Most action films adhere to their own set list of conventions which affect the way in which they are presented to their target audience, there will always be a main hero or heroes (usually male) this is because action films are generally catered to a male target audience and having an alpha male main character gives the target audience a strong character to aspire to become.
Action movies are designed to give their target audience a world in which seemingly impossible goals are reached directly through the perseverance of the main character(s). This creation of an alternate world provides its target audience with an outlet in which their wildest dreams become real life and is the reason why the fan base of the action genre is so large. This is true for all of the ‘Mission Impossible’ series where the main character played by Tom Cruise is often if not always put into situations that look impossible to get out of.
During action movies there is a main goal or mission that needs to be accomplished or a trial that needs to be endured, the story will evolve around these goals with the many different problems and hurdles our hero/heroes face along the way. The main goal/mission will nearly always be a race against time were the hero/heroes only have a limited amount of time in which to complete their tasks, this basic but highly effective technique creates a very powerful element of suspense throughout, action movies use this technique to their advantage by making it look like the main character will not be able to complete their task in time, often making the situation look hopeless for the main character to then come in just in time to save the day. This technique keeps its target audience on the edge of their seats most of the time as this makes them never 100% certain on how the movie is going to end.
These tasks will usually be a race to save someone close to them or to save innocent civilians caught up in the situation the hero has put them in, making the hero feel personally responsible for their safety showing the audience that they are caring and therefore admirable. These tasks are also usually killing someone before they can do something terrible, like a terrorist trying to set off a nuclear warhead in the action movie ‘True lies’ were Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character has to stop the terrorist and disarm the bomb whilst he has he daughter as a hostage.
There are nearly always very emotional moments in action movies were we see the more vulnerable side of our hero/heroes just to make the characters more human and therefore believable, this is done through the use of many close ups throughout these scenes and is again another effective method of building a relationship between the main character and the audience which makes the audience more active in their viewing of the movie. This is evident in the action film ‘Rambo’ where the main character played by ‘Sylvester Stallone’ often remembers back to horrifying Vietnam battles that haunt him and are the reason why he cannot leave the jungles back to his home.
There is nearly always a love interest in action movies where we see the hero seduce someone of the opposite sex without any difficulty, this is used again to make the character seem more alpha and more admirable to the audience, someone to aspire to become which is the main point action movies rely on their target audience wanting.
These love interests can also be motivation for getting revenge, for example in the movie ‘The Fast and the Furious 4’ Vin Diesels character has the love of his life taken from him, murdered by a high ranking powerful gang member, his quest throughout the film is to kill him.
There is nearly always blood spilled, violence and explosions throughout action movies, the general public do not often get to see any violence in real life and seeing violence glorified in movies may help to show a part of the audiences self that they did not know, this also helps the audience to let out any frustration and rage they might be feeling so really involves the audience and makes them connect with the film. This is true in the film ‘The Expendables’ where one of the main mercenaries obliterates 20 men with an automatic shotgun to save his comrades, there is a lot of blood and gore and the violence is glorified as he is seen as saving their lives. Explosions are used to create some sort of adrenaline rush as we never see explosions in real life and they are seen to be very impressive and powerful, great when it comes to spicing up an action movie.
There will usually be car chases in action movies, these are usually used in the race against time aspect where the hero must get somewhere in next to no time, they are very effective in building massive amounts of tension especially in the movie ‘The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift’ where the 2 main characters race downhill drifting on very thin roads at very high speeds that they could easily drive straight over the edge plummeting to their deaths.
The last point about action movies is that they are very fast paced usually throughout the entire movie or they start off slow to begin with then the speed picks up, this includes the pace of editing and helps to create this element of suspense and urgency when it comes to getting something done in a specific time frame.
No comments:
Post a Comment