The history of the film industry is characterized by the temporary dominance of different genres and approaches to film-making. As film industry is intended to reflect the existing sentiments of the society, meet the requirements of people, and provide high-quality food for thought, it is always important for motion-picture companies and producers to feel the current trends and make films according to them. In hard times people often need to forget about the existing reality and films can help them do so. Together with this, there sometimes appears a request for a reinterpretation of the real world. This idea leads to the contradiction between the two trends: escapism and social commentary. More generally, this is a contradiction between realism and fantasy.
The development of realism in the history of the American film industry is connected with the development of the classical Hollywood style (Langford, 2010). The distinctive feature of Hollywood realism resides in its verisimilitude which is often opposed to the realistic tendencies in other countries. The genre of war films also greatly contributed to the establishment of realism techniques as the main purpose of such films was to convey the devastation and sorrow brought by the war. Despite the necessity to stick to the reality, the realism techniques were not simplified to the plain narration. Realistic films not only show facts but convey the director’s attitude towards the depicted events (Cousins, 2011). In addition to this, they contain well-structured plot that serves as a liaison between the film and real life so that audience could feel empathy for the characters and transfer the depicted context to their own lives. In other words, the realistic narration in American films provides the audience with certain truth effects and creates the atmosphere of real life which is achieved through various devices and techniques, but the films themselves are not exactly real (Lev, 2003).
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"The Movies, Realism Versus Fantasy".
On the other hand, fantasy technique tends to depict reality in a more grotesque way. One of the key functions of fantasy films is creating an alternative reality thus promoting the use of individuals’ imagination. This can be understood as escapism from the reality. Together with this, it turns out that fantasy films can also address existing problems (e.g. social or political) and launch a vivid discussion of the events represented in films (Langford, 2010). For instance, this is the case with Who Framed Roger Rabbit film which is also known for the implemented innovation of simultaneous appearance of real and drawn characters. This is another distinctive feature of fantasy films. They are often more open to certain experiments, not only from directing point of view, but also technical aspects of film-making. Fantasy itself gives more freedom to the creator and a skillful director is able to realize the provided opportunity to create the whole world within one film.
Summarizing the above-mentioned ideas, it can be stated that both realistic and fantasy movements have a great impact on the development of the global film industry and art as a whole. Nowadays the film-making industry is broadly integrated into everyday life. The major difference between the former and current attitude of the audience towards the industry resides in the development of the film market. In past, talented directors were able to dictate their own vision and ideas to the audience due to the relatively small size of the film market. Today, film-makers often have to follow the trends and meet the interests of the public. With the growth of film production, people choose what attracts them most and thus, bring profit to certain studios and pay nothing to the others.
- Cousins, M. (Director). (2011). The Story of Film: An Odyssey [Video]. England: Hopscotch Films.
- Langford, B. (2010). Post-Classical Hollywood: Film Industry, Style and Ideology since 1945. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.
- Lev, P. (2003). Twentieth Century-Fox: The Zanuck-Skouras Years, 1935–1965. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
