On The AFI's Top 10 Top 10s

The American Film Institute was established in 1967 to provide leadership in screen education and to recognise and celebrate excellence in the art of film, television and digital media. In 1998, the AFI began the 100 yearsseries, and since then, every year they have produced a list of the 100 greatest films. These include 100 years100 stars, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes leading up to 2008's top 10 top 10s, the most different change in the annual AFI List. 

In 2008, the usual 100 list was divided into 10 genres defined by the AFI, these were; Animation, Romantic Comedy, Westerns, Sports, Mystery Films, Fantasy Films, Science-Fiction Films, Gangster Films, Courtroom Dramas and Epic.

Naturally, such a change resulted in a great deal of criticism. There are a number of problems with the list in question which I shall highlight during the course of the article.

The extent to which some of the "genres" defined by the AFI are actually genres is questionable. One of these such genres is animation. A genre refers to the content of the art as opposed to the form, it is because of this that I consider animation to be more of a form than genre. This makes the list somewhat invalid as parts of the list initially are not valid. Many of the animation films in AFI's top 10 can easily be placed into other genres such as fantasy. The "genre" of romantic comedy appears to be more of a sub-genre than a genre as a whole. Romance and comedy are easily genres by themselves, using this logic, it suggests that romantic comedy is not a genre. Another of AFI's "genres" that may not necessarily be a genre is Courtroom drama. Courtroom dramas are sub-genres and are too subject specific to be a genre.

Animation 
The animation list, as expected, was dominated by Disney with Shrek being the only excursion from Disney and Pixar. In relation to animation that has re-defined or had an impact on film-making as a whole, it seems unfortunate that such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas were ignored. When referring to great animation or important animation over the years, it seems unlikely that all of the films came from Disney.

Romantic Comedy 
When thinking of romantic comedies, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights is not necessarily the film that springs to mind, however, it does fit the AFI's definition of a romantic comedy perfectly. They define a romantic comedy as "a genre in which the development of a romance leads to comic situations",the romance is the catalyst for most of the event within the film and for this, City Lights can be defined as a romantic comedy. This is a list where, in comparison to previous lists, the positions of the films seem odd. The romantic comedy top 10 list names It Happened One Night and Roman Holiday as the third and fourth best romantic comedies of all time respectively with The Philadelphia Story as number five. However, just last year on the 100 greatest films list, The Philadelphia Story was ahead of It Happened One Night and Roman Holiday was not even on the list. It is very hard to asses the criteria which defines each film's position in the top 10 lists.

Westerns 
The AFI list of Westerns is one of the strongest of the top 10 lists. All of the films relate well to the AfI's definition of the genre, "genre of films set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier."

Sports 
Sports films are defined as, "a genre of films with protagonists who play athletics or other games of competition." As a result of this definition, one may wonder why Jerry McGuire was included in the list. One of the supporting characters plays sport, but our main protagonist is a sports manager. The connection to sport is clear, but in relation to the definition given Jerry McGuire doesn't appear to be a suitable choice. The list is topped by Raging Bull, a more than suitable choice.

Mystery 
Like Westerns, Mystery is one of the strongest of the AFI's lists. There is a great presence of Hitchcock on the list but it is not overwhelming like Disney's presence in the Animation list. 

Fantasy 
The AFI define fantasy as, "genre where live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world", it is only the specification of "live-action" that prevents the definition of fantasy from extending to most of the films in the animation category. There is great difference between films in the fantasy category, within the category are films such as Lord of the Rings and Groundhog Day, two films in which it is strange to compare.

Sci-Fi 
The Sci-Fi category is amongst the strongest list and it is one where the number one film is the most understandable. 2001: A Space Odyssey, tops the top 10 list and this is not surprising. Among the criteria for defining the 100 greatest films in the AFI's first top 100 films is critical recognition, major award winner, popularity over time, historical significance and cultural impact. 2001 over the years has gained great critical acclaim, won an Oscar and has become one of the most influential films of all time. 2001 ticks all the boxes.

Gangster 
Another one of the strong lists. The AFI's list of the top 10 gangster films is one of the most predicable lists, with The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Godfather Part 2 taking the top three positions. A film that appears to be a glowing omission from the list is Once Upon a Time in America which has, one many occasions, been referred to as a superior film to The Godfather.

Courtroom Drama 
As mentioned previously, courtroom drama is one of the more specific genres, it is fairly limited. Because of this, the contenders for the top 10 courtroom dramas is relatively predictable. The list is topped by To Kill a Mockingbird.

Epic 
The "Epic" genre is one of the more questionable genres. The AFI defines "epic" as "a genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic interpretation of the past" which essentially means that the film is large scale and old. This is not necessarily the most well decided definition.

It's fair to say that the films in the top 10 top 10s lists are skewed towards older films. None of the number one films in any of the categories were made before 1980. It is understandable that it is more likely that older films have had the opportunity to make an impact on film-making but there are many influential films that have come out in recent years. Recent influential films such as the Matrix failed to get a place on any of the AFI top 10 lists.

There are many films in the top 10 lists that would usually not make it onto the AFI's 100 greatest film list. Films such as Groundhog Day would never usually be on the top 100 list so technically, it should not be on any of the top 10 lists. One could argue that the categorisation into different genres makes it easier for less impressive films to be classed as some of the best American films of all time. It could also be said that the categorisation system means that some films have no place in to top 100 films in 2008. Citizen Kane has been classed by the AFI as the greatest American film of all time, however, it does not fit into any of the categories decided. This means that thereis either a problem with how the films are categorised, or the variety of genres of film available. If the latter is true, that means it is impossible to create a top 10 of each genre list.