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LITR 4533: |
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Genre Presentation 2000 |
Karen Daly
Spy Movies
Definitions:
"Espionage." Anything and everything associated with the global trading of national secrets. - James Parish and Michael Pitts. The Great American Spy Pictures. Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1974.
"Spy." A Person who obtains or transmits the information. - James Parish and Michael Pitts. The Great American Spy Pictures. Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1974.
"Spy Movies." There have been spies as long as there has been warfare. In fiction, spies make their appearance relatively late. The main theme of spy movies became Free World (The United States and its Allies) versus the Red Menace (the Soviet Union and the International Communist Conspiracy). In this dark and nasty underground it was the spy who could operate most effectively - not the diplomat or the soldier. The spy was not a Lone Ranger. He was a member of a community of spies. Sometimes, as a double agent, he worked for more than one country. http://www.comptonsv3.web.aol.com/ceo99-cgi/article?'fastweb?getdoc.+viewcompt ons+AFPS+22200+0++spy'
Related genres: detective movies, horror movies, westerns
Representational genre: combination: dialogue + narration
Narrative genre: romance (can you trust the femme fatale) + tragedy (something tragic will happen if the spy does not make it right)
Example: Mission Impossible by Paramount Pictures, 1996
Highlights of Example: untouchable hero, covert mission, femme fatale, futuristic equipment
Additional examples of the genre: Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery (1914), Last Train Out (Edward Oppenheim, 1940),Big Squeeze (Mark Corrigan, 1955),James Bond...
Questions:
What do you expect to see during a spy movie?
During times of war, what effect do you think spy movies have on the audience?
Why is futuristic equipment used in spy movies? Does it make the movie more or less believable?