) are a sub-genre of the larger and genres, and although they reached a hey-day of popularity in the 1930s, they are still prominent to this day. 'Biopics' is a term derived from the combination of the words "biography" and "pictures." These films depict and dramatize the life of an important historical personage (or group) from the past or present era. Sometimes, historical biopics stretch the truth and tell a life story with varying degrees of accuracy.
(and Cecil B. DeMille's with opera star Geraldine Farrar), D.W. Griffith's religious epic , Abel Gance's innovative six-hour-long epic , and director Lloyd Ingraham's with Fred Thomson as the western outlaw. represented historical character on the screen is French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Others that are very often represented include: US President Abraham Lincoln, Jesus Christ, Vladymir Ilich Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I. Western characters often portrayed include William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, William Bonney ("Billy the Kid"), Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickock, General George A. Custer, and Wyatt Earp. , George C. Scott as the cantakerous WWII General Patton in the widely-acclaimed , Katharine Hepburn as King Henry II's Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in , Sissy Spacek as legendary country singer Loretta Lynn in , Daniel Day-Lewis as Irish cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown in , and Ben Kingsley as the charismatic, pacifist, 20th century Indian spiritual leader Mahatma in Sir Richard Attenborough's .
with Best Actor-winning Charles Laughton, other studios (both in the UK and in Hollywood) followed suit with similar treatments of historical characters in the mid- to late 30s:
about the famous French scientist who attempted to find a cure for anthrax and hydrophobia, with Muni honored as Best Actor about the famous French writer and court defender with Muni as Mexican President Benito Pablo Juarez opposite Bette Davis as Empress Carlotta von Habsburg , and in seven different roles in including Chopin's teacher Joseph Elsner, Napoleon and Franz Schubert. Later, he portrayed French explorer Pierre Radisson in . about the famed inventor (Mickey Rooney), , the historical drama about the famous Austrian princess who married future King Louis XVI, Michael Curtiz' costume drama , and Mervyn LeRoy's oft-nominated with Greer Garson as the title character researching radioactivity with her husband Pierre (Walter Pidgeon).
with Walter Huston in the adult title role with Henry Fonda in the title role , portrayed convincingly by Best Actor-winning Daniel Day-Lewis told the life story of WWI's US President Woodrow Wilson was a superb and sympathetic dramatization/biography of German general Erwin Rommel with James Mason in the lead role with Ralph Bellamy provided an intense look at the enigmatic British leader of the Arab tribes examined the tragic downfall of Richard M. Nixon with Anthony Hopkins as the scandalous 37th President of the US and Joan Allen as his supportive, long-suffering wife Pat showcased Madonna in the role of beloved Argentinian Eva Peron was a biopic of assassinated San Francisco city supervisor and gay-rights-leader Harvey Milk (portrayed by Sean Penn) - a chronicling of the life of the 43rd President George W. Bush (portrayed by Josh Brolin), a film released during the last few months of W's unpopular tenure ; Langella had won the Tony for Best Actor
can be considered a life-story 'biopic.' Artists and literary authors have also inspired biographical film epics, such as two films from Vincente Minnelli. His film starred James Mason as Gustave Flaubert on whose classic novel the film was based, and another film, featured Kirk Douglas as tormented Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.
dramatized the historical figure of 27-year old Charles Lindbergh (James Stewart), the "Lone Eagle." (See the genre and sub-genre for biopics such as and ). Dustin Hoffman starred as tormented comedian Lenny Bruce in , and Rod Steiger played the title role of Chicago's famous mobster in . Attenborough's reverential chronicled the life story of silent comedian and film-maker Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey, Jr.), as did part of Peter Bogdanovich's . And Tim Burton's zany was about the maverick, low-budget, Hollywood director (Johnny Depp) of cult films who often is regarded as the 'worst director' of all time. Milos Forman's starred comic Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, a quirky and eccentric comedian. Paul Schrader's cautionary was the quasi-biopic of the double-life of sitcom star Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear), who engaged in various sexcapades due to his newfound fame.
