Lesson 2 genre narratives and representations

2. LINKS BETWEEN KEY CONCEPTS
THE KEY CONCEPTS NEVER WORK IN ISOLATION – THEY
OPERATE TOGETHER TO DESCRIBE THE FEATURES AND
IMPACT OF A MEDIA TEXT.
TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
GENRE, NARRATIVE AND REPRESENTATION

3. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY NARRATIVE?BORDWELL & THOMPSON
"THE TERM PLOT IS USED TO DESCRIBE EVERYTHING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLY
PRESENT IN THE FILM BEFORE US" (BORDWELL AND THOMPSON)
"THE SET OF ALL THE EVENTS IN A NARRATIVE, BOTH THE ONES EXPLICITLY
PRESENTED AND THOSE THE VIEWER INFERS, COMPOSES THE STORY"
(BORDWELL AND THOMPSON)
IN OTHER WORDS, THE STORY IS THE COMBINATION OF THE ENTIRE SEQUENCE
OF EVENTS THAT IS SHOWN AS WELL AS EVERYTHING THAT WE CONCLUDE
HAS HAPPENED BUT IS NOT SHOWN.
WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN PLOT AND ALTMAN’S IDEA OF ‘SYNTACTIC
ELEMENTS’? THIS IS WHERE WE SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GENRE AND
NARRATIVE.

4. ROLAND BARTHES
A BIG NAME IN MEDIA STUDIES, PARTICULARLY AT DEGREE LEVEL,
BARTHES DEVELOPED SEVERAL BIG THEORIES.
WITH NARRATIVE HE IDENTIFIED TWO CODES IN USE:
ACTION CODES – MEANING IS EXPLICIT THROUGH CHOICES OF VISUAL
STORYTELLING AND DIALOGUE, AND THE PLOT IS DRIVEN FORWARD.
ENIGMA CODES – ‘ENIGMA’ MEANS MYSTERY, SO THIS IS IMPORTANT
FOR THRILLERS. THEY ARE USED WHERE THE DIRECTOR MAKES
MEANING MORE IMPLICIT THROUGH CONTROL OVER THE RELEASE OF
INFORMATION TO THE AUDIENCE.
What is the connection
between Barthes’ theory
and Bordwell and
Thompson’s interplay of
plot and story?

5. ENIGMA CODES EXAMPLE
WATCH THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF THE PRESTIGE. WHAT DO YOU
NOTICE ABOUT THE WAY IN WHICH THE PLOT CONVEYS STORY
INFORMATION – AND INDEED DOESN’T CONVEY INFORMATION?
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LV-CXIXGRHO
DOES THIS SUGGEST THE FILM MIGHT BE CLASSED AS A THRILLER?

6. REPRESENTATION
THE WAY THE MEDIA RE-PRESENTS REALITY TO THE AUDIENCE IS
CLOSELY LINKED TO GENRE, BECAUSE IT TENDS TO BE DONE
DIFFERENTLY IN DIFFERENT GENRES. FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT GENRES
DO THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS BELONG IN, AND WHAT
REPRESENTATIONS DO THEY CREATE?

8. REPRESENTATION THEORIES
BEING IMPORTANT TO THE EXAM, THESE WILL MOSTLY COME IN MISS SOANES’ LESSONS. FOR YOUR
RESEARCH, WE WILL FOCUS ON THE TWO MAIN GENDER REPRESENTATION THEORIES
Scopophilia
This means the pleasure of looking, and
the idea is that, in a male dominated
media, it is men’s pleasure in looking
that informs representation of women:
Voyeuristic – pleasure in observing
Fetishistic – pleasure in the fantasy of
participating.
Male Gaze
Developed from scopophilia, this
theory describes the way in which
female characters must be physically
attractive and the way in which the
camera will ‘look’ at them in the way a
man would. It also covers this idea that
women will be passive characters in the
story.

9. CASE STUDIES
THRILLERS TRADITIONALLY MAKE FEMALE CHARACTERS EITHER LOVE INTEREST FOR THE
HERO OR VICTIMS IN NEED OF A RESCUE. EITHER WAY, THEY ARE PASSIVE CHARACTERS WHO
ARE DEPENDENT ON MALES TO MAKE DECISIONS, KILL BAD GUYS AND GENERALLY DRIVE
THE PLOT FORWARD. HOWEVER, LIKE ANY OTHER GENRE FEATURE (FOLLOWING WHO’S
MODEL?), THIS HAS CHANGED AND DEVELOPED OVER TIME.
COMPARE THE REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN IN THESE TWO CLIPS:
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=KIZFSBRAE9S&INDEX=8&LIST=PLSL7TXJ-W4RDLX8MOTR5YYJBF6MR8MRLX
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=O1IHOL12HXM
THIS MIGHT NEED SOME USE OF CAMERA AND EDITING TECHNIQUES THAT MISS SOANES HAS
EXPLORED WITH YOU

10. WORKING IN SMALL GROUPS, USE THE CORRECT TERMINOLOGY TO CREATE
A LIST OF THE CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS:
•SEMANTIC ELEMENTS/ICONOGRAPHY
•SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS/STORY
•ENIGMA AND ACTION CODES
•REPRESENTATION/MALE GAZE
DEVELOPING IDEAS