FILMS STUDIES - GENRE

Authors Avatar

Film Studies Coursework – Genre

The film that I have chosen is “Blazing Saddles” directed by Mel Brooks, who is a director that is famous for making comedy films for example, The Producers. So from the outset we can expect this film to fit into his style. This film fits into the comedy/western genre. The film is a parody of the western movie and takes on many influences from famous westerns that can be seen throughout the movie. This film takes western genre norms and gives them a comic twist in order to create the comedy/ western theme. The comedy used is mostly slapstick and visual comedy.

A brief synopsis of the run up to this scene would be typical of the comedy/western genre. There are a group of African Americans who are being made to work on putting a railroad through the town of Rock ridge. The problem with this is that the townsfolk will have to leave before the rail road can go through the town. The assistant to the governor appoints one of the slaves as sheriff of the town in a ploy to make the townsfolk so repulsed that they will leave the town, from here the scene commences

The first shot we see is a long shot of the street in the middle of the town. From this establishing shot we can see this is definitely a western. There is no road just dirt which is hardened by the horses that are also in the shot. Every store and house is made out of wood which is typical in western films. We can see women in this shot. The women are dressed in dresses that are typical to western movies and very commonly seen, they also wear bonnets with ribbons on them. All these factors are typical in western film. There are two different types of men that we can see in the shot. There is the gentleman who is wearing the suit outside the bank and then the rest of the men are wearing the cowboy style costume. In a typical cowboy costume we see a dust coat, sandy coloured chino trousers, cowboy boots, Stetson hats, chaps, Waistcoats and Spurs worn on the boots. The costume of the cowboy is iconic to the western and the way the costume looks makes the cowboys what they are.

The editing through the first half a minute of this scene is very slow there aren’t many shots. The editing plays a big part as for the action to go somewhere we need the scene to start of slow and paced so that the action can progress a technique often used in western films. The music that goes along to this scene is specially written for it. The lyrics of the song are very important in putting across the comedy aspect of its genre. The lyrics that go with the establishing shot are, “there was a peaceful town called Rock Ridge, where people lived in harmony” the instruments that back this up are instruments that would be associated with the western vibe. Instruments such as the acoustic guitar and the clarinet are used. These instruments give the western feel to the scene. Also the fact that the vocals are done by a choir, this we would associate with the choir at the town church which we later see. A tracking shot is used to show the stores and places that are in the town of Rock Ridge for example, “Howard Johnsons Ice-cream Parlour” which is made comic by the fact that the sign outside says “1 flavour”. The surname Johnson is a running joke as we find out after the song finishes. Everyone in the town is a Johnston which gives the impression that the townspeople are inbred. A little touch that also gives the western genre to this film is the way they have the bars that you ties horses up to, outside every store or house and on some there are horses to make it authentic.

Join now!

The location on the camera goes entirely with the lyrics of the song. When the lyrics are talking about the town itself the camera shots are all of the town and the town folk. When the lyrics then change to talking about the town saloon the camera is now in the town saloon. The town saloon is also iconic in the western and this is why it is included in this scene though the part that makes this comical is the fact that there are cattle just wandering about the barroom and no one takes any notice of them. The ...

This is a preview of the whole essay