If you've ever attempted to break down a director's style to a colleague, falling victim to going the route of, for example, "it's just very Lynchian," or it's "so Tarantinoesque," there's some good news on the horizon: You can no longer be accused of making up words to describe the indescribable. You're not at a loss for words if you describe something as "Spielbergian;" you've just found the perfect one.
Yes, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has unveiled its latest round of updates to its collection of nouns, adjectives, and phrases, and in the batch are some very specific, film-friendly additions. Lynchian, as in "characteristic, reminiscent, or imitative of the films or television work of David Lynch," is now officially a tenant in the dictionary, as are other auteur descriptors like Altmanesque, Bergmanesque, Bressonian, Godardian, Hawksian, Herzogian, and others.
The term Groundhog Day, based on the plot of the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, has now been added, as have specific classic film references, including a Mrs. Robinson, an Indiana Jones, and Dorothy's accurate warning that we're "not in Kansas anymore." If you hate jump scares as much as we do, well, that term is now deemed an official one in the OED.
A complete list of recently added film-centric nouns and adjectives can be read below.
A 'Mrs. Robinson,' illustration by Edith Pritchett.
- Academy ratio n.
- action comedy n.
- AD n.
- aerial shot n.
- AFI n.
- Altmanesque adj.
- anthology n.
- arc shot n.
- BBFC n.
- Bergmanesque adj.
- BFI n.
- blink and you’ll miss it phr.
- blooper reel n.
- Bressonian adj.
- bridging shot n.
- Bunuelian adj.
- Capraesque adj.
- chanchada n.
- cineliteracy n.
- cineliterate adj.
- Cinema Novo n.
- cinematography n.
- clapboard n.2
- craft service n.
- crawl n.1
- cut n.2
- diegetic adj.
- straight (also direct) to DVD phr.
- director of photography n.
- director’s chair n.
- DoP n.
- DP n.
- Dutch angle n.
- edge-of-your-seat phr.
- Eisensteinian adj.
- end credits n.
- flashforward adj. and n.
- Foley n.
- Fordian adj.
- front projection n.
- gag reel n.
- giallo n.
- glass shot n.
- Godardian adj.
- gorefest n.
- gorehound n.
- Groundhog Day n.
- Hammer n.4
- hanging miniature n.
- hard R adj. (and n.)
- Hawksian adj.
- Hays n.
- Herzogian adj.
- horror n.
- idiocracy n.2
- in-camera adv.2
- Indiana Jones n.
- J-horror n.
- jump scare n.
- kaiju n.
- kaiju eiga n.
- Keatonesque adj.
- Kubrickian adj.
- Langian adj.
- Lynchian adj.
- match cut n.
- microbudget n. and adj.
- mise-en-scène n.
- Mrs Robinson n.
- mumblecore n.
- no-budget adj.
- Nollywood n.
- non-diegetic adj.
- not in Kansas anymore phr.
- omnibus adj.
- one-sheet n.
- Oscar bait n.
- peplum n.
- portmanteau n.
- post n.13
- post-credit adj.
- principal photography n.
- production code n.
- schlock horror n.
- Scorsesean adj.
- scream queen n.
- second unit n.
- sex comedy n.
- shaky cam n.
- shaky camera n.
- short film n.
- short subject n.
- Sirkian adj.
- spec adj.
- Spielbergian adj.
- stock footage n.
- stoner n.1
- sword-and-sandal n.
- table read n.
- Tarantinoesque adj.
- Tarkovskian adj.
- tentpole adj. and n.
- three-shot n.
- tilt shot n.
- torture porn n.
- travelling shot n.
- triple-X adj.
- (up) to eleven phr.
- VFX n.
- visual effect n.
- voice acting n.
- voice actor n.
- voice actress n.
- walla int. and n.
- Wellesian adj.
- XXX adj.
