Genre - Fantasy
Typical target audience - That’s the greatest part, it is aimed for all ages! While yes, some may be more suited towards an older crowd, there are fantasy films that are made specifically for children, which mimic childish imagination and creativity. A simpler way to list the audience could be stated as “intended for a younger audience, but greatly enjoyed by mature crowds.”
Genre Conventions - For fantasy, you are able to break the genre up into 3 main, vanilla categories. These conventions include a hero, magic, and medievalism. The genre does have other conventions such as the use of fictional stories and imaginative creatures, but most tend to follow the 3 listed above.
Institutional Conventions - When looking through different movie covers for fantasy films, they all appeared to have some similar characteristics. For the covers, the protagonist is always centered in front and has the most attention. In films like Harry Potter and Lord of the rings, many characters are displayed, but characters like Frodo and Harry (the heroes) are always on the front and given the most attention. Another thing that is common in fantasy is how in the trailers, a brief rundown of the story is presented while the grandest and whimsical parts of the movie are shown in quick cuts, most likely to give a sample of what's to be seen during the film, but not give away any of the crucial moments.
Samples Of Fantasy - Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, The Dark Crystal, The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Chronicles Of Narnia, Legend, Big Fish, The Wizard Of Oz, Hugo, Edward Scissorhands, The seventh seal, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Princess Bride, Doctor Strange, Mary Poppins, Alice In Wonderland,
- Two films which I believe truly embody the genre fantasy are Lord of the Rings and the Never Ending Story.
Lord of the Rings
For this series, so much has already been covered by fans and film reviewers that there isn't much for me to add. But this movie is a fantastic example of genre fantasy. The series hits all 3 of the categories listed above. The movie has the main protagonist or hero (Frodo), contains magic in the world that the characters are set in and has aspects almost identical to medievalism. The series even contains imaginative creatures that can range from monstrous demons whose only desire is to cause evil, to more peaceful creatures like hobbits who only want to party and eat food.
The Never Ending
This movie, like Lord of the Rings, also follows the same guidelines listed above. But while Lord of the Rings has one protagonist, this story features two. The first heroes name is Bastian Balthazar Bux. Throughout the movie, he reads a book about a boy named Atreyu, who is the hero of the story in which Bastian is reading. Atreyu goes on an epic quest featuring mystical creatures and perilous trials which he must overcome. While this happens we start to see a connection between the two heroes Bastian and Atreyu, but I won't go into detail as to not spoil the movie for you. The world we are shown, also known as Fantasia, also contains many magical elements that put it in the genre fantasy.
Here are some gifs of the films listed above as to give you an idea of what they are like.
* Labyrinth (1986) Directed by Jim Henson
* The Dark Crystal (1982) Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz
* Legend (1985) Directed by Ridley Scott
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Directed by Terry Gillum and Terry Jones
* The Princess Bride (1987) Directed by Rob Reiner
