Family-Adventure Films. Communications & Media Essay

Family-Adventure Films
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Family-Adventure Films
The Hollywood “family film” has been widely consumed around the world making it a commercial success. It is best customized to appeal not only to a literal family consisting of adults and children but also to a diverse audience as possible. The success of Hollywood on the family-oriented productions originates from its broadness of appeal: where the movies please a wider audience while offending as few consumers as possible. This essay outlines and evaluates the argument in the articles by Wood (1896) and Kramer (1998) regarding the family film and specifically focuses on the reasons for their commercial success and appeal to a wider audience.
The family-oriented films emerged in the early 1930s aiming to secure a viewership and respectability in the United States (Brown 2013, p). Before the 1930s era, the film feature was part of the “balanced program” which offered entertainment for the broadest audience demographic. The feature films were more oriented towards adult tastes while the few animation and two-reel comedies appealed more to children. The lack of movies specifically made for children led to campaigns aimed at the production of children’s film. Ever since, these films have broadened their scope due to various changes and advances in technology, popular culture, and demographics.
The article by Wood (1986) is a focuses on a phenomenon that has in the 1980s that has led to the emergence of children films conceived and marketed for an adult population. The films render safe some of the movements of the 1970s like radical feminism, gay liberation, black militancy and the assault of the patriarchy (Wood 1986, p. 164). The films contain some deliberate resistance but in a manner that the audience does not take it seriously. The ultimate aim of these films is to entertain which prevents the audience from raising serious questions about them. Wood (1986, p. 164) admits that pleasure is an important component of human beings and the films base their theme on this aspect. The films attract more people because they correspond to the inner workings of the social construction of the viewers. Although individuals wish to remain as adults, they cannot ignore the value of pleasure. The article by Kramer (1998) builds on Wood’s idea by expounding on the obsession of a majority of Hollywood’s blockbusters with family issues. The discussion of the article focuses on a number of films that have received good reception because of broadening their appeal beyond the audience of teenagers and young adults to reach the family adult.
Some of these fantasy films are still played on repeat on the screens and viewed by an audience consisting of all ages. One of the reasons for this phenomena is what Wood refers to as “childishness”. The films are conceived and marketed largely for an adult population. These films construct the adult spectator a child or even an adult who desires to become a child (Wood 1986, p. 165). For example, the E.T. entails the discovery of extraterrestrial life while Back to the Future is about individuals’ fantasies about how it would be if one coul...