The Genres We Leave Behind The Genres We Leave Behind

Last year I was delighted to see that Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001) had broken into the Sight and Sound top ten. In my view, it’s the best film ever made, so to see it appreciated made me happy. After the list came out and I saw the discourse surrounding it unfold, I began to wonder; why is it that we care about our favourite films being included or left off these kinds of lists? Horror, comedy, animation and musical fans often feel jilted by these lists’ perceived lack of regard for films from those genres, and I can see why. There seems to be some kind of bias towards these genres, almost as if they’re perceived as a lower form of art.

As an avid horror fan I am often left underwhelmed by its usual exclusion. Whenever a horror film does get on one of these lists, people often rationalise it as “not being like other horror movies”. I have heard people declare both Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) and Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) to not be horror, in what I can only assume is a way for fans of these films to not have to stoop to such a low form of art as horror. I’d also just like to commend the critics at Sight and Sound for including, what is in my view, the finest horror movie ever made, and one of my favourite films in general: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) in their top 250.

Along with comedy and pornography, which I shockingly won’t be discussing in this article, horror is classed as one of the so called “body genres”. Genres of film that are meant to elicit a physical reaction in their audience, with an emotional reaction placed in a role of less importance. I wonder if it’s this prioritising of the physical that people have aversion to. The horror of a jumpscare doesn’t last but the horror of the final sequences of Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000) does. But then if the ending of Requiem is so horrific, what’s stopping us from classifying it as a horror movie?

Comedies always seem to be forgotten when these lists are made. Of the top twenty films on the 2022 Sight and Sound poll, approximately only 10% are comedies or could be considered humourous in any way. The highly controversial and, in my view, very poor “100 Best Movies of All Time’’ list from EMPIRE magazine contains, according to the best of my counting ability, only three comedies in its top 75, being Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007), Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Gonen, Gene Kelly, 1952) and UP (Pete Docter, 2009). These are classics, no doubt, but why are other classics left off, seemingly for no reason? Movies like Planes, Trains & Automobiles (John Hughes, 1987) or Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009) can’t be found on any of these lists, despite their worldwide acclaim and universal appeal.

Speaking of Mr. Fox, animation is also commonly left aside in favour of its live action counterpart. Now while animation isn’t a genre but a mode of filmmaking, it’s often treated as a genre of its own and so I’ll discuss it as such. Sight and Sound includes only three animated films in its entire top 250, all of them being directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The aggregate movie rating website Letterboxd, however, features nine animated films in its top 100, showing to me that audiences think higher of animation than perhaps some critics do. One of my very favourite films, Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman, 2015) is very rarely brought up in the conversation for best films of even just the 2010s, and I suspect it might have something to do with its uncanny stop motion animation style. I think it puts some people but who can deny the staying power and unequalled sheer fun of Mamma Mia (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008)? I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like Mamma Mia, and when asked about one’s favourite musical, I suspect a large portion of us would cite this ABBA fuelled fever dream. Even the more critically beloved musicals like All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979) or The Wall (Alan Parker, 1982) are often dismissed by the average moviegoer as being “just musicals” and therefore less worth their time. It’s a shame because when that combination of music and film works, it creates a beautiful thing. off when a crafted world is similar to our own, but just slightly off. Maybe that’s why the Miyazaki films are the only ones on S&S. Unlike much of Western animation, anime rarely focuses on photorealism. Then we get to the musical, another of the “body genres”. I’ll admit to not being the biggest musical fan,

I don’t think that the canon is going to change so drastically as to include more horrors, comedies or musicals any time soon. The Godfather (Fracis Ford Coppola, 1972) won’t be replaced by Jack & Jill (Dennis Dugan, 2011) any time soon and Lord knows I’m not advocating for that, but I do think it’s time to reappraise the genres we left behind in the search for the best crime thrillers and dramas.