Tag: Genre
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Jurassic Park Was Right
Science fiction has a specific job: to take something real, push it past its logical limits, and show you what breaks. Jurassic Park (1993) does that job better than almost any film I can think of. Thirty years later, it feels less like a dinosaur movie and more like a memo someone should have read…
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What Horror Is Actually Afraid Of
Most horror films give you a monster and ask you to be scared of it. Shadow of the Vampire gives you a monster and asks you to be scared of the person who hired it. The 2000 film, starring Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich, is built around a premise that sounds like a late-night comedy…
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Why Liar Liar Changed My Mind About Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey has been back in the news after an appearance at a French awards show triggered online speculation that it wasn’t even him. A clone. A stand-in. A double. Absurd. And strangely on-brand. Carrey has always felt larger than his own frame. His face stretches past plausibility. His body folds into itself. He commits…
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Why Action Lives or Dies by Its Rules
In previous Field Notes, I’ve explored how thrillers sustain tension through control and how romance earns belief through emotional alignment. Across genres, I keep returning to the same question: What makes an audience believe? Action answers it differently. It runs on rules. John Wick (2014) is a clear example. On paper, it borders on absurd:…
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Romance, Without the Rescue
Valentine’s Day tends to bring out the grand gestures. The sweeping declarations. The airport chases. The perfectly timed kiss. I’ve always enjoyed those moments. But the older I get (and the more I study genre), the more I find myself drawn to quieter versions of romance – the kind that feel less like conquest and…
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Why Thrillers Keep Us Leaning Forward
One thread I plan to return to here is genre: how it works, why it endures, and what it reveals about us. Thrillers, in particular, have always held a strange pull for me. Not because of spectacle or shock, but because of the way they make you feel slightly off-balance. It’s the sense that something…