All About Genre
Genre is a practical and necessary aspect to film makers, critics and audiences alike. Each film is constantly being assessed by genre throughout each stage of its existence. Their impact on history, the film's stars, where they place themselves on the shelves of the now nonexistent DVD stores, the screenwriters initial thoughts, and so on, all come into play in analysing a films genre. A film is unable to market itself if its genre is not adapted and played upon.
Categorising and Defining
Genre is ultimately endless. There are subgenres, hybrids, genres and groupings. Within all of these is a further subsection, and another and another until its all senseless and completely individual. Essentially each and every film could come under a very specific genre i.e. 'Musical, vibrant, love themes, death themes, french themes, Ewan Mcgregor.' (Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge.) Of course in the real world, or the Netflix categories, genre is much more broad. While some movies are picked upon due to their iconograhy, others are because of their mise en scene. This is the way many choose a films genre: 'outer form and inner form'. The inner form chooses to notice the content, storyline and theme, while the outer form is all about how the film looks. A horror is a horror because of the gore and ghostly figures as well as its 'teenagers in a house in the middle of nowhere' storyline. Our final film will come under the groupings Psychedelic, this being our style, 'adultpix', our audience, and 'motherhood', our theme. Knives, makeup, clothing, babies/innocence, also help pick out our genre. It was our genre that helped shape our movie, rather than the other way round, which is sometimes the case.
Theories
"Horror movies don't exist unless you go and see them, and people always will."- Joss Whedon
When talking about genre, audience must always come into play, as it is the audience that shapes the film. Steve Neale stated that "Genres are instances of repetition and difference" and that "Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre." By saying this he is saying that a film is defined by how much it conforms to a genres stereotypes and conventions and that it much conform to these conventions in order to categorise itself as such. He also said that it is also defined by how much it subverts these conventions and that a film must subvert these conventions enough that it is still viewed as a unique film, not just a clone and therefore remain interesting to an audience. Uses and gratifications‘ research has identified many potential pleasures of genre. One pleasure may simply be the recognition of the features of a particular genre because of our familiarity with it. Recognition of what is likely to be important (and what is not), derived from our knowledge of the genre, is necessary in order to follow a plot. Deborah Knight notes that 'satisfaction is guaranteed with genre; the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation.' What is most satisfying to an audience may also be a commentry on society, as John Cawelti says. For example the ever increasing popularity of horror may very well be a commentry on the moral panic surrounding violence in our modern world. While slightly morbid, Stephen King says that 'We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.' Such an other worldly genre, that plays upon peoples greatest fears my be the greatest and most grotesque form of escapism.
Categorising and Defining
Genre is ultimately endless. There are subgenres, hybrids, genres and groupings. Within all of these is a further subsection, and another and another until its all senseless and completely individual. Essentially each and every film could come under a very specific genre i.e. 'Musical, vibrant, love themes, death themes, french themes, Ewan Mcgregor.' (Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge.) Of course in the real world, or the Netflix categories, genre is much more broad. While some movies are picked upon due to their iconograhy, others are because of their mise en scene. This is the way many choose a films genre: 'outer form and inner form'. The inner form chooses to notice the content, storyline and theme, while the outer form is all about how the film looks. A horror is a horror because of the gore and ghostly figures as well as its 'teenagers in a house in the middle of nowhere' storyline. Our final film will come under the groupings Psychedelic, this being our style, 'adultpix', our audience, and 'motherhood', our theme. Knives, makeup, clothing, babies/innocence, also help pick out our genre. It was our genre that helped shape our movie, rather than the other way round, which is sometimes the case.
Theories
"Horror movies don't exist unless you go and see them, and people always will."- Joss Whedon
When talking about genre, audience must always come into play, as it is the audience that shapes the film. Steve Neale stated that "Genres are instances of repetition and difference" and that "Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre." By saying this he is saying that a film is defined by how much it conforms to a genres stereotypes and conventions and that it much conform to these conventions in order to categorise itself as such. He also said that it is also defined by how much it subverts these conventions and that a film must subvert these conventions enough that it is still viewed as a unique film, not just a clone and therefore remain interesting to an audience. Uses and gratifications‘ research has identified many potential pleasures of genre. One pleasure may simply be the recognition of the features of a particular genre because of our familiarity with it. Recognition of what is likely to be important (and what is not), derived from our knowledge of the genre, is necessary in order to follow a plot. Deborah Knight notes that 'satisfaction is guaranteed with genre; the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation.' What is most satisfying to an audience may also be a commentry on society, as John Cawelti says. For example the ever increasing popularity of horror may very well be a commentry on the moral panic surrounding violence in our modern world. While slightly morbid, Stephen King says that 'We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.' Such an other worldly genre, that plays upon peoples greatest fears my be the greatest and most grotesque form of escapism.
Comments
Post a Comment