Modern Adventure Film Analysis

Instead of fictional and stylistic adventure films that feature exaggerated and mythical plots and characters, adventure films in the modernist period focused mostly on a realistic and unorthodox stories and styles. “Papillon”, produced in 1973, is a great representation of this new type of Adventure film in the modernist era. Unlike “Captain Blood” which is a classic swashbuckler film that emphasizes on sword fighting action scenes, “Papillon” is a prison film that doesn’t focus as much on combat scenes, and within its action scenes, the weapon of choice has also evolved from swords and cannons into more developed guns and other fire power type of weapons. As technology advances, audience’s demand for elements is correspondently being updated. Instead of shooting a story with ancient settings and weaponry, the focus of modernist adventure films

Unlike Classical Adventure Film’s typical absolute heroic protagonists on a conquest to save the day, Modernist Adventure Films tend to insert a sense of role ambiguity within the protagonist. This is clearly evident in “Papillon” as it’s a prison film, and the protagonists in the stories are convicts and prisoners attempting to escape from the prison. The protagonists Papillon and Dega are definitely not the typical hero types. They hold conflicting qualities and roles that forbids clear generalizations on their characters. They’re loyal and truthful friends, yet they are also convicts that committed crimes that put them in imprisonment. This is also due to the shift to demand for realistic and true to life elements in the Modernist era. In reality, a person is never completely or one sided good or bad. Conflicting qualities and personalities exerts a realistic edge to the film as well as a more intricate and fascinating protagonist as his actions are more unpredictable due to role