2. Defining Genre
1) ‘Genre’ the word translated in French means ‘type’ or ‘kind’.
2) Films are put into genres so that the audience know what type of film they are going
to watch will be, as the ‘iconography’ is the same in each category. Genre is also
there so that producers can stick to or challenge conventions within the ‘guidelines’
to create subgenres and make a more intriguing film.
There is a divide within genres, that being:
1) Rigid – for the ‘Hollywood’ type of films created
by mainstream companies, appealing to a wider
audience, so staying with what is normal
2) Flexible – made by independent companies for
niche audiences, The reason why they are more
daring is because they have a smaller market to
appeal too. Allowing them to have that artistic
freedom.
3. Rigid Theory
The idea of not straying away from what the particular genre of the piece
was, came from the Ancient Greek theatre, when Aristotle used genres in his
work. It was frond upon in that era to mix genres and people looked at
‘quality control’ to see what belonged in each genre. This is how mainstream
films have developed throughout time, they don’t stray as the audience
assume what they will see and don’t expect any different, and if it is then the
film can get a bad reputation.
A genres structure determines what the audience assume
they will see. Charles Sanders Peirce looked into what made
a genre through it’s iconocography and fixed meanings.
4. Flexible Theory
The Flexible Theory would refer to more Independent films, rather than mainstream as they are
able to be more creative and do as they wish.
Two of the most well know European critics that specialised in ‘Hollywood’ or mainstream films
where Adorno and Horkheimer. Their ideology was that creating films with the same narrative, in
the same genre, made films plateau becoming predictable and repetitive, the most popular being
‘The American Dream’, a romantic comedy. So they where looking for change and where wanting
to see the unexpected.
Nick Lacey, a theologian put mixing genres to the test.
(who is he? Can’t find on google). He toyed with the idea
that there is a middle ground between the producer and
the audience that there could be an ‘in between genres’
type of film. He is one of the reasons why genre’s have
evolved the way they have. By creating ‘sub genres’,
‘mixed genres’ and ‘hybrids’ he has opened the pathway
to a variety of different films, not one having to be the
same, all having the creative freedom they desire, until
mainstream companies start to specify what exactly they
want, which turns into the typical ‘normal’ genre type.
The Postmodern theory has helped film producers, as it has enabled them to challenge
conventions within a genre by mixing and using a range of conventions belonging to different
genres to create their own subgenre.
5. Tarantino
Both types of theory relate to Quentin Tarantino as both types of film require the audience
to pay attention and analyse what the producer meant when they introduced a certain
stand out convention. This happens more so indie films as they have the ability to stray
further away from set categories then mainstream films do.
Tarantino uses conventions in his work so that his audience can relate his film to someone
else's. He does this by referencing quotes, intertextuality, from other films. This mixture of
many different conventions makes the film unique and without any real genre to fall into,
creating a hybrid.
This mixture confuses the audience, therefore telling them that in order to follow the
narrative, they have to listen. By breaking the rules in the way that Tarantino does, creates a
suspensenceful atmosphere, enticing the audience to follow the plot and think about what
the message of the film was.
Examples of films of which he has given homage to are:
Kill Bill
Ect…
6. Dystopian Definition
A dystopian film involves anywhere you don’t want to
be. It’s is somewhere so remote and dark that no one
wishes to be there. It is the end of the world.
Dystopian films usually critique society
Narrative
End of the world synario.
- Emptiness
- Cold
- Dark
- Rubbish
Character
- Antihero is pushed into
protagonist role
- Humans turn to live like
animals
Two teams:
Group 1: Purely out to
hunt and kill
Group 2: Helping each
other get through a time of
despair.
Subgenre + examples
Science fiction
- Science experiments have
gone wrong.
Post Apocalyptic
- end of the world
Horror
- chaotic world where genetics
have created zombies
7. “28 days later” Dystopian Relation
Trailer can be found HERE
Narrative: horror film where a virus spreads because protesters interrupt a science
experiment and let loose chimpanzees who are highly infected. The infection is caught
all through out the UK. As the days go on, it spreads to the rest of the world. There is
one man who knew nothing about this, due to a coma, and woke up to utter
abandonment. Until he finds other living characters …
What is this film saying about
society?
What I personally take from
The film, is that this
World is disrupted, people
have no respect for anyone
and the consequences one
day could be fatal. It is a
warning that if we aren't
more carful then all hell
could break loose.
Anti hero's in this
film…
Jim, the one who
woke up in hospital,
after coming out of a
coma, he never
asked or wanted to
be the hero of the
hour, yet he was
pushed into doing what he had to, to survive, to protect. He
does this when, the person he finds in a derelict church,
Selena, is imprisoned by solders and she is lured into sexual
intercourse in the aim to rebuild the world from scratch.. Jim
escapes his own imprisonment and attacks this man with
Selena, in the attempt to save her.
8. …28 days later: Challenged conventions
Jim is physically and mentally weak, which is the opposite of the general stereotype, where
as the female character, Selena, is very strong willed and is shown as being stronger than
him. This breaks the normal Hollywood narrative, to make the audience aware that women
can be empowered.
Pastiche comes from ‘Planet of the Apes’, with the reference to the wild chimpanzees,
taking over the world.
This film has hyperreality, because it includes monsters! Everyone knows they are not real
and understand that what they are watching is not real life.
9. POST MODERN
CONVENTIONS
Robotic Character
transitions into lady –
hyperality
Overlayed images -
hypereality
Visible Lightning bolts-hyperality
10. POST MODERN CONVENTIONS
Apes take up human charactistics: walking, riding horses, talking, friendship making
11. POST MODERN
CONVENTIONS
1)Talking to the
camera.
2)Monsters
talking saying
they want to go
home.
3)Monster signs.
4)UFO.
