Target audience

 I think ratings and certificates do play a part in a dystopian film’s target audience. Obviously most dystopian films would be aimed at people above the age of 14 or 15. But I still think there is a younger target audience for them too, a good example of this is Disney Pixar’s Wall-E.

 Wall-E is a film about a robot named Wall-E, he is the last robot left on Earth in the future, when it is almost destroyed by Humanity's wasteful habits.  It is a Disney film, so it is very child friendly, while it is not nearly as dark as most others, I still think of it as a dystopian film.

 On the right, is The Road, which is a post apocalyptic films obviously marketed to older audiences than Wall-E. It has a 15 certificate, but I don’t think this is to appeal specifically to teenagers, I think this is just because of it’s content. In terms of it’s target audience, I think The Road is meant to appeal to film watching realists, the film is extremely dark and gritty and just generally quite hopeless all the way through.

 The Book of Eli is another 15 rated film, I think this is one to appeal to Teenagers though. The colour palette of the poster is similar to that of The Road, but the composition of it implies an action film, as does the trailer. This film’s action definitely caters to a teenage audience, and is the classical unrealistic, purely stylistic kind of action that people find the most pleasure in watching.

 I think Dystopian films are best aimed at audiences over the age of 15, and older viewers. The reason for this, is the generally dark background story that is a given in any dystopian film, which may be appealing to younger audiences, but is usually deemed inappropriate. Having said this, I do not think, the dystopian genre is exclusive to older generations, Wall-E is a good example of a dystopian film that can be enjoyed by all audiences, especially younger ones.