correct view. When this correct view of the history is never challenged by other media it has the possibility to become a public memory, which is almost irreversible.

This essay explores whether or not the film director have a social responsibility to represent the history as historically correct within the bounderies of film. With a narrative approach to the genre, it shows that the fidelity approach indeed can be more than a morally construction in adaptations studies.

This chapter explores the ways in which the generic label of ‘epic’ might be deemed relevant for Ridley Scott’s film Prometheus (2012), and more broadly for the ways in which a discussion about the meanings of epic in early twenty-first-century cinema might be undertaken outside the genre of ‘historical epic’. It argues for the need to explore how ‘epic science fiction’ operates in Scott’s Prometheus in ways that both relate and transcend common definitions of the term ‘epic’ in contemporary popular culture. It also focuses on the unorthodox models of biological evolution of the film’s narrative, suggesting ways in which they can help with genre criticism. When it comes to cinematic intertextuality, a discussion about generic taxonomies and transformations cannot be conducted at the beginning of the twenty-first century without reflecting on the tropes that cinema animates and the fears it enacts at the heart of our genetic imaginary.

Des Portes de la nuit (1946) à Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) en passant par La Môme vert-de-gris (1953), le film noir français d’après-guerre frappe par sa diversité, sa richesse et son originalité.

Diversité des films et des récits : le pessimisme du «réalisme noir» contraste avec l’atmosphère ludique de la «série noire» parodique, elle-même très éloignée de l’univers interlope du «milieu» parisien dépeint dans le film de gangsters… Richesse des talents et des thèmes abordés: du tandem Carné/Prévert à Jacques Becker et Michel Audiard, via des stars comme Simone Signoret, Eddie Constantine ou Jean Gabin, le genre fait appel à des personnalités singulières pour explorer les anxiétés d’une France en mutation, marquée par la Seconde Guerre mondiale et confrontée à l’entrée dans la société de consommation. Singularité artistique et culturelle: loin d’être une simple copie du film noir américain, comme on l’a trop souvent suggéré, le film noir français constitue l’expression nationale d’une forme transnationale, et se distingue à ce titre de Hollywood. Pour évaluer la cohérence de ce genre instable, interroger ses enjeux identitaires et saisir les spécificités hexagonales du «noir», cet ouvrage propose, pour la première fois dans le champ académique, une analyse globale du film noir en France de 1946 à 1960.

Applicando alcuni dei criteri rilevati per quanto riguarda lo studio della serialità al modello di genere, ci accorgiamo che il genere, almeno dal punto di vista genetico, comporta sia degli aspetti di ripetizione, sia degli aspetti di serialità. In particolare, la serialità sembra componente necessaria alla costituzione di un genere: non si dà il processo di generificazione se non passando attraverso una serie ordinata di testi.
Viene qui proposta una analisi per componenti. Dunque non tanto determinare una linea di discendenza di un genere o di un testo di genere, quanto piuttosto, a partire da un testo di genere, analizzarne i componenti standardizzati o seriali. Ma non tutti i componenti sono uguali o quantomeno si situano sullo stesso livello. Almeno dal punto di vista della durata abbiamo delle variazioni di rilievo: esistono elementi componenti di lunga durata ed esistono invece componenti la cui durata è limitata a un ambito preciso, a un genere, a un sottogenere, a un filone e che si presentano nella forma di costanti narrative, tematiche e figurative.

In this paper the author compares Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To’s formal articulation of urban space in his internationally celebrated crime films with that in his locally popular romantic comedies. Drawing from recent scholarship on urban space in Hong Kong, Chinese, and broader East Asian cinema, he establishes that To’s films in both genres hinge on spatial relationships that are specific to rapidly forming metropolises. However, through close analyses of the crime films Expect the Unexpected (1998) and Breaking News (2004) and the romantic comedies Turn Left, Turn Right (2003) and Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2011), he contends that To’s crime films depict these spatial relationships within a framework of spatial continuity, while his romantic comedies do so within a framework of spatial fragmentation. These two frameworks play into the two genres separate dramatic needs: fatalistic confrontation for the crime films vs. delayed reconciliation in the romantic comedies. However, To uses these spatial frameworks within the two genres to explore the ways that urban design can either thwart or facilitate encounters between the inhabitants of a global city.

El cine portugués contemporáneo se ha convertido en un punto de encuentro privilegiado para varias tendencias estéticas herederas de la modernidad cinematográfica. Cineastas como Pedro Costa, João Canijo, João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata, Miguel Gomes, João Nicolau, Susana de Sousa Dias o Gonçalo Tocha, entre otros, han desarrollado nuevas maneras de narrar alejadas de las convenciones y los dictados comerciales, planteando además a través de sus imágenes la posibilidad de unir identidad nacional y filiación transnacional. Este artículo pretende, por lo tanto, estudiar algunas de las características estéticas y las resonancias visuales que unen a estos cineastas, como son el juego y la experimentación con los géneros, la mezcla del documental y la ficción, la revisión crítica de materiales de archivo y la estética de la lejanía. Estos vínculos han reforzado la posición del cine portugués dentro de la red interconectada de influencias mutuas que ha sustituido en las últimas décadas al viejo paradigma de los cines nacionales, de modo que podríamos decir que el cine portugués contemporáneo aborda sus propias cuestiones nacionales desde el diálogo permanente con otras cinematografías.

Spielberg’s dramatic films usually engage in an aesthetic of excess that is redolent of melodrama in general, the ultimate goal of which is to bring the audience to tears. Following Steve Neale’s rationale in “Melodrama and Tears (1986), I argue that Saving Private Ryan, the ultimate war movie, is a “male weepie,” a variety of melodrama destined to make audiences cry, but starring a male protagonist instead of a woman. I focus on the generic hybridity of the film, reconciling Jeanine Basinger’s paradigm of the combat movie, with the emotion and sentiment the film contains and how this affects the viewer’s reception of it. In other words, it is a question of coordinating the conflict between good and evil, from a family-based and symbolically mothering perspective, with the hyperbolic dimension and the breath-taking action of combat-riddled films. From a cognitive perspective, it could be said that this article strives to approach the “rules of engagement,” not of the enemy but of the audience.