So… What is genre?

And why does genre happen?

And why are some genres

more successful than others?
Starting with the last question…

• Some genres are successful because the

conditions for the genre’s existence exist
(i.e. some people’s interests are served by
its labelling)

Whose interests do
generic ideas serve?
 Genre Theory:
a “regulated variety”
(Neale, 1980)
• Genre theory is to do with a circulation of
expectations between industries, media
texts and audiences. This leads to a
“regulated variety”
 Hartley, 1999

“A contract between producer and

audience which ‘disciplines’ choices
and reduces desires.”
 Barry Keith Grant,
‘Experience and meaning in Genre films’

• “Surely one of our basic ways of understanding film

genres, and of explaining their evolution and changing
fortunes of popularity and production, is as collective
expressions of contemporary life that strike a
particularly resonant chord with audiences.”
• “For eg. The 30s musicals are on one level “explained’
as an Escapist Depression fantasy;
• Film noir in the 40s expressed first the social and
sexual dislocations brought about by WWII and then
the disillusionment when it ended;
• The innumerable science-fiction films of the 50s
embodied cold war tensions and nuclear anxiety new
to that decade.”

Can you think of recent films which could define the 00s and society’s anxieties?
 Genre as ideological?
“The Genre film offers a lesson in how to
act within society and how to deal with
current problems and anxieties. But it
does not offer neutral ways of dealing
with social problems; instead, it
prescribes a preferred set of values.”
Can you think of what kind of values would be predominant?
Think of current films to refer to specific examples.

Remember the early point we made: genre serves the

interests of several parties… How could this become
problematic if a writer wants to emphasize a different set of
values?
 Genre as ideological?
“The Genre film offers a lesson in how to act within society
and how to deal with current problems and anxieties. But it
does not offer neutral ways of dealing with social
problems; instead, it prescribes a preferred set of values.”
• Preferred set of values in today’s films:
– Those of capitalist ideology with its
emphasis on the individual:
• The individual’s right of ownership, private
enterprise, and personal wealth;
• The nuclear family with traditional gender roles;
• The necessity of conforming to moral and social
laws
• Etc.
 Assumptions made around Genre for
critique (ie you need to engage in the
debate)
• Genres are defined by producers and easily
recognizable by audiences
• Genres evolve
• Genre is ideological
• Texts belong clearly to a particular genre
• Genres are not specifically located in history
 All theorists agree…

• … about the ‘slippery’ and ‘fluid’ nature of

labeling texts in this way.
• But the exception to the rule is the pure
genre text…
• And of course, the AUTEUR film
 From Micro to Macro
• Study the micro elements on your given
picture:
mise-en-scene (lighting, props,
costumes, colours etc)
setting
character types
actors used
Then come up with the big picture (macro
level):
Can you attach a genre to the still from a film?
 The creative task

• Construct and storyboard a 2min

sequence of rendez-vous in a particular
genre.

• Use post-its
• Aim for 14-20 frames
 Genre

All genres are made up of key elements including:

Protagonists
Plots and situations
Icons (objects or star)
Backgrounds

There is a name for these key elements…

 Genre

Generic Conventions – the features that

you would expect to see in a particular
genre.

e.g. The generic conventions of a horror

film include isolated settings, storms,
teenage protagonists, murder, darkness,
etc…
 Film Genres
Horror Musical Thriller
Animation
Drama
Science Fiction
Action
Comedy
Teen

Adventure Film Genres Disney

Gangster Disaster

Crime
Romance
Western
Chick Flicks
British film
Fantasy
 Star Association - When an
actor/actress becomes an icon for a
particular genre
 Star Associated Examples
Genre
Hugh Grant Romance Notting Hill
Love Actually
Jim Carrey Comedy Ace Ventura
The Mask
Jennifer Aniston Romance Along came Polly
The Good Girl
Adam Sandler Comedy Happy Gilmore
The Wedding Singer
Fred Astaire Musicals Singing in the Rain
Hello Dolly

Sean William Scott Teen Road Trip

American Pie

Will Smith Men in Black

Science I Robot
Fiction
Angelina Jolie Mr & Mrs Smith
Action Tomb Raider
Examples of poster
terminology
 Examples of poster
terminology
Title Block

