(I tried doing a forum search but didn't come up with anything existing that pertained to my specific question.)
What I mean is, there is a wide variety of genres MDL employs; I've been wondering if MDL has any specifics regarding what qualifies a drama or movie for a genre. For example, I recently watched a movie that was listed a Comedy, Romance, and Thriller. It definitely wasn't a Thriller, so I submitted a change to Mystery, as it was better suited. Personally, I don't think it should've been listed as a Comedy, either, and I've found that to be the case with many programs. Problem is, with comedy, everyone has different tastes and senses of humor. While a movie may have some funny moments or scenes, I personally don't feel like that makes it a Comedy, not if there's more, say, melodrama, or....seriousness in it. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this properly, but I do know that when I do a search for Comedy, I'm expecting something mostly light-hearted and funny. That's not to say there can't be any seriousness or tension or anything, but when I'm depressed and in the mood for an Asian movie (or drama, though those tend to be a bit better labeled) to help lift my mood, I'd like a comedy. Some results I've watched, while were funny at times or had a few light moments, weren't the really laugh-out-loud, this-is-hilarious-gotta-watch-with-friend type I'd expect from something in the Comedy genre.
But again, comedy is kind of hard to determine as people have different preferences.
Besides comedy, though, there are a number of genres I'm curious to know what MDL deems a movie or drama belongs to.
- difference between Detective, Investigation, even Crime, as there's generally a crime involved with detectives and investigations....I had thought of Mystery, too, but you can have a mystery without detectives or a formal investigation, or a crime.
- difference between sitcom (only 1 result for movie) and Comedy
- does Food apply to any program that is centered on food, and how often do we actually use it? Or, in other words, does this get applied to the relevant programs as much as it should?
- ^ same with Business
- ^ Political
- ^ Sports
- Fantasy, Sci-Fi, & Supernatural distinctions - some people don't know the differences, plus there can be some overlapping elements
- Wuxia vs. Martial arts? - Not a big concern, because there is a difference, but I don't know if they're always properly used.
- Vampire part of Supernatural, and is Vampire truly a genre?
- ^ same for Zombies
- What qualifies a program for Suspense and Thriller genres?
- ^ with Adventure (going to new places?)
- ^ with Animals (anything animal-based? or just including animals?)
- ^ with Manga (based off of?)
- ^with Tragedy (lots of deaths? main character(s) dying? unhappy ending? lots of sadness, bleakness?) **I avoid anything labeled Tragedy. I hate it. However, sometimes things are listed as Tragedy when they really aren't, exactly; a few years ago there was a Manga I wanted to read but was put off the "Tragedy" label. Turned out a secondary character died; it wasn't something that ruined the whole story for me. (Especially since I read the spoilers and told myself not to get close to that character).**
- ^ Psychological (maybe self-explanatory or generally easy to figure out, but specifics might be useful)
- Military vs. War; what makes the two distinctive from each other, when they are closely related?
- Documentary? - What makes something a documentary, exactly? Is this a fictional documentary or non-fictional? Or both?
These are just some of my questions and concerns. Honestly,
I think a tagging system would be more appropriate and useful in some situations. Like, Vampire and Zombies can be in the Supernatural and/or Horror (depending) genres, but tagged individually as a Vampire or Zombie movie. That way they can be found separate but aren't in genres of their own. Or a funny or humorous tag could be applied to programs that have some funny scenes/moments but isn't fully a Comedy.
There actually could be numerous use-cases for a tag system in addition to genres.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one concerned or curious about this; if anyone, when added to the database or searching for something specific, ever wonders which genre(s) to select.
It seems it'd be helpful to have a list of guidelines to help those unsure about the genres we have here, and especially for content adders. There's lists and definitions for genres, of course, but MDL, dealing with Asian entertainment,
may differ from the traditional specifications that are probably more non-Asian based.
I hope I've made sense and got my point across. It may or may not be a concern; maybe I'm the only one wondering about this, but I thought I'd throw it out there. It is rather important than the Genres are correct