, from director Milos Forman, viewed the antics of young musical prodigy Mozart (Tom Hulce) and jealous composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) , titled after his 'signature' song told the life story of the slain civil rights leader with a great performance from Denzel Washington followed the travails of the song/dance team and couple: Ike (Laurence Fishburne) and Tina Turner (Angela Bassett) brought Geoffrey Rush a Best Actor Oscar for his role as troubled Australian pianist David Helfgott - a mock-biography of a fictional 1930s jazz guitarist named Emmett Ray (portrayed by Sean Penn) and about the life of schizophrenic, Nobel Prize-winning mathematics prodigy John Forbes Nash, Jr. (Russell Crowe) , not technically a biopic - about hip-hop rapper Eminem (as Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr.) in the mid-1990s in the Detroit area, and his relationship with Alex (Brittany Murphy) -- adapted from Roger Lewis' controversial book of the same name and directed by Stephen Hopkins , a biographical drama about the legendary figure's career and life's problems with women and drug addiction [the film was released only months after Charles' death in 2004] (its tagline: "Let's talk about sex"), with Liam Neeson as the title character and Laura Linney as his wife, stirred up further protest about the impact of his pioneering work, interviews and publications on morality and behavior as the central character - the eccentric and high-flying Howard Hughes - over three decades , about the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and his romance with long-suffering June Carter (Oscar-winnng Reese Witherspoon) , a biography on sexploitation filmmaker and adult film pioneer Russ Meyer (dubbed "King Leer"), based on the book of the same name was the life-story of Christopher Wallace - aka The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls (played by Jamal Woolard), who was tragically shot to death at the age of 24 during a drive-by shooting |
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So You've Been Asked to Submit a Biography
In a library, the word biography refers both to a kind of book and to a section where books of that kind are found. Each biography tells the story of a real person's life. A biography may be about someone who lived long ago, recently, or even someone who is still living, though in the last case it must necessarily be incomplete. The term autobiography refers to a biography written by the person it's about. Autobiographies are of course also necessarily incomplete.
Sometimes biographies are significantly shorter than a book—something anyone who's been asked to submit a biography for, say, a conference or a community newsletter will be glad to know. Often the word in these contexts is shortened to bio , a term that can be both a synonym of biography and a term for what is actually a biographical sketch: a brief description of a person's life. These kinds of biographies—bios—vary, but many times they are only a few sentences long. Looking at bios that have been used in the same context can be a useful guide in determining what to put in your own.
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'biography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Late Greek biographia , from Greek bi- + -graphia -graphy
1665, in the meaning defined at sense 2
biographize
“Biography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biography. Accessed 22 Jul. 2024.
Kids definition of biography, more from merriam-webster on biography.
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A film, also called a movie or a motion picture, is a series of still photographs on film projected onto a screen using light in rapid succession. The optical phenomenon known as persistence of vision gives the illusion of actual, smooth, and continuous movement.
Films can be classified as documentaries, experimental films, animated films, and fictional genres such as westerns, comedies, thrillers, and musicals, among many others.
Some of the world's major film festivals are the Berlin International Film Festival , the Cannes Film Festival , the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Czech Republic), the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, the Sundance Film Festival , the International Film Festival of India, the Telluride Film Festival , the Toronto International Film Festival , and the Venice Film Festival .
Some of the major awards given for films are the Academy Awards , the British Academy of Film and Television Awards, and the Césars.
Trusted Britannica articles, summarized using artificial intelligence, to provide a quicker and simpler reading experience. This is a beta feature. Please verify important information in our full article.
film , series of still photographs on film, projected in rapid succession onto a screen by means of light. Because of the optical phenomenon known as persistence of vision , this gives the illusion of actual, smooth, and continuous movement.
(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)
A popular form of mass media , film is a remarkably effective medium for conveying drama and evoking emotion. The art of motion pictures is exceedingly complex, requiring contributions from nearly all the other arts as well as countless technical skills (for example, in sound recording , photography , and optics ). Emerging at the end of the 19th century, this new art form became one of the most popular and influential media of the 20th century and beyond. See also " the history of film ."
(Read Lillian Gish’s 1929 Britannica essay on silent film.)
As a commercial venture, offering fictional narratives to large audiences in theatres , film was quickly recognized as perhaps the first truly mass form of entertainment. Without losing its broad appeal, the medium also developed as a means of artistic expression in such areas as acting , directing , screenwriting, cinematography , costume and set design, and music .
(Read Alfred Hitchcock’s 1965 Britannica essay on film production.)
In its short history, the art of motion pictures has frequently undergone changes that seemed fundamental, such as those resulting from the introduction of sound . It exists today in styles that differ significantly from country to country and in forms as diverse as the documentary created by one person with a handheld camera and the multimillion-dollar epic involving hundreds of performers and technicians.
A number of factors immediately come to mind in connection with the film experience. For one thing, there is something mildly hypnotic about the illusion of movement that holds the attention and may even lower critical resistance. The accuracy of the film image is compelling because it is made by a nonhuman, scientific process. In addition, the motion picture gives what has been called a strong sense of being present; the film image always appears to be in the present tense. There is also the concrete nature of film; it appears to show actual people and things.
