9th December, 2011
Magdalena Tutka - Gwozdz, Ph. D.
Department of Media and Communication
Genre
Defining a Genre
• the word "genre" (with French origin) means
kind or type.
• need to form a shared sense that certain films
seem to resemble one another in significant
ways.
Particular genres are recognizable by:
• their subjects or themes, f. ex. Western,
science-fiction
• the emotional effect they aim for, f. comedy,
thriller
• the plot pattern, f. ex. detective film
• manner of presentation, f. ex. musical
• few large, blanket genre categories that fit
many films, f. ex. musicals, thrillers, horrors
The role genres play in the cinema
industry:
• affect industry officials’ decisions
• serve as a simple way to characterize film for
publicity
Analyzing a Genre
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There are specific “conventions” serving as
pathway into the film for the viewer:
certain plot elements
theme or general meanings
characteristic film techniques
characteristic objects and settings
(iconography)
iconographic star
Conventions can be also reinvent or reject
Genre History
Conventions change over time. This is the result of:
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borrowing existing conventions from the other media
genre mixing
mixing genres across the cultures
technology
a genre never dies, however it do not remain
constantly successful.
A batch of genre films that enjoys intense popularity
and influence over a distinct period is called a cycle.
The Social Functions of Genres:
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reaffirm cultural values with little variation
serve to distract the audience from social problems
exploit ambivalent social values and attitudes
channel “negative” emotions into approved attitudes,
f. ex. gangster film
• display the audience's doubts or anxieties and
correspond with current social situation.
• reflect social attitudes, as if in a mirror (“reflectionist"
approach)
• reflect filmmakers' guess about what can bring them to
commercial success
Rick Altman, A Semantic / Syntactic
Approach to Film Genre
• fundamentally bivalent nature of the genre
• a double function - most genres go through a
period of accommodation during which the
public's desires are fitted to Hollywood's priorities
(and vice versa). (...)Whenever a lasting fit is
obtained - which it is whenever a semantic genre
becomes a syntactic one - it is because a common
ground has been found, a region where the
audience's
ritual
values coincide
with
Hollywood's ideological ones.
• dual approach allows to grasp intergeneric
connections typically suppressed by singleminded
approaches, as well as to establish a new
continuity, relating film analysis, genre theory,
and genre history.
• The distinction between the semantic and the
syntactic (...) thus corresponds to a distinction
between the primary, linguistic elements of
which all texts are made and the secondary,
textual meanings that are sometimes constructed
by virtue of the syntactic bonds established
between primary elements.”
• linguistic elements are developed into the
textual meaning.
• Please read! Description of three genres
(western, thriller and musical), “Film Art. An
Introduction”, pp. 338 - 346
Film examples (conventions and
innovations)
• Western: High Noon, Fred Zinnemann (1952) / Once Upon a Time
in the West, Sergio Leone (1968)
• Thriller: Nosferatu, Fredich Wilhelm Murnau (1922) / Rosmary’s
Baby, Roman Polański (1968)
• Gangster Film: Little Caesar, Mervyn LeRoy (1931) / Goodfellas,
Martin Scorsese (1990)
• Science - fiction: Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1927) / Blade Runner,
Ridley Scott (1982)
• Musical: American in Paris, Vincent Minelli (1951) / The Rocky
Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman (1975) / Tango, Carlos Saura
(1998)
Please read!
• Functions of Film Sound in K. Thompson / D. Bordwell, “Film Art”,
pp. 298 - 307;
• Writing a Critical Analysis of a Film in K. Thompson / D. Bordwell,
“Film Art”, pp. 443 - 451
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Thank you!