Revision for genre:

What is genre?

Genre is a French word for type or category

Definition:
Genre is a set of codes and conventions that are dynamic and “flexible” (Richard Maltby, 1995) and followed by a text through the repertoire of elements.

Recognising a genre could be by:
Codes and conventions
Expectations
Pleasures
Similarities of a certain genre
Repertoire of elements
Ø Iconography
Ø Style
Ø Setting
Ø Characters
Ø Audiences response
Ø Narrative
Ø Themes

The importance of genre:

Genre is used everyday in throughout film and is important in order to categorise between films through genres.

Genres being dynamic:

Genres are not fixed, as stated above:
- Richard Maltby stated, “Genres are flexible” and could “adapt and change”.

Films are not permanently fixed to a single genre resulting in a hybrid genre in contemporary films.

We use genres to help us understand films and the process of making them. We look at series of commercially successful films and may find a pattern of repetition and difference.

In other words, some films have identifiable similarities but also contain new elements or similar elements used in new ways.

Genres or groups are not fixed definitions and that can change over time. This is because filmmaking practices change and audiences change in a way they understand films.

Genre is associated with commercial filmmakingà most films are part of a mainstream commercial cinema. Outside the mainstream films are called art films (arthouse films)à selected or specialist audiences (preferred audience). They are unique and try to avoid the tag of genre cinema.

Some genres are far too broad to be used as a category such as comedy or action with wide range of films.

Genres are not fixed categories:

Films such as A nightmare on elm street does not fit neatly into a single category. It has elements of slasher, horror and fantasy. This is called hybrid and is a term borrowed from biology to describe any new genre, which has elements of both its parents in a new structure.

Repertoire of elements

Genre is dynamic. The definition for a particular genre is fluid, changing over time and across cultures. Neale referred to the repertoire of elements, which are different features that an audience might expect to see. From these elements, generic descriptions might be constructed.

A repertoire is a group of routines (songs, magic tricks) and for example film, the repertoire is the generic elements.

Ø Iconography

Definition: iconography refers to a classification of paintings based on common images or icons.

Films contain visual images- knife, blood, and mask
Sounds images- scream, eerie music (strings)

In slasher films, the central visual iconic image is the blood and/or phallic weapon. The central iconic sound image is the scream and/or eerie music.

Ø Style

This is similar to media language. Iconography refers to objects of sounds however style refers to how they are presented. Camera angles and composition, editing and the use of colour and special effects all contribute to the style of a film.

Ø Setting

Some genres have distinct locations such as in slasher genre, it is the isolated area/house in the suburban area.

Ø Narrative

Narrative refers to both the story structures that films employ and the specific narrative devices or elements that are used in the construction.

Most genres offer a narrative of ‘reassurance’ for example the villain being killed/punished.
Narratives are concerned with conflicts over ideas and values. Stories begin when the existing equilibrium or balance between opposing forces.
à Todorov’s theory on narrative structure

(Equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution)

Narrative moments or set pieces are often the most easily recognisable and eagerly anticipated elements of a film. An example is chases in slasher films usually better killer and final girl

Carol Clover (Men, women and chainsaws)

Ø Characters

Narrative usually develops through characters. The villain causes the narrative problem that must be resolved by the hero.
The villain in a slasher genre is usually a masked killer though not always male.

Some characters are associated with a genre that they attain the status of generic types. An example is the psychopath being stopped by a character described by Carol Clover as the ‘final girl’. (Clover, 1987).

Ø Themes

The binary oppositions in a film to interest the audience.

Claude Levi Strauss

Examples are: male versus female, victim versus killer, insanity versus sanity.

The concept of discourse- an argument or debate about a topic is another way in which film theorists consider themes.

Ø Audience response

Slasher genre gives the audience the sensation/ immediate emotional response. The adrenaline-rush through enigmatic scenes, being at the edge of your seat, tension and anxiety, release of laughter, and for horror/slasherà we watch our deepest fears and desires being played out on actor’s bodies.

Other pleasures audiences may gain from a slasher genre are
Ø Visceral pleasures
Ø Masochistic pleasures
Ø Sadistic pleasures

Rick Altman (film/genre, 1999)

The ‘before’ and ‘after’ view of categorising films

The critics/theorists game takes the after view:

Reads documents and noting references on specific genre
Analyse the characteristics
Find similarities/generic traits to identify it belonging to a specific genre
Analysis begins

The critic is based on analysis after the event (after view).

The film produce takes the view before the event:

1. Identifies a successful film
2. Analyses it to find successful traits
3. Makes film using same formula as successful film
4. Does further analysis and modifies the formula

Film producers are interested in what makes a film successful by identifying successful formulas and using them in different ways.

why do genres change over time?


Ø Changes in Target audience

Media institutions and producers need to have a clear idea about the audience a text is likely to attract before production begins and the age, gender and social class of the audience is likely to influence the way a text is made from choices about who will in the films that ht he special; effects used.

Audience who consume the text may be very different from audiences intended and different texts from different genres may appeal to different audiences.

It is argued that target audiences have become younger over the years. This is known as ‘juvenilisation’.

Ø Changes in audience expectations

Contemporary audience are more sophisticated audiences that those who first started to watching moving texts. In terms of reading a text to establish a likely genre and is likely to be familiar with the codes and conventions of that genre from reading the similar texts.

The expectations of scary, tense atmosphere, heat rate increasing, and seeing something nasty. These familiarly with codes and conventions will all raise expectations.

Enjoyment comes from watching texts as knowing what to expect is enjoyable. Filmmakers can manipulate emotions by meeting or cheating the expectations we have based on a text.

In contemporary films: producers repeat codes and conventions while adding something new:’ final twist’. Novelties may be rejected or absorbed into the genre so they become conventions for newer texts in the future.

Ø Censorship

Explicit scenes were censored in films in 1960 which banned explicit nudity, swearing and excessive and lustful kissing. Modern audiences are used to much more graphic sex and violence and the boundaries of where was considered as tasteful are stretched more and more.