Unit 4 Texts and context in the Media: GENRE

“The audience may know what to expect, but are still excited by genre texts”. To what extent is this true?
(June ’05 a)

Each genre has its own codes and conventions which result in the audience expecting certain things from this particular genre. Examples for slasher genre are the knife, blood, scream and the final girl (Carol Clover) lin later films.

- Definition of genre- Genre movies are films which through repetition and variation; tell familiar stories with familiar characters in familiar situations. They encourage expectations and experiences they have seen before in similar films.
(Barry Keith Grant, 1995)

The audience may expect certain conventions of the in slasher genre through the repertoire of elements:

Iconography: the eerie music
The shadows
Screams
Murder weapon e.g. knife, chainsaw or hook
Blood
Saying things such as I’ll be back
Masks
*Phallic objects

Setting: Deserted old house
Secluded area
Forests
Most scenes are set at night
Suburban area (society)

Style: High angle shots (used for empowerment)
Back lighting
Enigmatic shots
Zoom ins and zoom outs
Hand held camera (for some films such as Halloween)
Point of view shots

Narrative: someone dies in the beginning
Failed authority figures
Some films have no resolution allowing sequels

Characters: Teenagers
Ambiguous characters
Stereotypical male killer
Final girl
Victims involved in sex or drugs
Final girl being masculine

Themes: Killer versus victim
Male versus female
Revenge
Dreams versus reality (Nightmare on Elm Street)
Romance
Good versus evil
Sadistic pleasures

Audience response: sadistic pleasures
Laughter
Sympathy
Identification with characters
Confusion (Psycho)
Tense (switch blade runner)
Masochistic pleasures

The reason audiences are excited is because of the shots. These create suspense due to enigmatic shots (code by Barthes). The tension is built because the audiences are unaware of what is going on. An example is A nightmare on Elm street. The whole film is shown from the point of views of the killer creating suspense making the audience excited.

The suspense created visceral pleasures and this also keep the audience entertained even though the audience expects this from the genre of the film.

Some texts are go through the genre development cycle. The re-invigorated films such as scream entertain the audience even though the audience are aware of what to expect and are presented with these expectations in the new film that are a parody and/or pastiche of past slasher films. This entertains audience as they are presented with something new and different however similar in terms of codes and conventions.