Genre Theory‘Genre is an important ingredient in a film’s narrative

implications’By Robson & Adrian

The Theory This theory suggests that genre has a big impact in the

narrative of a film, due to the film then having to adapt to fit the conventions and expectations of a specific genre. Such as if a film were classed as being a action film, the audience would then expect high adrenaline scenes that would involve car chases or shootouts.

Django Unchained – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=eUdM9vrCbow ‘Django Unchained’ is a modern western film set during the 1850s

in America, when black slavery was a thing that was extremely big. The narrative of the film is about a black slave named ‘Django’ being freed by a German bounty hunter (Dr. Shultz) in order to help him track down a certain bounty that he has on some people. During this Django is promised his freedom in return. During the time that they spend together Dr. Shultz harnesses Django’s abilities of shooting a gun for the better. This then helps Django rescue his wife that was taken away from him by a ‘Brutal’ plantation owner in Mississippi.

The genre is indicated by how it is all about how ‘blacks’ were treated during the slavery days. Also, the guns that are used and the places that are shown within the movie are all that of the stereotypical western film, with saloons and huge mansions with farms being used to show the characters.

True Grit -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

CUiCu-zuAgM ‘True Grit’ is another modern western film just like ‘Django Unchained’. The

plot of the movie is nearly the same as the one ‘Django Unchained’, only with a few differences to freshen up their movie.

The narrative of the film is that the father of a young girl, Mattie Ross, gets murdered and wants to get revenge on him. She then hires a Deputy U.S Marshall to help her get this revenge, after being rebuffed by Rooster Cogburn due to him believing she doesn’t have the funds to hire him, she quickly starts raising money to afford the efforts of Cogburn. They then set out together to find Tom Chaney, the murderer of Mattie Ross’ father, along with Cogburn’s partner, Labeouf. Later on Mattie is taken away by Chaney after she encountered him and wounded him by shooting him. Cogburn then backs away after Chaney threatens to kill Mattie if he comes any closer. Then, when Chaney tries to knife Mattie Labeouf comes out knocking Chaney out.

Once again, the genre is identified by certain characteristics however, from what I got out of the trailer there is no sight of slavery of blacks, thus giving away the feel of an actual old western set film.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=WCN5JJY_wiA ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’ is an old western film from 1966, that shows

the fight between the U.S and the Confederate States.

The narrative of the movie is that there is a hidden cache of Confederate gold in a cemetery. The three main characters, Blondie (The good), Angel Eyes (The bad), and Tuco (The ugly) are all on the search for the hidden gold, with Tuco knowing the name of the cemetery and Blondie knowing the name of the grave it is buried at.

Later on in the film, the three decide to share the information they have on about the gold just on case one of them were to die and the others weren't able to help them. This then leads to Tuco riding horseback to the cemetery and start digging away at the grave of ‘Arch Stanton’. Whilst Tuco is digging Blondie comes up from behind and holds him at gunpoint to continue digging, then Angel Eyes shows up as well. After some time the three end up finding the treasure and decide to gain rights to the gold through a traditional stand off between the three.

This representation of the Western genre is very well made as the narrative includes the American Civil War and how gruesome it was along with bounty hunters, who at that time were very present.