*In response to the popularity of my Fireproof article, here is another screenwriting article.
Deconstructing Genre
Is something tough to do. It seems like it should be easy right?
But it’s not that easy, movies that just point out genre cliches (i.e. something like The Comebacks) tend to be pretty bad. Because just pointing out the genre cliches is something pretty much anyone could do.
Then there’s movies that slavishly spoof the narratives of genre hits, i.e. Walk Hard. As was the case with that film, these tend to be only somewhat succesful.
But the really good genre deconstructions not only deconstruct their genre but also work as another film in that genre.
Succesful Deconstructions
Let’s examine a few really succesful genre deconstructions.
28 Days Later
Reinventing the zombie film with faster zombies and a super-realistic aesthetic Danny Boyle and Alex Garland created a zombie movie that wasn’t afraid to be something…other than a zombie movie.
The film even leaves the zombies be in the third act to deal with creepy military types, another major departure.
The point is the movie reinvents the genre while working as a piece of it.
Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz is another great example. It toys with buddy cop cliches, the by-the-book-cop and his looser partner, the “bad-ass-ness” of the cops, even certain camera angles are ripped from buddy cop films.
The film also has its characters stop and watch Bad Boys II. It toys with the notion of homo-eroticism implicit in many buddy-cop films too.
But at the core of all this is a real story. It’s not just a totally empty spoof, there are two core characters who do have a relationship that we emotionally invest in. There is a mystery, there is an intriguing story, it actually is a buddy cop movie as well as a buddy cop spoof.
Unforgiven
The best example I can think of is Unforgiven.
The Western is rife with conventions and Unforgiven inverts damn near every one of them.
The Tough Hero Sheriff: Is also a viscious sadist. You cringe when he beats the bad guys up instead of cheering.
The Self-Made Man: Again, the Sheriff, who built his own house. But he’s also a terrible carpenter. The roof leaks. There’s not one right angle in the place.
The Hard Gunslinger: Is instead an old, feeble, clumsy man. He can’t shoot well anymore, doesn’t drink, and is filled with regret.
The Call to Heroic Action (SPOILER): In Shane, the mysterious hero is finally forced to act violent at the end. This act is portrayed as heroic. In Unforgiven Will Munny has to revert to his old ways (which we are described in vivid detail as horrible and evil) and kill a bar full of men to avenge his friends. It’s tragic, not heroic.
The Mysterious Gunslinger: Usually the gunslinger has a mysterious past we know nothing about but assume was heroic and morally acceptable. But in Unforgiven Will Munny admits he’s killed women and children. He talks about shooting innocent people, seeing their teeth come out of the back of their head. He’s not a “good” guy.
YET
Yet Unforgiven works as a Western. There is a villain we dislike. There is a hero we root for. We engage with the characters. It follows the basic structure of a Western, where the reluctant hero is forced to act violently at the end. But inside that is an inversion of all the cliches of the genre.
Bottom Line
Deconstructing genre is much more than simply pointing out the cliches or even varying them. You have to write the genre you are writing, while you play with it.
-Dan Benamor