Rule of 3
Stars
Tagline
Genre – Crime/comedy
Typical Characters – Police Central Image
officers. Simon Pegg and
Nick Frost are star
associated with the comedy
genre e.g. Shaun of the Mark of Quality
Dead, stereotypical
characters
Typical Narrative – On a
mission to save the city of Characters
London from another
terrorist attack.
Typical setting – The City
Icons – guns, smoke
Titanic
 Most films are “hybrids”

• They span more than one genre

• They might ‘rework’ conventions in some
way
(see later on in lesson)
The Hit Making Software…
 So what do we think…?

• How useful is genre?

• Is it useful to have a genre brief?
• Is it a hindrance to creativity?

• Do some research and look at who

the winners are…
http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
http://www.filmsite.org/bestpics2.html
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/
 What have you learnt about
the Thriller genre?

• Five minutes to jot down all you can think

of including generic conventions and
subgenres with examples.
 Consider the list of conventions below in your analysis
and technical construction of a thriller: (1)

• The narrative centres around a crime eg. a theft or a

murder.
• The protagonist is fallible and has an 'Achilles heel' that
is exploited by the antagonist. The title of the thriller
may relate to this weakness eg Vertigo and Insomnia.
• The protagonist will be seen 'in peril' in one or more
scenes before the resolution.
• The antagonist ensnares the protagonist in an
increasingly complex web, until the protagonist feels
isolated and helpless.
• The narrative presents ordinary situations in which
extraordinary things happen.
• Micro elements combine in a build up of suspense.
 Consider the list of conventions below in your
analysis and technical construction of a thriller: (2)

• Themes of identity are common: mistaken identity,

doubling/doppelgangers, amnesia.
• Themes of seeing, reflection and mirroring.
Manipulation of perspectives and optical illusions are
common.
• The audience of a thriller is placed in the ambiguous
position of voyeur.
• Voyeurism can also be a theme and the objectification
of female characters is common especially in earlier
thrillers
• A series of/ one important enigma(s) are/is set up in
the opening sequence of the film, is further
complicated during the first part of the film and only
resolved at the very end.
Charles Derry is one of the few theorists who has tried
to systematize the genre and shift the focus to films
other than Hitchcock’s. Derry defines the suspense
thriller “a crime work which presents a generally
murderous antagonism in which the protagonist
becomes either an innocent victim or a
nonprofessional criminal within a structure that is
significantly unmediated by a traditional figure or
detection”

Derry’s broad definition means that films as different as

Vertigo (1958) and Fatal Attraction (1987) fall under the
same label and that is why he further recognises six
major sub-types.
1. The Thriller of Murderous Passions

Organised around the triangular grouping of

husband/wife/lover. The central scene is generally
the murder of one member of the triangle by one or
both of the other members. The emphasis is clearly
on the criminal protagonist….(and)…the criminal
motive is generally passion and greed.
 2. The Political Thriller

Organised around a plot to assassinate a political

figure or a revelation of the essential
conspiratorial nature of Governments and the
oppositional acts of victim-societies,
countercultures, or martyrs.
 3. The Thriller of Acquired Identity

Organised around a protagonist’s acquisition of

an unaccustomed identity, his or her behaviour
in coming to terms with the metaphysical and
physical consequences of this identity, and the
relationship of this acquisition to a murder
plot.
 4. The Psychosomatic Thriller

Organised around the psychotic effects of a trauma

on a
protagonist’s current involvement in a love affair
and a
crime or intrigue. The protagonist is always a victim
–
generally of some past trauma and often of real
villains who take advantage of his or her
masochistic guilt.
5. The Thriller of Moral Confrontation

Organised around an overt antithetical

confrontation
between a character representing good or innocence
and a character representing evil. These films often
are constructed in terms of elaborate dualities which
emphasise the parallels between the victim and the
criminal.
6. The Innocent-on-the-run Thriller

Organised around an innocent victim’s coincidental

entry into the midst of global intrigue. The victim
often finds himself running from both the villains as
well as the police.
Hybrid