congerdesign via Pixabay

congerdesign via Pixabay

Movies, one of the most popular sources of entertainment, have been around for decades. From comedies to romance to action to horror, the variety in movies is endless. One can get overwhelmed at times at the prospect of which genre of movie he/she wants to watch. Having said that, each movie has its own target audience, purpose, and goals.

One of the biggest components of movies is the movie’s target audience, and this is something that is considered by every director. Some movie concepts are more successful with certain audiences than others. For example, documentaries typically have a high level of commentary and may not be understood or appreciated by really young audiences. In this case, it would be crucial for the director of that movie to target audiences with a higher level of thinking in order to yield the most profit.

With this in mind, all movies have a purpose: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Some movies bear all three of these purposes, others only bear two, but every movie has at least one of those three purposes and that is to entertain. It’s through entertainment that directors can slyly incorporate their own personal thoughts and opinions into movies without the audience realizing it. For example, as the film industry grew so did entertainment films that gave certain viewpoints on violence, “Hollywood genres such as the gangster film and post-World War II film noir. These proved exceedingly popular…” (Sklar and Cook).    

Now that’s not saying every director will do this, but as an audience it’s important to be unbiased, cultured, and educated when watching a movie before jumping to conclusions. For example, some movies will generalize a group of people and may portray them in a certain way in which the director sees fit. For example, “The motion-picture industry’s emphasis on pleasing the youth audience with special effects-laden blockbusters and genre works such as teen-oriented horror films and comedies” (Sklar and Cook). Young people’s minds are easily influenced and they may believe certain portrayals. Whether these portrayals are true or not, a lot of times is disregarded by audiences and they will believe whatever movies tell them.  

This is a serious problem. Who knows how many stereotypes and lies exist because of movies? Sklar and Cook said, “the independent movement fostered what came to be called niche film making, which generated works growing out of ethnic and identity movements in contemporary American culture. Among these were films created by African American, Native American, and Chicano and Chicana filmmakers, as well as works representing feminist and gay and lesbian cultural viewpoints and experience.” Now that’s not to say audiences shouldn’t watch movies that take a certain stance on something, but people should just acknowledge that they are watching those types of movies and not apply what those movies say into their lives.