Family movie
In contrast to children's or youth films, a family film is not aimed at a specific age group , but rather at a cross-generational and gender-spanning audience (see also Four-Quadrant Movie ). The conflicts shown are usually chosen so that children can also follow the action, while some details and levels of action are only accessible to adults. The concept of the family film emerged in the 1940s with the increasing focus on target groups in order to stand out from age-specific film genres. With the increased marketing of films in the form of VHS and DVD in the 1980s and 1990s, the distinction became more and more important in order to avoid being classified as a children's film. Back then, children's films usually had to get by with low budgets and were less attractive for production companies. For example, the famous American film critic Roger Ebert said: "Nine out of ten children's films are pointless, stupid and show that they disregard their audience - which is also the reason why children do not like children's films."
Many cartoons with identifying characters for children (e.g. Shrek - The daredevil hero ), but also real-life films, are considered family films. Disney in particular stood out, for example with Mary Poppins (1964), the Herbie series (from 1968) or The Flying Pauker (1960). Many family films are comedies , some with exaggerated slapstick interludes, for example in Mrs. Doubtfire - The Prickly Nanny (1993) or the silent films by Laurel and Hardy .
literature
- Noel Brown: The Hollywood Family Film: A History, from Shirley Temple to Harry Potter. IB Tauris 2012.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ursula von Keitz, Caroline Amann: Familienkino / Familienfilm . In: Lexikon der Filmbegriffe, edited by Hans J. Wulff and Theo Bender.
- ↑ quoted from Ronald M. Hahn , Volker Jansen , Norbert Stresau : Lexikon des Fantasy-Films. 650 films from 1900 to 1986 . Heyne, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-453-02273-4 , p. 73.