Rick Altman proposed a three-point approach to understanding genres: semantic (building blocks like costumes, props, settings), syntactic (deeper structures like themes, narratives, character relationships), and pragmatic (how audiences decode and understand genres differently). Christian Metz believed genres go through experimental, classical, parody, and deconstruction stages as conventions are established and then challenged over time. Examples are given of how specific films fit into or challenge conventions of the thriller genre according to these theories.
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Learning ObjectivesAfter reading this chapter, you should be abl.docxsmile790243
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
· Explain the difficulty in defining genre, and contrast the advantages and disadvantages that genres offer film studios, filmmakers, and audiences.
· Describe the popular film genres of westerns, gangster, mystery, and film noir.
· Describe the popular film genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.
· Describe the popular film genres of romantic comedy, musicals, and documentaries.
· Categorize films into genres, recognize when films cross genres, and analyze films using genres.
· Trace the history of popular sentiments and social issues through the evolution of films inside genres and recognize various social functions of genres.4.1 What Are Movie Genres?
A genre is a type, or category, and genre films are usually easily recognizable as part of a certain genre. This is because they tend to use familiar story formulas, character types, settings, and iconography (visual imagery with symbolic implications), all of which lead viewers to have certain expectations about what the movie will be like before actually watching it. For various reasons, which we shall note, genre films are prime candidates for analysis to reveal significance far deeper than the surface stories. Many genres also have a variety of related subgenres with more narrowly defined formulas and expectations. For example, any film in the horror genre can be expected to produce fear or anxiety in the viewer; some of the many subgenres of horror films include the vampire film, the zombie film, the monster movie, the mad doctor movie, the insane slasher-killer movie, and the psychological horror film, among others.
In Evil Dead II, a freewheeling horror film directed by Sam Raimi, Ash, the protagonist, played by Bruce Campbell, experiences some genuine terror, including (but not limited to) cutting off his own possessed hand with a chainsaw. Audiences and critics alike found it intense and scary. They also found it hilarious. How can a movie that includes the following exchange not be?
Ash (talking to mirror): I'm fine . . . I'm fine . . . (Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash.)
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?
Courtesy Everett Collection
Little Big Man is a revisionist western. It takes the genre's conventions and reverses them. The Indians are the heroes and General Custer is the villain.
With its violence, gore, and shocks, there is no question that Evil Dead II, considered a cult classic, is a horror movie. With lines like the foregoing, there is also no debating that it's a comedy. So is it a horror film or a comedy? Why can't it be both? Evil Dead II is an example of a movie that crosses genres. The word "genre" comes from the Latin genus, which refers to birth, family, race, or class, and by extension to any sort of categorization. However, as we will see, there is much debate over just what the term genr ...
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2. RICK ALTMAN
Rick was the man who suggested that in order to fully
understand the concept of a genre you need to take a 3 point
approach;
♥ Semantic
♥ Syntactic
♥ Pragmatic
3. RICK ALTMAN
Semantic:
The semantic approach is looking at the building blocks of what
makes up a genre, for example; typical costumes, props and
settings. In the Thriller genre the typical props used would be;
knives, guns and fake blood, the typical costumes would be; a
scary masks and dark clothing and finally the typical settings
would be the woods and haunted houses.
4. EXAMPLE – SAW
Costumes – Jigsaw’s mask and dark clothing
Props – fake blood, saw, chains
Setting – claustrophobic areas such as a bathroom
5. RICK ALTMAN
Syntactic:
This approach is the deeper structure of the genre which would be
the; themes, narrative and character’s relationship. For example in
the Thriller genre the conventional themes would be; death, revenge
and isolation. The conventional narrative would be psycho killer
goes after innocent protagonist and murder. Finally the character
relationship would be that the protagonist has a bad past with the
antagonist.
6. EXAMPLE – FINAL
DESTINATION 5
Themes – death, revenge, betrayal,
Narrative – group of colleagues go on a trip and one of
them has a vision of a freak accident on the bridge therefore
he saves the gang and because they cheated death they will
all be killed off one by one.
Characters relationship – love, betrayal to friends
7. RICK ALTMAN
Pragmatic:
Altman realised that the genre of media txt can be decoded
differently by different members of the audience, which he see’s
as active. This means that to develop the genre you need to
realise that the audience will not always understand the genre
the same as other members of the audience. For example a
Thriller film may be terrifying to one person but to another be
comical.
8. EXAMPLE
The audience may feel that the Thriller genre comes hand in
hand with Horror as they may find that it’s scary or that it has
many elements of Horror inside a Thriller film. For example I
think that Thriller films are scary because I’m a jumpy person
and many Thriller films have tense music and sudden jumps.
9. STEVE NEALE
Repetition & Differences:
Steve Neale suggested that genres can either repeat conventions or they can
challenge them. For example Scream would have followed conventions set
by Alfred Hitchcock whereas a film like Chatroom would have challenged
these conventions by including technology for the psychopath to mess with
the teenagers minds and encourage them to commit suicide. If films didn’t
challenge conventions then the audience will get bored or find the film
repetitive. However you should follow conventions to an extent as then the
audience will recognise that your film belongs in the Thriller genre.
10. CHRISTIAN METZ
Christian was a French theorist who believed that genres go
through a cycle of changes as time goes on. These stages are:
♥ Experimental
♥ Classical
♥ Parody
♥ Deconstruction
11. CHRISTIAN METZ
Experimental:
This is the stage in which generic conventions and codes are put
in place. An example of this in the Thriller genre is Alfred
Hitchcock’s film Psycho which featured a psychopathic killer and
extreme violence, these are both conventions of the Thriller
genre.
12. CHRISTIAN METZ
Classical:
This is the stage where conventions and codes are being
followed and can be seen as a guideline for other films who want
to be part of the genre. For example the Thriller film Scream
followed conventions set by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho such as;
a psychopathic killer and extreme violence.
13. CHRISTIAN METZ
Parody:
Now that conventions have been set then directors can create
parody films although for this stage to work, the audience must
fully understand the classical stage. An example of a Thriller
Parody would be Scary Movie which parodies Scream. If you
didn’t understand the conventions of the Thriller genre then you
wouldn’t understand the references in Scary Movie.
14. CHRISTIAN METZ
Deconstruction:
This is the development stage where the film being made will
challenge conventions or merge the genre with another to create
a hybrid e.g. rom com is a hybrid of romance and comedy. An
example of a Thriller film in the deconstruction stage would be
Unfriended as it features the psycho killer as being behind a
computer screen instead of in real life like Scream.
