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

Introduction:

Steve Neale (1980) argues that “films repeat themselves in different ways”. This makes similar films different to each other to a certain extent by adding a new and different element. Rick Altman’s theory on the after view is then used to find successful traits and formulas from other genres thus the reason for having hybrid genres. This means that they audiences expect conventions of a slasher genre however are introduced with another genre alongside the slasher genre. An example is Halloween which is a slasher and a horror. This is the reason why audience are excited by repeated texts as they are different in their own way.

Genre: a French word for ‘type’ or category

Definition of genre: Genre is a set of conventions that are dynamic and are followed by a text through iconography.

Useful quotes
Richard Malby- “genres are flexible”
Steve Neale- “films repeat themselves in different ways”
James Monaco- “increasingly we are all going to see the same then movies”

In order to make a slasher film successful and to fulfil expectations for the audience, this is done through the repertoire of elements (Neale). This includes:
Iconography
Style
Narrative
Themes
Setting
Audience response
Characters

They all follow conventions of a slasher genre thus their expectations are met.

Expectations through conventions of the slasher genre are:

The weapon used such as the knife in numerous films, the chainsaw, the hook in modern films and the axe.
There is always a killer, usually tends to be male (except Friday the 13th (Sean S Cunningham, 1980, USA)
The chase- in almost every slasher there is a chase scene involving the final girl and the killer (Carol Clover)
The scream- this element if the slasher makes them all similar—has a sympathy effects upon the character in distress. Texas chainsaw massacre uses this to it effect of making this film successful.
Setting: isolated location- main location is old gothic house, deserted area.
The binary oppositions (Strauss) used to excite the audience- the main binary oppositions is between killers versus victim.
The characters are teenagers however; in psycho this was not the case though psycho is not fully classified as a slasher film.
The use of backlighting creates an enigmatic effect à Bathes code.

The killer is almost always a maleà reinforcing patriarchy.
This is challenged in Texas chainsaw massacre, as the killer is a femaleà this could be due to feminism—women fought for their equal rights.

Slasher has an element of humour to it as a result this will attract more audiences to watch the genre. An example is Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984, USA) where the audience are provided with visceral pleasures such as when he starts running.

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, USA) - granddaddy of the slasher genreà was a template which created genre elements i.e. run down bates hotelà setting is isolated –rainy weather
à Made specially this way to scare (create visceral pleasures)

Every slasher has similar elements and follows the same conventions however; they are different in their own wayà presented in a different way so expectations are fulfilled as well as excited by the genre.

New films not excite the audience in different ways such as the developmental of postmodern texts. The main and most successful text being Scream (Wes Craven, 1996, USA)

Postmodern elements include:
Parody
Pastiche
Intertextuality
These are the main elements used to create a new form of the slasher genre providing the audience with new and exciting texts along with the conventions of the genreà excite and fulfil expectations.

The use of enigma is a key element in which the audience are excited with the slasher genre such as:
Halloween: the startle when he appears from nowhere creating visceral pleasure such as jumping. Don’t know who the killer is as his face his covered.
Friday the 13th: cant see who the killer is, male or female, as the audience are shown everything the killer does from the point of view of the killerà create identification with the killerà audience are made to think like the killer
Scream: the killer is a teenager, act normal, attends school, makes the audience think “whodunit”

Texas chainsaw massacre: the audience cant see his face (from human flesh), don’t know why he does this à creates assumptions (audience are made to think of the reasonà feel alienated

The producer does this for audience
--> à Make money; use copied elements to make it successful

Rick Altman

Film producers are interested in what makes a film successfulà the after viewing

Analyse films to see what made it successfulà they identify familiar formulas and use it to make it successful.

Slasher genres could be identified as
· Horror
· Thriller
· Fantasy
· Mystery
· Comedy
This makes it a hybrid genre ofà having different elements of other genresà makes it more exciting that having one genre

Agrees with genre theory. à “Genres are not fixed”
à This makes genre more dynamic rather than
Static.

“Repetition and variation in films means when they have identifiable similarities but also contain new elements or similar element used in new ways”.

Uses and gratifications theory: why we read the text à assumes an active audience.

Slasher films provide the audience with escapist entertainment

The new forms of the slasher genre have been made to excite the audience through the genre development cycle. The new intertextuality, parody or pastiche elements presented in films have been through the genre evolution. They have been re-invigorated in the fourth cycle making it a post-modern text.

The fifth cycle: includes remakes to previous films making giving them a more contemporary element (reflecting zeitgeist). Examples include remakes to Texas chainsaw massacre, Halloween, Black Christmas.

Due to desensitisation to slasher genreà films have become gorier that before to excite the audience.

Cultivation theory
The target audience would be teenagers as the characters are teenagersà this enables the teenagers to identify with the teenagers in the film.

Censorship is becoming less influential as a result more films become more violent than before. Texas chainsaw massacre was banned however now films are being released that are more violent that those shown in the 70’s and 80’s.à Society has moved on.

Douglas Pye (1975)
“Novelty”
The shower scene became the scene in which was used as an outline for other slasher films. This scene is the most remembered scene. The use of backlighting creates enigma- audience are excited as they are provided with pleasures.