*Genre Theory Research

*What is a Paradigm

*'A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model'

*For example 'society’s paradigm of the ‘ideal woman’. A paradigm usually give into stereo-types. Usually this makes the audience feel comfortable with the text.

*What is Iconography?

*'The visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation‘. For example, 'the conventional iconography of Christian art'. Iconography can be a way to represent a given subject.

*Examples of Iconography

* In the early-mid 1900’s, hundreds of Westerns were being made per year. But as time as gone on, it has become a dying genre. Westerns include the typical cowboy hats, horses, and gun fights.

*Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild have recently created a new hybrid western-comedy, ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’. Seth explained that a reason why he wanted to make this movie was because Westerns are portrayed and being overly romanticized, when actually it was a disgusting period in time to live in.

*As you can see from the bottom picture, a woman is holding the guns. So our expectations of a man being the violent one is subverted.

*Examples of Iconography

*James Bond has always been associated with slick suits, sexy women and violence. This is how secret agents are represented when in real life, secret agents are more… secret. Really, movies like James Bond are just a fantasy of what we as an audience want to expect from an action movie.

*We can expect guns, women, suits, background stories, a reflection on a bad attitude and, of course, explosions.

*What features would I expect?

*In a sci-fi movie, I would expect aliens or some form of what looks like an other-worldly creature, space, space ships, gadgets that we could only imagine existed, and possibly time travel. I would look forward to fire and explosions and sometime violence. Usually things go to plan in the end.

*In a romantic-comedy I would expect a typical (mostly blonde) helpless girl, who meets a guy and then get on great. But something gets in the way and they realised it could never be. Until the end when they make up and kiss. The jokes in these movies wouldn’t be dark humour as it would be aimed at a female audience.

*I love horror movies. You can anticipate lots of blood and gore, and often a plot twist. Sub genres of these could be psychological-horrors, slasher-horrors even fantasy-horrors. There will be tension, darkness, and no comedy. With movies like rom-coms, the endings are predictable, but sometimes the good guys in horrors aren’t successful.

*Unlike horrors, with slashers, there will be a definite murderer and several murders. However like horrors, blood and gore won’t go a miss.

*These movies usually have the same structure. In the beginning there will be a death, and from then on in we can expect a lot more. And the aim of the characters in this movie is to find and stop the killer ‘before it’s too late’.

*Blurbs

Teen Comedy

“Balls”

Alice (Dakota Fanning) can’t wait to start high school. It’s just a shame she’s shy, unattractive and unpopular . But everything changes when she falls into the arms heart throb, Dexter (Moises Arias) and he teaches her how to live. Can mean girl Jessica (Keke Palmer) steal him for her? Who will Dexter take to the summer ball? Can you be popular and a nerd?

Sci Fi

“The Midnight Ship”

From the director that brought you Battleship, Peter Berg brings you an explosive action-packed movie that will take you through time and space. Starring Emma Stone (The Amazing Spiderman), Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street), and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover trilogy), The Midnight Ship will take you on an adventure along the stars. But remember, the sun can blind you.

*Why is genre important to

audiences and media producers?

*For media producers, it is important to identify the genre of the film to include the paradigms. Like the set design, costume and even type casting; we would never expect Tom Cruise in a horror because of his style of acting.

*Genre can be important to audiences because of how appropriate the movie is to the audience. You would never rate a thriller as a ‘U’ for children to watch. Also, it’s good to understand what you like.

*Why might genre be a limiting

factor?

*Genres can be a limiting factor because of paradigms and iconography. Eventually we will all be able to suss out the ending or conclusion to a movie. This is why sub-genres help, so that we don’t limited the possibilities in film.

*We need paradigms because if the paradigms are change, the audience won’t recognise the genre.

*How do films like

‘Brokeback Mountain’

help to revive genre

paradigms?

*The genres of these films have adapted to society. Not many openly gay films would have been on display in the past, but now as we are coming to realise that gay is okay, we are more open about it and most younger audiences aren’t afraid to see it. Your ‘ideal cowboy’ isn’t looking for a woman anymore, but is still obsessed with sex, so the paradigms have only been slightly altered.