Recently I stopped into a movie store to pick up a flick for some Wednesday night entertainment. I called my boyfriend to inquire as to his preference as he would be joining me in the Wednesday night movie extravaganza. He did not have a concrete answer but he told me to look for an “action adventure DVD” that might interest the both of us.

While I am not one for romantic comedies per see and do enjoy a bit of action in a film, as well as a bit of adventure, I was a bit confused by the action adventure DVD section. Is it action or adventure or is it a mere catch all for some stereotypically male movies? Needless to say I did not find an action adventure DVD that would be fitting for our varied tastes but the mission did elicit a curiosity.

My next exploration into this odd genre was on Netflix.com. Netflix breaks the Action Adventure DVD section down into more peculiar sub sections. The following is a list of Action Adventure DVD genres listed on Netflix: action classics, action comedies, action thrillers, adventures, African-American action, blaxploitation, blockbuster, comic books and superheroes, crime action, deadly disasters, espionage action, foreign action and adventure, heist films, marital arts, military and war action, super swashbucklers and westerns.

Mind you, these are subsections of the action adventure DVD. At first I thought this peculiar but then I looked at the sub sections of drama and they are just as many, if not more, and just as varied and interesting.

That means that within each genre of movies there are more, smaller and complex genres. If this is a universal movie categorizing truth, so be it. In fact, I enjoy how Netflix breaks down the larger category of Action and adventure DVDs to smaller sub types because lets face it, Goldfinger is much different than Super Fly.

The action adventure DVD is a diverse subsection and it is simply not properly represented at my local video store

In addition to the complexity of the action adventure genre, let us look at the difference between action and adventure. What makes on movie action and one adventure? Can they be both?

Under the section of action adventure DVD/westerns I came across Deadwood. I love the Deadwood series but see it as neither action nor adventure. I guess more action than adventure but more wit than anything else. The action is limited to one measly slaying or punch thrown ever couple of episodes. It certainly is no Arnold Schwarzenegger flick.

Under the super swashbucklers section of the action adventure DVD we find Pirates of the Caribbean. I consider this film to be both action and adventure. The Southland tales fall under deadly disasters and I will admit this on leans largely to the action side.

The action adventure DVD realm is quite the difficult genre to classify. It keeps me lost in the video store and simply intimidates me. I think I’ll stick to comedies.

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