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Adventure Film

Quests, Exploration, Glory

Adventure films are a genre of film. Unlike action films, they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way.

Main plot elements include:

  • Quests for lost continents

  • Jungle, mountain, island, urban and/or desert settings

  • Characters going on a treasure hunts

  • Heroic journeys for the unknown

  • Adventure films are mostly set in a period background

  • May include adapted stories of historical or fictional adventure heroes within the historical context

  • Kings, battles, rebellion or piracy are common

  • Adventure films may also be combined with other movie genres such as, science fiction, fantasy and sometimes war films

Popular concepts

  • An outlaw fighting for justice or battling a tyrant (e.g., Robin Hood, Zorro or Star Wars)

  • Suspense and dangerous situations the characters must escape from.

  • Pirates (e.g., Captain Blood or Pirates of the Caribbean)

  • A journey or quest of some kind, such as searching for a lost city or for hidden treasure (e.g., King Solomon’s Mines or Indiana Jones)

  • The Campbellian hero-myth cycle, coming of age, discovery of one’s destiny (e.g., Star Wars, Dune, Lord of the Rings).

  • Allegorical themes as social commentary (e.g., Planet of the Apes or Star Trek)

  • Adventure films can contain stock characters and stereotypes. In some cases this has been accused of going as far as implicit racism; claimed examples of this are Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, First Blood and James Bond “kicking third-world people around” in Dr. No.

The subgenres of adventure films include, swashbuckler film, disaster films, and historical dramas – which is similar to the epic film genre.


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