phil_boroff's profile

133 Messages

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3.5K Points

Saturday, November 25th, 2017 8:08 PM

1

Romance and War Genre Definitions

Suggested revision of definitions

Romance:  Should contain numerous inter-related scenes (40% of screen time or more) of characters and their personal lives with emphasis on emotional attachment or involvement with other characters, especially those characterized by a high level of purity and/or devotion and/or passion. The ending may be happy or sad or ambiguous.  Note: If this does not describe at least 40% of the title's plot line, it should be submitted as the keyword "romance-subplot" instead. Subjective. 

War:  Should contain numerous scenes (40% of screen time or more) and/or a narrative that pertains to a real war (i.e., past or current). This represents not only battle scenes, military training and strategy, but also "homefront" plot lines that are directly affected by a real war.  Note: If this does not describe at least 40% of the title's plot line, it should be submitted as the keyword "war-subplot" instead. Note: for titles that portray fictional war, please submit it as the keyword "fictional-war" only. Objective.

2.7K Messages

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83K Points

7 years ago

I'm not sure how you'd want to check the "40% or more" rule. I realize "numorous" is rather subjective, but to me it seems a hard number like 40% is very hard to check and leads to discussions about films that have, for example, 39 or 41 per cent.
Also, I think the line "The ending may be happy or sad or ambiguous" doesn't add anything. You basically just say that a movie should end, which all movies do.

133 Messages

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3.5K Points

7 years ago

Good points.  The 40% could be measured by screen time.  Time consuming, of course, to measure that, but this would make the decision more objective.  This is an attempt to make "numerous" more understandable.

The "ending" point concerns titles that have apparently been denied because the ending was sad or ambiguous, i.e. An Education.

2.7K Messages

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83K Points

7 years ago

 Time consuming, of course, to measure that, but this would make the decision more objective.
Apart from the fact that it would be very time consuming, I don't think genres in and of themselves are objective enough to pin them down based on an exact amount of screen time. Genres are also a bit intuitive sometimes.

The "ending" point concerns titles that have apparently been denied because the ending was sad or ambiguous, i.e. An Education.
I haven't seen An Education, so I can't judge whether or not I feel that title deserves the genre Romance, but the current definition doesn't say anything regarding the ending of a title, so a title can't be refused a genre based on the ending. If IMDb doesn't feel An Education should be labeled Romance, the ending of that film can't be the reason.

133 Messages

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3.5K Points

Romance as a genre for this title has been a longtime concern on mine.

What is the reason why it is not an appropriate genre?

2.7K Messages

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83K Points

As I've said, I haven't seen An Education, so I can't say anything about whether or not it should have the Romance genre listed.

133 Messages

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3.5K Points

Watch it.  And watch The Beguiled (both versions), too.

2.7K Messages

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83K Points

One day I sure will Phil.