This document discusses the genre and narrative structure of the film Whiplash. It begins by asking what genre Whiplash belongs to, such as drama, thriller, or sports film, and whether it is a hybrid. It then examines the conventions of different genres like drama, thriller, and sports film and how Whiplash compares to these. The document also explores narrative theory that could be applied to analyze Whiplash, such as Todorov's equilibrium-disequilibrium-equilibrium structure, binary oppositions, Barthes' narrative codes, and character archetypes. It poses exam questions about exploring the genres, narratives, and representations in three main texts.

1. WHIPLASH – GENRE
NARRATIVE &
REPRESENTATION
MS4 – TEXT, INDUSTRY
& AUDIENCE

2. What GENRE is Whiplash?
• DRAMA?
• THRILLER?
• SPORTS-FILM?
• SUB-GENRE?
• HYDRID GENRE?
How do we know?

3. Drama Conventions
What would you expect from a Drama?
What is the purpose of this genre?

4. Definition
• ‘Drama film is a genre that relies on the
emotional and relational development of
realistic characters. While Drama film relies
heavily on this kind of development, dramatic
themes play a large role in the plot as well.
Often, these dramatic themes are taken from
intense, real life issues. Whether heroes or
heroines are facing a conflict from the outside
or a conflict within themselves, Drama film
aims to tell an honest story of human
struggles’

5. Thriller Conventions?
• Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and
suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on
the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against
a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what
sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that
the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on
throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.
• Psychological Thriller (sub genre)
• In addition to the traits of a regular Thriller, a Psychological Thriller
incorporates elements of drama and mystery film. The suspense in
this sub-genre comes from the mind, rather than from a psychical
threat. The protagonists in Psychological Thrillers must rely on their
mental resources to solve the situation. Because of their nature,
many Psychological Thrillers cross over into the Horror genre.

6. Subgenre & Hybrids
• Psychological Drama
• Thriller Drama
• Sports Drama Thriller!!

7. Sports-film genre?
“I like genre movies, and this fits pretty squarely into the sports-
film genre. You’re building up to the big fight, or the big game. In
this case, it’s the big performance. There are certain kinds of
narrative rules in terms of how you do that, where you have to
bring the character really low before you bring them high, and you
have to do another microcosm of that within the big fight. Even if
they’ve had their low point, you can’t just have them show up to
the climax and immediately knock the guy out. You still need to
have another mini low point. There are narrative rules that you
don’t have to follow, but I actually thought since this is not a sports
movie, they would be fun to follow. It gave me the leverage to
wholeheartedly embrace some of those tropes.”
(Damien Chazelle, 2016)

8. EXAM QUESTION ON GENRE
1. Explore genre conventions in your 3 main
texts
This question is inviting you to ‘explore’- to look
into, inspect or scrutinise in detail- the genre
conventions of your 3 texts; considering the
following:
• Key Conventions / Signifiers- Iconography,
Settings & locations, characters, stars /
celebrities, plots / storylines, themes.
• Techical & Audio Codes- Use of camerawork,
editing, sound, dialogue, language and music.

9. EXAM QUESTION ON GENRE
2. How typical are your 3 main texts of their genre?
• This question is not too dissimilar from the previous
question and is again inviting you to explore the
‘typicality’ of your text in relation to its genre.
In addition to the previous question, here you should
begin to explore:
• Key codes and conventions which are typical of and
thus reinforce the genre
• Any codes and conventions which open the discussion
of a challenge to the genre

10. EXAM QUESTION ON GENRE
3. To what extent do your 3 main text’s challenge genre conventions?
Now this isn’t to state that all of your texts WILL challenge genre
conventions; the question is merely asking you to examine the degree to
which your texts may challenge genre conventions.
To state that a text challenges genre conventions ‘to some or to a certain
extent’, is to imply that it is partly, but not wholly, true. In your answer you
should consider:
• Offering an opinion; ‘to what extent?’
• Discussing the text’s typicality as well as it’s subversion of conventions
• Hybridity and subgenres

11. EXAM QUESTION ON GENRE
4. ‘Most texts today mix genres’. How true is this of
your three main texts?
• Similarly to the previous question, in this answer you
may offer an opinion on the hybridity of your 3 main
texts.
• Since it can be argued that most texts have some
degree of hybridity, it would be expected that you
would be able to provide a coherent discussion
which refers directly to the quote, rather than simply
describing the different conventions of genres in the
texts.

12. NARRATIVE
• Does the narrative follow the classical Hollywood structure?
• Can you apply Todorov’s narratology?
• Are their any binary oppositions (Levi-strauss) presented in the
narrative? And how do they contribute to an understanding of the
narrative & character development?
• Can we apply Barthes narrative codes eg enigmas etc?
• From whose perspective do we experience the film? Are there
Proppian Archetypes? Do the characters develop through the film?
• Are there any other notable narrative techniques used?

13. What is the Classical Hollywood Narrative?

15. Todorov
• Equilibrium
• Disequilibrium
• Equilibrium
Does the film
Neatly fit into this
Narrative
Structure?

17. Levi-strauss &
Binary oppositions
• Are their any binary oppositions presented in
the narrative? And how do they contribute to
an understanding of the narrative & character
development?

18. Can we apply Barthes
narrative codes?

19. • From whose perspective do we experience the
film? Are there Proppian Archetypes? Do the
characters develop through the film?

20. Are there any other
notable narrative
techniques used?

21. EXAM QUESTION ON NARRATVE
1. Discuss the NARRATIVE structure of your three
main texts
• Investigate or examine by argument/debate the
narrative structure or your films.
• This is an excellent opportunity to
compare/contrast the various narrative
structures.
• Do they follow conventional structures?
• Can you apply narrative theory?

22. REPRESENTATION
• Reading on FROG
TASK:
Select a scene/sequence form the film, 5mins?
Through an analysis of the technical elements,
explore the scene in relation to representation
or narrative or both!. Present your findings to
the class

23. ESSAY
• Please answer the following question with reference to
the film Whiplash, a minimum of 600 words:
Q1. Explore the key gender REPRESENTATIONS in
your three main texts
• What I am looking for is detailed textual examples to
support your points, using the appropriate film
language