1. Genre and Audience - Saving Private Ryan

I. Genre and Audience-

1. What tradition or genre is it in?
2. What are the features determining genre?
3. What other work might it be connected to?
4. Who made this? Why?
5. What can we tell about its’ creators?
6. How does it fit within the director’s other work?
1. Does it share significant narrative or thematic concerns?
2. Does it share particular visual or technical elements?
7. What is the film’s theme?
8. What is the target audience? How does it address its audience?

1. The genre of this piece is a traditional war film. A war film simply involves war, action, and bloodshed. This film is modeled around the events at World War II, giving us an inside look at what happens to the individual, rather than how the countries as a whole are affected.

2. Certain features determining this film as a war film include its use of common narrative techniques in war films. Narrative techniques of a war film consist of three factors: Squad proficiencies, foreign troop, and the miraculous “cavalry over the hill” scene. In war films, we are presented with a troop or squad, and the audience is always able to identify each soldier by their weapon preference or proficiency. For example, we may not know an individuals name, but know them instead as the “sniper” or “heavy weapons expert.” In every troop, there is always a noticeable soldier of a different ethnicity. In Saving Private Ryan, we have the Jewish troop serving in WWII. Most often the audience sees characters like this as comic relief. Lastly, many war films include the dramatic “cavalry over the hill” scene. This is, in times of peril, where it seems all hope has been lost, there will be the miraculous reinforcements that seem to come in at the last possible minute. During the climactic battle on the bridge in the movie, Capt. Miller is seen firing at the tank with his pistol, having lost all hope. On his last bullet, the tank explodes and we see a group of fighter jets fly overhead, and more troops and armor arrive over the hill to save the day.

3. Within the same year this film was released, another identical movie known as “Thin Red Line” was also released. These two war movies focused around the events of WWII and also signify the bravery and heroism an individual has to take in order to serve in the war.

4. Steven Spielberg was the director of this film and he holds the role as the “auteur” to this film. He’s well known for this movie amongst the many other films he’s produced and directed. He directed this movie because people know Spielberg as one to highlight themes or values that relate to the audience on a deep meaning. For example, Spielberg had also directed “Schindler’s List” which also took place during the WWII era. In this film, he highlights how the individual is affected during times of war. He also signifies the value of an individual in “Saving Private Ryan” as well.

5. The creators of this film wanted to show both sides of war, that being the effect it has on countries, but also the individual troops themselves. As i stated earlier, Spielberg highlights the individual, and their own individual motives and reasons for going to war. The creators are concerned about getting these messages to the public, knowing that people always fight for a cause. The troops we send are people, not expendable machines or robots.

6. When Spielberg directs a film, he always manages to get the theme across well and leave an impact on the audience. The audience almost always receives the take-home message of the films he’s directed. For example, Spielberg also directed “Schindler’s List” which also happened to have a thematic concern on the values of the individual.

7. Saving Private Ryan is a film about the significance of the individual. This being that an individuals actions always rely on an underlying motive or reason. One line from the film stated by Captain Miller, “You see, when... when you end up killing one your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others.” This shows although they seem to be heartless killing monsters to some people, he does it for the safety of his people and country.

8. This film was directed towards Americans, being a war film told from the American perspective of WWII. This audience had to include people with some historical knowledge of the period, probably adult men with an interest in action-war films. This film addresses the audience by including a few battle scenes in this film. For example, several minutes into the film, it opens with a dramatic representation of the historical battle for Normandy.