Basics of genre analysis

1. Basics of genre analysis

2. Genre • Scholars continue to debate what the nature of genre is • “Some film genres tend to defined primarily by their subject matter (e.g. detective films), some by their setting (e.g. the Western) and others by their narrative form (e.g. the musical).” (Chandler) • Rather than wander into a rather esoteric controversy, let’s accept a definition that squares with most people’s understanding and then flesh out the implications

3. Genres as categories

4. Most genre study has been based on an attempt to identify categories of literature, film, tv, etc. and then to show how particular texts fit into a given genre or extend that genre • While this is useful, it is probably not as valuable as trying to identify: • What is the meaning of the basic or ideal generic text? • How are generic rules constructed, broken, and/or applied? What is the effect?

5. What is the meaning of the basic or ideal generic text? • Ideology—the underlying set of assumptions about the world, people in the world, etc. • What visions of peoples/cultures/social structure are presented and ‘naturalized’? • What visions are presented as problematic? • How conservative/oppositional are generic texts? • Narrativity—what kinds of stories, plots, etc. make sense within the genre? • Is a ‘heroic quest’ appropriate? A “Cinderella story?”

6. Values • What values are held dear and which are seen as less important or portrayed as harmful? • When values are in conflict, which are presented as ‘better’ or more effective? • Love v. honor • Responsibility v. caring

7. Enjoyment • How does the genre influence the pleasure experienced by the audience member? • Uses and gratifications • Fantasy/imagination • Emotion/identification • Knowledge/awareness • Need for dominance • Sadism/masochism

8. What characteristics seem to determine genres? • narrative - similar (sometimes formulaic) plots and structures, predictable situations, sequences, episodes, obstacles, conflicts and resolutions; • characterization - similar types of characters (sometimes stereotypes), roles, personal qualities, motivations, goals, behaviour; • basic themes, topics, subject matter (social, cultural, psychological, professional, political, sexual, moral), values . . .;

9. setting - geographical and historical; • iconography (echoing the narrative, characterization, themes and setting) - a familiar stock of images or motifs, the connotations of which have become fixed; primarily but not necessarily visual, including décor, costume and objects, certain 'typecast' performers (some of whom may have become 'icons'), familiar patterns of dialogue, characteristic music and sounds, and appropriate physical topography;

10. and filmic techniques - stylistic or formal conventions of camerawork, lighting, sound-recording, use of colour, editing etc. (viewers are often less conscious of such conventions than of those relating to content). • Daniel Chandler “Introduction to Genre Theory” at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html

11. “Less easy to place in one of the traditional categories are mood and tone (which are key features of the film noir). • “mode of address, which involves inbuilt assumptions about the audience, such as that the 'ideal' viewer is male (the usual categories here are class, age, gender and ethnicity);”

12. “As already noted, in addition to textual features, different genres also involve different purposes, pleasures, audiences, modes of involvement, styles of interpretation and text-reader relationships.“ • Chandler

13. What do genres do? • Genres provide a form of implied contract between the producer of content and the audience • An audience member that goes to see a slasher film does not want to sit through lots of dialogue about problems in school or worry about the detail of forensic evidence in the case • The audience member expects to see lots of brutal sadism and bodies chopped up • When producers provide a film with these features they can expect members of this audience to show up

14. Guide for production • Audience expectations and existing genre texts provide a guide for the production of new narratives within the genre • New texts within a genre always play off of and against existing characteristics of the genre • While adhering strictly to the rules of the genre tends to generate boring content, breaking all the rules leads to confusion and a negative viewing experience

15. Shared genre knowledge allows producers to draw on content from related texts without extensive exposition. • Efficiency of presentation • Audience members can enhance their experience by supplementing the immediate viewing experience by recalling content they found enjoyable in the past. The interrelations of the prior and current content may generate even further enjoyable experience through imaginative recombination. • Intertextuality

16. Genre and culture • Genres may rise and fall with change in cultures • Others may live on, but in a changed form • Some scholars would say that the production of every new artifact (book, film, painting, etc.) changes the genre it is said to fit into in some way—perhaps minute or imperceptible but nevertheless real

17. Changes in the heroic adventure • Gender roles • Earliest adventures were undertaken by men • Exceptions were exceedingly rare • Women were the prize won through heroic deeds or else evil forces arrayed against the hero (temptress/sorceress)

19. More recent adventures included females who were partners in some form of adventure • Usually in a secondary role, but significantly contributing

22. The most recent changes provide for female heroes who may have a male partner or may act as the primary heroic protagonist • Female heroes remain in the minority

24. Changes in the hero character • Though ancient heroes often had some unsavory characteristics, Mediaeval heroes were often paragons of virtue • Beginning in the late 1800s and increasingly since the 1960s, ‘antiheroes’ or protagonists of questionable character have become common • “Postmodernism”

26. Action-adventure • A modern variant of the mythic hero’s quest is the action/adventure • May have no magical powers or mythic characters • Common use of anti-heros • Quest may not be a boon for humankind • More emphasis on action/physical conflict for its own sake • Exciting, entertaining

27. Sources of concern • Can promote a ‘great man’ vision of the appropriate form of social control • Authoritarian, if not monarchic, implications • Lose patience with debaters, lily-livered liberals

28. Sources of concern • Portrayal of a world split into warring factions • Archetypal good and bad groups lead to a portrayal of ‘the other’ in extremely negative terms • Archetypes applied in the real world can quickly lead to harsh stereotyping or demonization of groups or individuals • Argues against subtlety and nuance • Argues against compromise and negotiation

29. Sources of concern • Conflict based in religion, klan, nation • Can easily slide into some rather unpleasant representations • Nazi use of Wagner’s epic heroic opera • Teaches us to make decisions, etc. based on tribal loyalties, heated passions rather than dispassionate, rational debate

30. Sources of concern • Emotional rather than rational goals and reasoning • “Words that succeed while policies fail” • Irrational traditionalism • Can justify extreme, uncompromising actions • Brutality • War • Enslavement • Torture

31. Sources of concern • Preaches violence and brinkmanship as a strategy of dealing with conflict/competition • Demonization of other side leads to escalation • Strengthens position of extremists • No actions are mutually beneficial • Life as a ‘zero-sum game’