Why "Monster House" fits the genres it is given

The movie screening at this week's Film Studies class was monster house. Our lecturer, Mor Joe Yan, played this movie for us and later assigned us the criteria for the next weekly blog. We were told that we were to analyse a list of four genres along with the movie and explain why the movie falls into those particular categories.

                                           

About the Movie
"Monster House" is a 3D-animated film directed by Gil Kenan. The film revolves around a 12-year old boy named DJ. DJ spies on his elderly neighbor, Mr Nebbercracker, a grumpy old man that confiscates anything that lands in his front yard. DJ believes that something strange is happening in that house. DJ and his best friend, Chowder, find out that his neighbor's house is actually haunted and alive. After nearly being eaten alive by the house, the two of them team up with Jenny, another kid that was almost eaten by the house. With Halloween soon approaching, they make it their mission to ensure the safety of that the kids trick-or-treating in that neighborhood.

Genres
A genre is a method we use to group films or film types. We group films into themes based on the similarities they share with other movies in terms of recurring themes, visual elements, and target demographic. A film can have more than one genre being tied to it. With that being said, the genres associated with the movie "Monster House" are horror, comedy, action, and adventure.

Reasons the film fits the genres
Comedy
Films from the genre of comedy are made with the intention to cause the audience to laugh. Films like this use elements such as language, exaggerated situations and actions, strange characters or behavior to entertain the audience. Basically, comedy films are films that use humor as a way of moving the plot forward. Just like with everything else, one's appreciation of humor is subjective which is why there are many types of comedies. Examples of the types of humor in films include slapstick humor, screwball humor, dark humor, and parodies.

The movie tries to sprinkle bits of humor into the movie every now and then. An example of an attempt at humor in the film can be seen when Chowder wants to impress Jenny to try to get on her good side. When Jenny tells him that she attends "West Brooke prep" and DJ says that it is a hard school to get into, he responds that he was also offered a shot to study there but he turned it down. Jenny then tells him that it is an all-girls school to which he awkwardly replies "Which is why I did it".

                               
                               
                               

                             
Action
Films that fall into the category of action tend to be fast-paced with scenes that include a lot of stimuli. These include high energy physical stunts and activities, intense fight scenes, explosions and so on. Films of this kind are usually filled with scenes that are entertaining regardless on context. On a more symbolic level, the generic theme for most action films is the concept of good versus evil. The threat is usually rectified after a long and drawn-out battle with the representation of evil.

The final fight in the film happens around the one-hour mark, where the house takes on its true form. For a majority of the film, the house is stationary and only attacks nearby people but in this state, it chases the children all the way to a construction site. The scene is drawn out and a lot of destruction takes place, from the demolition of the house done by Chowder using an excavator to the explosion at the end when DJ finally blows up the heart of the house with a stick of dynamite that Mr Nebbercracker gave him.
                             

                                                       
Horror
The horror genre is commonly associated with scary films. There are different definitions of what one would consider scary and hence are many different varieties of horror films ranging from slasher films to paranormal ones. Be that as it may, the one thing all horror films have in common in the intention of evoking the feeling of fear into the audience. This is usually achieved through applying particular elements that tend to terrify most people. Examples of these elements are fear of death, scary places, fear of the unusual, darkness and scary music.

The film"Monster House" was made with the intention to scare people as the film revolves around the idea of a man-eating building that devours unsuspecting victims that walk too close. At its core, the plot of the movie is made up of a combination of multiple elements that scare people. Unlike most scary films where unusual things happen in a scary place, the abnormality in "Monster House" is the scary place. The movie uses darkness to set the tone for when they want the audience to feel afraid. Most of the scenes where the house attacks the kids are done at night and even when scary events take place in the daytime, the colours used in the scenes consist of low values, making it seem dark.



Adventure
Films under the category of adventure usually center around the theme of the protagonist venturing out into the unknown. The purpose for the adventure may range from the need to vanquish an evil foe or to retrieve a particular treasure. In the end, the thing that matters most is that the protagonist is required to set out on an exploration of something foreign to them. These types of films often require the main character to venture to locations that vary from the one they originated from.

In the film, DJ and his band of friends set out on a mission to stop the man-eating house across the street from eating unsuspecting children that go trick-or-treeting at its doorstep on Halloween. The place they set out to explore is not a faraway land, but rather a house right across the street. However, the fact that they know nothing about the house and what exists beyond even its front lawn, means that they are still setting out into an unknown environment in order to seek answers. This qualifies the film for the adventure genre. Furthermore, DJ and his friends are set out on the conquest to defeat the monster house which also fits the theme of most adventure based films.

                                     
                                     
                                     

Final thoughts
While I am someone who does not do too well with scary movies, I found the movie this week to be particularly interesting. For starters, this was the first film that we have watched in the weekly screening that happened to be an animated film. Another reason I somewhat enjoyed the movie is probably due to a nostalgic factor since this is a movie I remember watching with my brother a few years back when it aired on Disney channel. It was refreshing watching a film with a milder tone as its target demographic was mainly younger audiences.