Curated category
Film genres
- Detective fictionIn the Tigris river, a fisherman discovers a heavy locked chest that changes everything. Inside lies the body of a young woman cut into pieces.
- Drama (film and television)In 1980, scholar Keir Elam published a book titled The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama that traced how the word drama evolved from ancient theatre into modern…
- SatireThe word satire comes from the Latin term satur, meaning full. A subsequent phrase lanx satura shifted this definition to miscellany or medley.
- Horror filmMax Schreck as Count Orlok in the 1922 film Nosferatu set a template for the horror film, according to critic and historian Kim Newman.
- Slasher filmA killer stalking a group of people with a bladed tool defines the core of this horror subgenre. Film analysts distinguish these movies from monster films or…
- Dark humorThe phrase black humor emerged in 1935 when André Breton wrote about the writings of Jonathan Swift. Breton used this term to describe a subgenre where…
- B movieIn 1927, a feature film from a major Hollywood studio cost between $190,000 at Fox and $275,000 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. These numbers defined the A movie…
- Independent filmIn 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company formed a cartel known as the Edison Trust. This organization held a monopoly on film production and distribution…
- CartoonA full-size drawing made on sturdy paper once served as the blueprint for a grand fresco. This preparatory work, known as a cartoon, originated in the Middle…
- Music videoIn 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas to project still images on a screen during live performances of…