Genre

Genre

List of film genres-
-romantic
-action
-thriller
-horror
-historical
-comedy
-drama
-adventure
-crime
-drama
-fantasy
-documentary
-science fiction
-musical
-based on a true story
-Animation
-Western
-Musical

Genre theorists-
Steven Neale- Genre are about repetition and difference
-Popular cinema relies on audience finding pleasure in difference and repetition i.e. recognition of familiar elements and the way those elements are linked in an unfamiliar way or the way that unfamiliar element might be introduced.
-Genre theory is about what genres are, and about how and why they are created, change, endure or decline.
-Neale argues that genre is a process by which generic codes and conventions are shared by producers and audience through repetition in media products.
-This means that the genre is not fixed, but it constantly evolve with each new addition to the generic corpus (the body of products in a genre), often playing with genre codes and conventions or becoming hybrids with other genres.

What are genre conventions?
-Things we can hear and see are called iconography e.g. special effects, props, makeup, costume
Structure- Things that happen for example, a romantic comedy might be structured around a guy getting a girl, losing her and then getting her back.
Theme- Things that they might say about the world (the message)

Vampire horror-

Iconography-
-Blood, vampire, dark costume, knifes, makeup (pale), screams, shouting, graveyard, inside a dark area, castle (Gothic), fangs, suspense music
Structure-
-A group of kids enter a demolished building where a vampire's soul resides. Despite the kids not knowing the vampire existence, the kids still go to that same spot until someone got murdered.The kids family have some sort of connection with the vampire which is unknown.
Theme-
-Importance of finding someone
-Trusting people

The teen movie-

Iconography- Corridors with lockers, classroom, students, teachers, no makeup, school uniform, books, nerds and the popular person, jock, cheerleaders, cafeteria,
Structure- A jock fell in love with an ordinary person.
Theme- The need to belong to a group, the importance of popularity,
Rite of passage narrative- Moving from one social identity to another ('child' to 'adult')
Could manifest in= change from 'geek' to 'princess' (ugly duckling), 'loser' to 'winner', losing virginity
-also power structures within high school

Genre stages-

1st stage-The primitive, the formative stage in which the genre's characteristics are first established

2nd stage-The classical, the genre as its peak, with generic qualities refined

3rd stage-The revisionist, which scrutinise and reevaluates, often in a critical way, the conventions that typify the genre.

4th stage-The Parodic, in which the genre is satirised in a consciously self-reflective, tongue-in-cheek manner.

Andrew Tudor- 'A genre...defines a moral and social world'. (means that if a film is made in the 90's, it shows how life could be lived by then).

Origins of a teenager- Identified as 'adolescents' around the turn of the century by psychologist Stanley Hall
-Before this there were only children and adults
-The common conception of the teenager did not come about until the 1950s

The rise of teenager-
-The great depression of the 1930s force young people into high schools-because there are no jobs
-In the 50s a new prosperity means teenagers no longer have to work
-But the fact that these people have money but no responsibility means they are ideal target audience
-Also, with the rise of the TV in the 50s, teens are loyal to cinema (to socialise and not be with their family).

classical teen movies-
-The 1980s could be seen as the 'classical period' of the teen movie.
-Films such as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink truly defined the genre
-In these films, comedy become a central component and teachers and parents were the enemy, rather than society as a whole.

Revisionist teen movies- 
-In more recent tears, filmmakers have sought to redefine teen movies
-Critical movies, often made by outside voices, were made within the genre

Pastiche and parody-
Pastiche- A 'loving', respectful homage to previous conventions e.g. Tarantino's films are often viewed as pastiches of multiple genre
Parody- A humorous subversion of genre expectations. Audiences enjoy seeing conventions subverted.

The spoof (a popular example of a parody)-
-More a series of 'gags' than a fully functioning narrative
-Dependant on specific genre knowledge
-Generally popular with teens and can be highly profitable due to low production costs.

Problems with genre-
-Too narrow or too broad
-Informed too much by preconceived ideas
-Monolithic- if it's one thing, it can't be another
-Subject matter is a poor criteria for genre