Codes and Conventions of the action genre

The Expendables Movie Trailer from nangipad on Vimeo.

Codes and Conventions of Action Genre

·         12/15 certificate, maximizing the age demographic of audiences

·         Often hybridised with other genres such as  Sci Fi/Adventure/Romance

·         Major Hollywood studio produced and distributed

·         High production values including CGI FX. Fast paced editing

·         Classic Hollywood 3 act narrative structure ( beginning, middle, end) 

·         Predictable chain of events – cause and effect- can guess the ending. 

·         Single stranded, linear, closed narrative, not a complex story

·         Dramatic non-diegetic soundtrack

·         More narrative action codes than enigma codes

·         Clear binary oppositions- good and bad guys 

·         Star Marketing: Audience identification/expectations (Cruise/Pitt/Willis/Thurman/Jolie/Stallone/Craig/SchwarzeneggeDi Caprio…). Generic Typecasting and Secondary Persona apply- big names to go with the character personalities. 

·         Romantic sub-plot, Humorous dialogue, lots of comradeship  

·         Relationships with new technology (youth audiences) 

·         Dominant representation of gender: male/female action hero. Mulvey’s male gaze and contemporary female gaze can apply,  mainly male heros, sometimes one female will be a hero. 

·         Uses and Gratifications theory can be mapped onto Action Films


All the different codes and conventions of the action genre are designed to excite audiences and make them amazed and invested in the action. After watching " The Expendibles" and the "Taken" trailer, it was very apparent that the genre differs heavily in terms of story and narrative.  The Expendibles seems to take a lot more focus on the action, which is almost super human as it involves all of the actors almost leaping into fights, with the action intensified by close ups and quick shots of the battle. The conventions of action are somewhat broken in " taken" which takes it stroy a lot more seriously. However, many of the codes and conventions are still there.

In the Expendibles trailer, immediatly the conventions of a major Hollywood studio poducing the film, and a " voice of god"  narration of the trailer. This is supposed to add a sense of suspense as the tone of the narrator is very masculin and deep. The way the narration states that " the only world theyve ever known is war"  connotes that they are professional killers, which appeals to the audience as it means that they will get to see good quality action. It is worth noting that the majority of audiences who watch action films are male, therefore the conventions of male gaze are used in the trailer, and the romantic sub-plot used to add some sex appeal.  Researching the codes and convention of action also highlighted how simple some action films can be, with a straighforward begining middle and end.  There is sometimes a slight twist in the tale, but usually the narrative is very linear.
The differences in " Taken" to the Expendibles are very obvious. Taken takes more time with buildings its narrative and characters, and also succeeds in hitting home the serious themes that are involved with the story, such as sex slavery and human trafficing.