No less important than any of the above are the conditions under which the motion picture ideally is seen, where everything helps to dominate the spectators. They are taken from their everyday environment , partially isolated from others, and comfortably seated in a dark auditorium. The darkness concentrates their attention and prevents comparison of the image on the screen with surrounding objects or people. For a while, spectators live in the world the motion picture unfolds before them.
Still, the escape into the world of the film is not complete. Only rarely does the audience react as if the events on the screen are real—for instance, by ducking before an onrushing locomotive in a special three-dimensional effect. Moreover, such effects are considered to be a relatively low form of the art of motion pictures. Much more often, viewers expect a film to be truer to certain unwritten conventions than to the real world. Although spectators may sometimes expect exact realism in details of dress or locale, just as often they expect the film to escape from the real world and make them exercise their imagination, a demand made by great works of art in all forms.
The sense of reality most films strive for results from a set of codes, or rules, that are implicitly accepted by viewers and confirmed through habitual filmgoing. The use of brownish lighting, filters, and props, for example, has come to signify the past in films about American life in the early 20th century (as in The Godfather [1972] and Days of Heaven [1978]). The brownish tinge that is associated with such films is a visual code intended to evoke a viewer’s perceptions of an earlier era, when photographs were printed in sepia , or brown, tones. Storytelling codes are even more conspicuous in their manipulation of actual reality to achieve an effect of reality. Audiences are prepared to skip over huge expanses of time in order to reach the dramatic moments of a story. La battaglia di Algeri (1966; The Battle of Algiers ), for example, begins in a torture chamber where a captured Algerian rebel has just given away the location of his cohorts. In a matter of seconds that location is attacked, and the drive of the search-and-destroy mission pushes the audience to believe in the fantastic speed and precision of the operation. Furthermore, the audience readily accepts shots from impossible points of view if other aspects of the film signal the shot as real. For example, the rebels in The Battle of Algiers are shown inside a walled-up hiding place, yet this unrealistic view seems authentic because the film’s grainy photography plays on the spectator’s unconscious association of poor black-and-white images with newsreels.
Fidelity in the reproduction of details is much less important than the appeal made by the story to an emotional response, an appeal based on innate characteristics of the motion-picture medium. These essential characteristics can be divided into those that pertain primarily to the motion-picture image, those that pertain to motion pictures as a unique medium for works of art, and those that derive from the experience of viewing motion pictures.
Definition of biography noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
Questions about grammar and vocabulary?
Find the answers with Practical English Usage online, your indispensable guide to problems in English.
Bi•og•ra•phy.
- an account of the series of events making up a person's life , , , , , - a record or narrative description of past events; "a history of France"; "he gave an inaccurate account of the plot to kill the president"; "the story of exposure to lead" - a biography of yourself - a biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint) - biographical sketch |
Donald trump announced jd vance as his vice presidential running mate on the first day of the republican national convention. the ohio senator wrote a memoir adapted to film starring glenn close..
On the first day of the Republican National Convention , former president Donald Trump announced that Ohio Sen. JD Vance will be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election .
Vance, 39, is a first-term senator who gained prominence after authoring his 2016 memoir, " Hillbilly Elegy ."
The book describes his journey from an impoverished childhood to Yale Law School, and was used among media pundits to explain Trump's popularity among white, rural America in 2016.
The book was adapted into a Netflix movie released in 2020 . It starred Amy Adams as Vance's mother and Glenn Close as his grandmother.
Here is how you can watch the movie adaptation of "Hillbilly Elegy."
"Hillbilly Elegy" is available to stream on Netflix.
The film came out in the U.S. in November 2020.
Netflix offers three subscription tiers ranging from $6.99 a month to $22.99 a month. Free trials for new users are also available.
RNC 2024 live updates: What time is the convention? What's the schedule of speakers?
According to the Netflix synopsis , "a former Marine from southern Ohio and current Yale Law student is on the verge of landing his dream job when a family crisis forces him to return to the home he’s tried to forget."
USA TODAY reviewed the movie as "well-acted ... though its disconnected story is what’s unfortunately lamentable." Others criticized the film as portraying only stereotypes about Appalachia and being exploitative of its residents.
It received a 6.7/10 on IMDB and a 25% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes .
Contributing: David Wysong, Cincinnati Enquirer; Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
COMMENTS
A biographical film or biopic ( / ˈbaɪoʊˌpɪk /) [1] is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. [2] They differ from docudrama films and historical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single ...
A quick definition for biographical films. Biopic (biographical picture; biographical film) A film that tells the story of the life of a real person, often a well-known monarch, political leader, or artist. Thomas Edison's Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (US, 1895) prefigures the genre but perhaps the earliest biopic is Jeanne d'Arc/Joan ...
