Theoretical Evaluation of Production

1B) GENRE

WHAT IS GENRE?• ‘Genre’ is a term used to describe the categorisation of different types of music, film and literature

based upon common elements. It is a critical tool which allows us to study texts and audiences responses to texts.

• Examples of genre include:

• We can recognise genre through certain codes which become conventions. Signs and signifiers play a crucial role in this recognition.

• Daniel Chandler (2001) argues that the word ‘genre’ comes from the French word for ‘kind’ or ‘class’ – This being a term widely used in rhetoric, literacy theory, and media theory to refer to a distinctive type of text.

Jazz Classical EDM/ Dance Electro Western Documentary Sci-fi Thriller Horror Comedy

Rock Metal Pop Indie Grunge R&B Grime Punk Rhythm & Blues Folk

SUB-GENRES

• All genres have sub-genres (a genre within a genre). This means that they are divided up into more specific categories that allow audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and what become recognisable characteristics. (Barry Keith Grant, 1995)

• However, Steve Neale (1995) stresses that ‘genres’ are not systems, they are processes of systematisation, i.e. they are dynamic and evolve over time.

DEFINITION OF GENRE• Genre can be composed of the following aspects:

1 – Costume

2 – Props

3 – Location

4 – Transport

5 – Sound

6 – Narrative

7 – Characters

• This is known as a Paradigm model, summarising the ‘typical example or pattern of something’ in this case, being the components of genre.

USING THE MODEL – WESTERN IDEOLOGIES• The paradigm model allows us to deconstruct the conventional elements you would

expect to find in particular media texts. A western themed product would incorporate the use of different aspects than you would expect to see in a sci-fi media text.

Costume – Cowboy clothes, (hats, boots, hoisters)

Props – Revolvers (guns), whips, lagoons, tobacco, whiskey

Location – Desert, saloon, ranch, iconic mountain backdrop.

Transport – Horses, steam trains, truck wagons, typical American hatchbacks

Sound – Accents, musical instruments

Narrative – Shoot out, bar fight

Characters – Piano guy, lady of the night, outlaws, bounty hunter, dog, sheriff, native Americans

USING THE MODEL – SCI-FI IDEOLOGIES• Components of a sci-fi media text are drastically different from those used in western themed

products, as noted below.

Costume – Space suits

Props – Advanced technology

Location – Space, planets/ moons, galaxies

Transport – Space ships, space buggies, rover

Sound – Static, futuristic, robotic voiceovers for aliens.

Narrative – Danger posed upon Earth/ Conflict with aliens/ Space race/ Dystopian/ Rescue/ Invasion

Characters – Aliens, humanity, robots/ A.I.

(The model makes you realise that actually the subject/ concept of sci-fi very much overlaps with that of western ideologies with the main difference being the location)

APPLYING THE MODEL – HORROR (SHORT GROUP EXERCISE)

• Mise-en-scene: Lighting – night time, dark to give the audience a sense of unease, not knowing what could be hiding here.

Location – deserted places, forests, abandoned houses, graveyards are all typical locations however normal family houses are being used in more recent products to induce a sense of verisimilitude and enabling the audience to empathise with the characters more.

Characters – Vulnerable woman, young children used as victims (giving adults a protective quality)

Props – Knives, weapons

• Cinematography: Long shots to illustrate setting and put characters into the mise-en-scene (builds suspense/worry)

Close ups/ medium shots to show detail and narrative.

Camera angles – high to make victim look small and vulnerable, low to show strength and power.

First person, eye line matches, shot reverse shots and over the shoulder shots to create suspense and reveal small elements of the mise-en-scene.

• Common themes: Anti-Christ/ Satanism (reinforces Christianity and religion)

Excersism, possession, rescue.

Blood and gore

HYBRIDS• This is the term used to label products which do not fit into just one specific category as

they contain codes and conventions from multiple genres.

• An example of this would be ‘Rom-Com’, short for romantic comedy which contains recognisable aspects from both genres. These hybrid genres generally create more individuality for the product as there are less of them.

• This applies to music as well, having many artists which cross over multiple genres. Halsey is an example of this, being classified as ‘electro-pop’.

IDEOLOGY• Describes the way that genres are constructed and the choices that are made about costume, props,

location, etc., in order to construct meaning for the viewer and form ‘Myth’ as Ronald Barthes referred to it. He also suggests that we can tell the ideology of the media text through codes and conventions.

• Levi Strawss expresses the importance of binary oppositions within media texts indicating that they can be broken down into good and bad through the audience deconstructing meaning. Most media products have these binary oppositions where elements can be organised around common themes.

• These ideas are also dynamic concepts changing with the ideologies surrounding the genre, for example the following table shows the binary oppositions seen within typical western films in our current day:

Good Bad

Cowboys Indians

Civilization Wilderness

Gun Bow and arrows

EVOLUTION OF IDEOLOGY• This following comparison is based on three different vampire trailers (embedded below)

from different eras:1) F.W. Murnau, Nosferatu, 1992

2) 2) Neil Jordan, Interview with a Vampire, 1990

3) 3) Catherine Hardwick, Twilight, 2008

Despite advancements in technology, there are other noticeable differences between the three media texts:

• Nosferatu was brought out at the time of aids, working with the concept that transition of blood causes infection which people were terrified of. Therefore, the ‘vampire’ was known to be a horrible character which caused death and fear.

• In Interview with a Vampire, the vampire is shown to be a real person which people are curious about and so are actually giving him a voice, this being a twist in the ideologies compared with those of the 20’s.

• In more recent days, Twilight is a series of films which romanticise the vampire, Edward Cullen, and show his family to have a caring attribute. His speed and reactions are shown to be ‘cool’ while there are shots when his body is objectified for ‘the female gaze’ (unconventional voyeurism)

ESTABLISHED GENRES• This is the name given to those genres which become self-aware and self-reflective of

themselves through use of codes and conventions in an alternative way.

• An example of this is Zombeavers, which uses what the audience knows about the genre already and subverts this through the use of overdoing clichés. This causes a comedic aspect where the humour is based around the audiences knowledge of conventions.

• (This video is embedded below.)

• Another important misconception to note is that comedy and animation are not genres; they are styles and treatments applied to a media text of another genre.

PURPOSE• Jason Mittell (2001) argues that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and

operate within industry, audience and cultural practices as well.

• In short, industries use genre to sell products to audiences and to meet expectations of the audience. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions that very often make cultural references to their audiences knowledge of society and other texts.

• Genre also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure, as suggested by Rick Altman (1999), which are either- emotional pleasures, visceral pleasures or intellectual pleasures.

• The model below shows how institutions use the codes and conventions of particular genres to construct meaning for the audience-

GENRE

INSTITUTION(produce texts using the codes andConventions for genre)

TEXT(conventions seen not just in text but in society)

AUDIENCE(Recognise codes and conventions)