Firstly, we must establish that a biopic is a film which dramatizes the life of a particular person, usually a public or historical figure.
Professor Rick Altman of the University of Iowa has written about the notion of genre in his book 'Film/Genre' (1999). In his book, Altman seemingly disregards the role of emotion in genre study by outlining that genre is fundamentally divided into two sections, the sematic (iconographic elements) and the syntactic (structural and symbolic elements). In accordance with Altman's philosophy, the biopic does constitute its own genre. Although lacking in consistent syntactic qualities, the biopic does however comply with numerous sematic conventions of structure and incorporates devices which aid the compression of time such as montage, flashbacks and voice overs and the use of varied film aesthetics, which convey a sense of truth.
The biopic typically contains a simple and highly defined narrative arc. it is often the story of an individual's rise to fame, and then ultimately their demise.
According to the 'Uses and gratifications theory', devised by Blumler, Katz and Gurevitch, aside from just entertainment, the biopic can be broken down under the following divisions that provide a means of personal identity, integration, and social interaction for theb audience to: find modes of behavior, gain insight into one's self, gain insight into circumstances for others, and identify with others and gain a sense of belonging.
The 10 greatest biopics;
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Schindler's List (1993)
Raging Bull (19800
Amadeus (1984)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Patton (1970)
Malcolm X (1992)
My Left foot (1989)
The Elephant man (1980)
Links to biopic trailers;
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