First glance

What is genre?

Genre has become a crucial tool in the production process of a media product since it is typically involved in storytelling when Ari came up with the concept of happy and sad endings. Genre is divided into many categories, each with distinguishing features involved of Story (Action) + Plot + Character + Setting. However, these features do not have an absolute association with the genre because each society has its own set of conventions and none is equivalent to the others. Also, a blurred genre boundary could generate hybrids of genres and sub-genres which influence codes and conventions to change.

Screenwriters or film producers could introduce the movie along with its genre to reach the right audience groups. Genre is like a sign for the audience to recognize their interest type of media. For example, people who enjoy typical elements such as serial killers, spirits, and graphic violence would go for horror, and people who are fascinated by courtly love, chivalry, sympathetic heroine, and emotional tension, … will seek romance.

Thus, what is genre function in a nutshell?

A media producer picks a genre to identify suitable patterns and elements that should exist in that specific media product to meet the expectations of the audience.

My chosen genre & sub-genre

I have always been intrigued by romantic dramas as they lead me through many stages of the mood wheel including anger, fear, sadness, calm, resilience, tolerance, and happiness. Romantic dramas normally emphasize deep and true love by adding obstacles that separate the main couple then at the end we greet a touching scene where the couple finally unite again. To be able to maintain the passion of love until the last moment of the separation, loving, caring, and sharing are always the key elements to maintaining relationships between the couple. Especially, romantic patterns between love couples are used as an emphasized status to demonstrate the beauty of surrounding connections such as self-love, family, friends, or even kindness when helping strangers with their difficulties. It seems to me that love is like a beautiful slice of life where people can enjoy their lives and live positively. Hence, the combination of romance (main genre) and drama (sub-genre) is an ideal choice to share these lovely energies with my audience.     

Violet Evergarden (The Movie) is a romantic fantasy drama published in 2020 based on the endings of a same-name Japanese light novel series written by Kana Akatsuki. Before this in 2018, Taichi Ishidate and Haruka Fujita directed a same-name series with several sections to focus on different aspects of the novel. The story takes place in warfare and post-war which enhances even more the feelings between the main characters in difficult situations where they are under a circumstance that they have to leave each other due to the consequences of war. The plot tells us about the journey of Violet (the main character throughout the series) to find the meaning of love. The story takes us through many different situations about different kinds of love that contain many emotional aspects. According to the story, understanding feelings and emotions within different situations of different types of people has helped Violet to enhance her ability to express her most sincere state to her beloved man when they finally meet after years apart. On the other side, Gilbert (Violet's partner) also overcomes the guilt in the past and shows his love to Violet like his first confession to her right before they distance from each other. 

Both Violet and Gilbert are in love with each other but they care for their partners in very different ways. Love cannot be expressed through certain words and gestures, it takes the entire process to feel and appreciate. Violet and Gilbert all have the desire to give their partner the best thing they can and deserve happiness but Violet chooses to face her love while Gilbert refuses to meet her because his guilty about how his brother has made use of Violet in the war which she cannot live as a normal kid and are treated like a combat weapons. In this pattern, we greet his inner torment when behold an innocent girl being treated against humanity but cannot do anything to help her. Besides romance, the movie also conveys humane messages through the slice of life which shows another kind of love, especially about the tenderness between humans. Again from tenderness, the movies also enhance many characteristics in people's relationships that Violet greets during her job as an auto memory doll like compassion when Gilbert’s brother no longer sees Violet as a weapon tool and feels sorry for her pain; generosity, and humor in friendship when Violet and her colleagues support each other in their workplace and also personal life; cohesiveness, and open communication between family members during the duty where Violet write letters for the mother to give to her daughter after she passed away; etc