Genre Essay

Genre Essay

Friday (1995)

The plot of the movie is simple, Ice Cube's character Craig has been fired... on his day off which starts the movie of with comedic effect due to the hilarity of somebody managing to get fired on their day off. It is set in a neighbourhood similar to the set of 'Boyz n the Hood' which is where Ice Cube made his acting debut and proved himself to be more than a credible actor, His sidekick in the film is comedian Chris Tucker who had also acted in several comedy movies prior to the film. Smokey (portrayed by Chris Tucker) is the classic comedic sidekick who causes trouble for the main character Craig. The 'bad guy' in the film is Deebo who orders Craig and smokey to pay $200 or he will kill them. 

The majority of the trailer features medium close ups and back and forth shots, the trailer does a good job of explaining the story particually quickly, the upbeat music of the trailer also helps to remind the audience that although the film features some drama , it is a comedy film and that there will hilarious moments along the way, very rarley are other shot types used during the trailer other than a high angle shot when Smokey and Craig are hiding in a truck, this emphasises that compared to the people chasing them they are small, in respect and in power.

The soundtrack to the film 'Friday' is perfect , it goes perfectly with the setting of seemingly at hood in southern Los Angeles , the soundtrack is chilled and calm and the hip hop flavour of the film is replicated in the soundtrack, I feel the reason fit in so perfectly is because Craig (Ice Cube) himself performed some tracks.

The plot of the film also features several small plots which serve to keep the film going as time advances to 10am, they show Craig for example as just a normal guy who has a crush on his neighbour which allows people to relate to him. Friday also doesn’t pull any punches by pretending that life in the hood features all illegal behaviour and often in the film the main characters engage in illegal activity. The fact that Ice Cube is often taking part allows audience members who are fans of Ice Cube the rap artist to reminisce  to Cube many songs about drugs,prostitution etc and remember songs from previous albums such as ‘amerikkka's most wanted’ .

The setting reminds me of a stereotyped ‘hood’ area of Los Angeles, In the ‘hood’ crimes happen countless times per day and there are several characters who are strange to say the least. I feel like this is because director F. Gary Gary wanted to make people realise that despite this being a comedy film this is a way