Feature

The Summer Film… and How it’s Changed

How blockbusters have evolved over the decades…

It’s now officially summertime. The sun is out. The beaches are fit to be swarmed, the campsites primed for barbecues. And when we’re not bronzing ourselves on the beach, or nestled deep inside a sleeping bag, perhaps we’ll decide to catch a film. But what’s showing?

Every year, there is a highly-touted summer movie to watch. However, what precisely is a summer movie? They are often spoken about as a predefined concept, a categorisation so obvious that it doesn’t require any further explanation. Nevertheless, properly examining what constitutes a summer film offers fascinating insights into traditional storytelling models, audience expectations, and the mood of the moment.

What makes a summer film summery? Is it the time of the year in which the film is released? Or is it related to the thematic underpinnings of the story? Maybe it is that the plot points evoke an aura of summer, or that our main characters exemplify attributes we would generally associate with the season. Perhaps, simplest, it’s a film set in locations that typify the summertime experience.