For my feature film analysis I chose 'Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery'. While not technically of the social realism genre, I chose it as I felt parts of it could be considered as such. The film is a very well made comedy film and, as a result, the social realism aspects of it are very good examples to follow. It shows good character development which is something all social realism films should try to do, even if they're a short film. Like most social realism films, it involves a lot of romance throughout the film, a mjor storyline being the chemistry between the two main characters, Austin Powers and Melissa Kensington.

 

Being a comedy film, this aspect is greatly exagerated but it is still important to note the role it plays in both genres. Consequently, it is rather important to include this in some way in our film. A large factor of the believability of 'Austin Powers' is the chemistry and social acting in it, which gives it a license to do unbelievable things, hence where the comedy comes from. It is, thus, a good idea to try to get the chemistry between our cast right as this will enhance the believability of our film, which is the essence of social realism. A comedy film, like 'Austin Powers' doesn't need to be believable but by setting up that foundation of believability it creates more comedy from that, whereas a social realism film thrives on believability and that is the essence of this genre.

 

What can be noted by observing social realism in a feature film is that it is very difficult to make the social realism genre stand independent as the main genre of a film. It is rather rare to find a feature length film that is purely of the social realism genre. As a result, they often infuse a bit of, for example, comedy to make it more interesting, or in the case of 'Austin Powers' a lot of comedy and action. This shows that the social realism genre may not be one considered very commercially successful, as shown by the fact that rather than analysing a social realism genre feature length film I chose to analyse social realism in a comedy action film. Consequently, this is probably why there are probably a lot more social realism short films than there are feature length films in the genre.