A biopic is a movie that dramatizes the life of a real, non-fictional individual. Short for "biographical motion picture," a biopic can cover a person's entire life or one specific moment in their history. Topics for biopics are nearly endless, with famous figures from history, along with popular celebrities of late, being covered.
A biographical film, or a biopic for short, is a film that tells the story of the life of a non-fictional or historical person. Biopics use the central character (s) to show an important discovery, period in history, or dramatically relevant period within their lives to tell a contemporary lesson. That all seems straightforward, but there are ...
Guide to Biopics: 3 Characteristics of Biographical Films. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 3 min read. If you've ever watched a biographical film about the life of a famous person, chances are you've watched a biopic.
What Does Biopic Mean? "Biopic" combines the words "biographical" and "picture" and refers to a film that dramatizes the life of a real person. Biopics capture significant achievements, challenges, and personal aspects of political leaders, musicians, artists, athletes, and scientists. Biopics can be informative and entertaining ...
Introduction. "Biopic" (sometimes spelled "bio-pic") is the most common term used to refer to films representing any aspect of the lives of famous people from the past or the present. Of unclear origins, the term seems to have originated in the trade papers and then penetrated the consciousness of producers and critics.
Biography. A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae ( résumé ), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various ...
THE BIOGRAPHICAL FILM. The biographical film, or biopic, also has a long and distinguished history in world cinema, with several works attaining high status for their critical as well as their commercial success. For example, The Private Life of Henry VIII (Alexander Korda, 1933) was the British. Oliver Stone during production of Alexander (2004).
A biographical movie portrays the life of a non-fictional or historical figure. However, this version of their life story is often dramatized to create a more appealing film. The essence of that person's life however must be kept throughout. Docudrama films and historical drama films differ from biopics by focusing on whole events or periods.
biography, form of literature, commonly considered nonfictional, the subject of which is the life of an individual.One of the oldest forms of literary expression, it seeks to re-create in words the life of a human being—as understood from the historical or personal perspective of the author—by drawing upon all available evidence, including that retained in memory as well as written, oral ...
the craft of biography continues to evolve, howev-er, the film biographers' goal remains the same: to weave from their research into their subject mat-ter's life a compelling narrative and a rich and multifaceted character. - Lesley Coffin Opening the book on a subject rarely explored, we get the story from noted film biographers,
A biography (BYE-og-ruh-fee) is a written account of one person's life authored by another person. A biography includes all pertinent details from the subject's life, typically arranged in a chronological order. The word biography stems from the Latin biographia, which succinctly explains the word's definition: bios = "life" + graphia ...
Definition of Biography. A biography is the non- fiction, written history or account of a person's life. Biographies are intended to give an objective portrayal of a person, written in the third person. Biographers collect information from the subject (if he/she is available), acquaintances of the subject, or in researching other sources such ...
Biopic Films (or biographical pictures) are a sub-genre of the larger drama and epic film genres, and although they reached a hey-day of popularity in the 1930s, they are still prominent to this day. 'Biopics' is a term derived from the combination of the words "biography" and "pictures." These films depict and dramatize the life of an important historical personage (or group) from the past or ...
biography: [noun] a usually written history of a person's life.
A film ( British English) - also called a movie ( American English ), motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick - is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images.
history of film, history of cinema, a popular form of mass media, from the 19th century to the present. (Read Martin Scorsese's Britannica essay on film preservation.) Early years, 1830-1910 Origins. The illusion of films is based on the optical phenomena known as persistence of vision and the phi phenomenon.The first of these causes the brain to retain images cast upon the retina of the ...
A popular form of mass media, film is a remarkably effective medium for conveying drama and evoking emotion. The art of motion pictures is exceedingly complex, requiring contributions from nearly all the other arts as well as countless technical skills (for example, in sound recording, photography, and optics ).
Biography definition: An account of a person's life written, composed, or produced by another.
The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art form created using film technologies that began in the late 19th century.. The advent of film as an artistic medium is not clearly defined. There were earlier cinematographic screenings by others, however, the commercial, public screening of ten Lumière brothers' short films in Paris on 28 December 1895, can be regarded as the ...
Definition of biography noun in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
bi·og·ra·phy (bī-ŏg′rə-fē) n. pl. bi·og·ra·phies 1. An account of a person's life written, composed, or produced by another: a film biography of Adlai Stevenson; an oral biography. 2. Biographies considered as a group, especially when regarded as a genre. 3. The writing, composition, or production of biographies: a career entirely devoted to ...
The film came out in the U.S. in November 2020. Netflix offers three subscription tiers ranging from $6.99 a month to $22.99 a month. Free trials for new users are also available.