Genre Scholarship workshop June 2012

What is Genre? Genres are constituted of features of content (such as story and character and theme) and features of form (such as structure and style) Genres are “instances of repetition and difference” (Stephen Neale) – repetition alone will not attract an audience ‘Genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change' (Buckingham 1993)

Leo Baudry says… Genre films essentially ask the audience, "Do you still want to believe this?" Popularity is the audience answering, "Yes."

Leo Baudry says… Change in genre occurs when the audience says, "That's too infantile a form of what we believe. Show us something more complicated."

Leo Baudry says… And genres turn to self-parody to say, "Well, at least if we make fun of it for being infantile, it will show how far we've come." Films and television have in this way speeded up cultural history.

Important things about genre to consider The link between genre and commercialism Genre and audience (audience theory) The changing nature of a genre and genre related terms – Hybridity – Sub genre – Genre Parody – Genre cycle – Post modernism The link between genre and style Does genre exist? (Everything is a re-mix…) What about Auteur Theory? Where does that fit? The difference between TV genre and Film genre

Thomas Schatz's life history of a genre (from Hollywood Genres) : An experimental stage, during which its conventions are isolated and established A classic stage, in which the conventions reach their “equilibrium” and are mutually understood by artist and audience An age of refinement, during which certain formal and stylistic details embellish the form A baroque (or “mannerist,” or “self-reflexive”) stage, when the form and its establishments are accented to the point where they “themselves become the “substance” or “content” of the work.”

Ideas about genre..Genre films especially are criticized because they seem to appeal to a pre- existing audience, while the film “classic” creates its own special audience through the unique power of the filmmaking artists’ personal creative sensibility” Leo Braudy from Genre: The Conventions of Connection

Ideas about genre “I personally think that although a genre can be handy for filing a film, they often repress the ability for directors to make films. Even though it can be useful for the marketing of a film, I find that most of the films I like, or films that are seen as “successful” bridge the gap between many different genres. Citizen Kane, The Godfather, etc., seem to be a cross between many, at times being one thing or another.”

The link between $$$ and genre Studios and TV networks see genre as a money making exercise The ability to re-use ideas, story, ‘stars’ (and to sell to an already established fan base) makes economic sense Producers can predict audience expectations And the highest grossing genres are…

The link between $$$ and genre..driven by the profit motive, the commercial entertainer dares not risk alienating us by attempting new language even if he were capable of it. He seeks only to gratify preconditioned needs for formula stimulus. He offers nothing we haven’t already conceived, nothing we don’t already expect” Gene Youngblood American underground film theorist

Genre and audience The link between institutions texts and audiences is the focus of some modern genre research Stephen Neale thinks that genre cinema positions the audience so it can read/recognise the text and therefore feel gratification (see the uses and gratifications theory) However! All audience negotiate the meaning of texts based on their own class, gender, age, and ethnicity

Fandom, re-mix, mash-up Recognition of genre builds community among fans –Examples? Re-mix and mash-up is part of the joy of genre appreciation – helped along by web 2.0 and social mediamash-up Think about how these fan created items helps sell genre films/tv shows

Post-modernism In a nutshell; everything has been done before and our culture is now a mass-produced mash-up of recycled ideas and icons Movies make sense in relation to each other (genre) not to reality

Other interesting links The superhero genre TV Tropes Genre Theory and Film Noir A rather intellectual discussion of genre theory A rather intellectual discussion of genre theory