Genre, Emotion, and Oscar Campaigning

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/movies/awardsseason/for-the-descendants-a-new-angle-in-the-oscar-race.html?_r=2&ref=movies

As The Artist seems more and more likely to win the Oscar for Best Picture, The Descendants make final promotion pushes for the coveted prize. The film has the underdog status going for it, but will it be enough to catch up to The Artist craze? To further promote the film without violating Oscar campaigning rules, The Descendants has had a special screening celebrating the classic Hollywood family dramas. The full film played after a montage reel showed clips of The Descendants interspersed with such classics as To Kill A Mockingbird. On the other hand, TV ads depict the comedic and sad moments of the movie without any family film mention. At a panel the director seemed to distant the film from other family dramas by calling it more of a classic Hollywood tearjerker.

Genre is playing a huge role in how The Descendants is being promoted, although the entire campaign may seem a little disjointed. In relating the film to classic family dramas, executives are trying to stress the longevity and durability of The Descendants. To regular TV audiences, the ads emphasize either the comedic the dramatic side of the film. It seems the director sees his film in a different category - the tearjerker. In my opinion, tearjerker is not a genre as much as a "sad movie" is a genre. At the same time,  there is an audience for tearjerkers as many a Nicholas Sparks film or Titanic can attest. The executives are marketing the film from many angles, painting the movie as fitting multiple categories as Altman argues. Which of these strategies is the most compelling? In the end, will all these promotions even be successful?