AMC “Top Ten” Lists

A lot of people are talking about the AFI’s release of “top ten films” in a variety of genres. I first heard about this from Sailor Boy and another friend last night,and they were saying that the only people who would actually put 2001: A Space Odyssey ahead of Star Wars would be Pretentious Film Types. (We say this with the full knowledge that we have just named out new desktop Hal.)

Also, they are clearly not Pretentious Genre Types, because those people would probably talk about the fact that Star Wars is actually space-set epic fantasy, but that’s neither here nor there. Me, I’m Genre-Interpretive, which was probably made obvious by the way I’ve been flitting about the internet, calling ROS(B) romantic suspense, to the dismay of all those who actually write romantic suspense. I think most people who look at Star Wars see a film set in space, and that sets off the sci-fi trigger in their brains, releasing sci-fi enzymes into their hypothalami. So sci-fi is fine by me.

But I digress. As with any release of lists of this sort, you read the winners and you’re left going, “Huh? How could they leave out my very favorite blah-de-blah? those bastards!” (No Tootsie?) And “What the hell is this piece of crap doing on the list?” (Yes, Lion King, I’m looking at you. You destroyed my love affair with Disney.) I could seriously go on forever about the things I’d put on the lists that they didn’t, or the things they kept off that should have been on there.

But instead, I’d rather talk about the categories themselves. “Animation, sports, westerns, mystery, romantic comedy, sci-fi, fantasy, epic, gangster, and courtroom drama.” Huh? Courtroom drama? Srsly? It’s a strange collection of groupings, to be sure. Some problems include:

• 40% of the Mystery listmakers are Hitchcock films. Hitchcock was very clear on the fact that he did not make mysteries, and in spite of my genre-interpretive leanings, I’m inclined to agree with him.
• A lot of courtroom dramas, however, are in fact mysteries. And a few Westerns, too.
• The fantasy list could in large part just be renamed “The Holiday Movie” list. Why don’t they put Miracle on 34th St. under Courtroom Dramas? Also, again, where’s the fantasy in that movie? Isn’t the whole point that it wasn’t necessarily fantasy? The fantasy list is a mess, despite the fact that I really do like most of the movies on that list. It’s just so broad, and so strange that they would stick LOTR there but not, say, The Ten Commandments, in which many fantastical things happen as well. Is it because the latter is biblical? Because they are both pretty darn epic.
• Speaking of Epics, what they chose to classify there is mysterious to me as well. Titanic? Epic? Don’t epics usually cover a period of years rather than a few days? And Leo’s Jack doesn’t really fit the mold of epic hero. I will, however, give them Saving Private Ryan, despite the “time crunch” issue, because they pack a lot of heroism and tragedy in such a small space.
• Speaking of Titanic, they should have created a “Disaster Film” category and slapped that in there. Disaster Film is a great category. It’s cross-genre as well — you could put in natural disasters, or Daikaiju, whatever floats your boat (or flips it upside down, or sinks it).
• Rather than separate out animation, I’d prefer if it was treated as a valid medium and classified according to the genre of said animated movies (Shrek is a romantic comedy, Finding Nemo is an epic, etc. John Scalzi makes this point brilliantly when talking about the phenomenal The Incredibles. Pause to note how much I love that film. It’s really one of my favorite movies of all time.)

I’m also disappointed in the romantic comedy list, but for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, genre wise (except for Sleepless in Seatle, which is not a romantic comedy, but rather, should go under the heading of Hollywood Meta). I’m inclined to think it’s just bias over the fact that they can’t possibly put all my favorites in one top ten list, though I am so pleased that they saw fit to cut out the horrific dreck that tries to pass itself off as romantic comedy these days. Filmmakers: please watch these films (especially the black and white ones) to see how it’s done.

Hmmm… maybe I’m not as Genre Interpretive as I thought.