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Genre Theory

Genre is a French word meaning ‘type’ and film genres have existed since the

early days of cinema. However, while the use of genre has a long history in film, it

has a far longer general history which dates back to Ancient Greece, at which time

Aristotle categorised theatre plays by type. Nowadays most cultural production, be

it television, magazines, music, painting or literature, ends up being assigned to

one genre or another. In all cases what makes a genre possible is the existence of

common elements or conventions across a range of productions. In other words, it

is the identification of repetition across a series of productions that results in them

being described as a particular type.

Genre Theorists:

Daniel Chandler: '...Genres...constitute conventions of themes settings, structure

and style that are shared by texts...'

Steve Neale: ‘…genres are instances of repetition and difference…’

ACTIVITY 1:

Genre examples and films.

Horror – The Conjuring

Romance – The Notebook

Action – Jason Bourne

Thriller – Shutter Island

Comedy – Happy Gilmore

Fantasy – Avatar

Sci fi – Star Wars

Crime – Wolf of Wall Street

Musical – Straight out of Compton

War – Saving private Ryan

Drama – The Martian

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ACTIVITY 2: Film posters and conventions gathered.

This film poster looks like a genre of horror / thriller due to

the title being in a haunted font. It also features a main female

character which indicates the typical story lines that horror

movies tend to have “the final girl”. The things involved with

the missense looks very dark and gives the sign of danger

ahead.

This film looks like a romantic genre however looks to be a drama due

to the female having a tube up her nose which indicates that she could

have some type of illness. Looks like a film for young teenagers

specially females to watch as the font of the title looks very feminist

and the way the characters are positioned indicates it’s a film that

would be cried at.

This film looks to be in the genre of western due to the

characters seem to be wearing cowboy hats. however, looks

too have an action side due to the male characters holding guns,

and the missense looks blood had splashed indication murder /

death witch applies to almost every action film. Also the font is

extremely bold and in the colour red which could mean the film

has a number of storylines about love, lust and death.

The film poster of good fellas shows that the film is in a crime genre due to

the whole poster being in black and white indicates the film is about old

fashioned gangsters as the male characters are dressed in suits looking very

presentable and smart and there all in a position that there not revealing

what’s in their circle there stood very hidden and confided that could show

that they are up to something that is illegal.

The poster itself gives me an idea that the genre is, action

this is due to the bold font of the title which seems too

look like crates of ammunition, also the characters

appearing are holding weapons and standing in front of an

explosion. The whole scene looks very brutal and

masculine.

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Genre Characteristics

If we take several films from a particular genre we would expect to see similarities in a

number of different areas. We can call these genre conventions. Nick Lacy called

these a ‘repertoire of elements’. These are built upon audience expectations about:

Visual imagery/iconography

Style (technical/audio codes)

Character/ Stars

Setting

Narrative development

The Main Genres of film are:

Action/adventure

Crime

comedy

drama

thriller

musical

science

horror

war

western

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ACTIVITY 3:

Visual imagery/iconography

Style (technical/audio codes)

Character/ Stars

Setting

Narrative development

Gangster movie

Violence and murder are often seen as typical gangster genre conventions, this has been

a convention of the gangster genre as violence and murder represent a lot of power and

authority and that role is well established by a gangster in a gangster film. Furthermore,

another gangster genre would be wealth also showing power and authority making the

antagonist seem like a stronger figure within the film, it presents them with a lifestyle of

luxury’s such as expensive cars, designers clothes and mansions. Gangsters often wear

suits / smart gear due to their care of representation with a cigar hanging out their mouth

and are set in a big city such as New York as you always typically tend to see a skyline

somewhere in the film. Also women tend to be represented negatively in gangster films

due to it being a very male orientated film showing women as powerless and dependent.

Horror movie

Horror movies always tend to be set in places that are desolate, isolated and are urban

environments such a narrow alleyway, small villages and asylums. Camera work done

throughout the film is very expressive and not natural because high and low angles can

connote fear. Diegetic sounds are always present like footsteps and non-diegetic sounds

such as heartbeats and scary horror music that always tends to be heard when something

bad is about to happen. The visual styles often are always dark an lighting always tends to

be low. The storyline is always typical into the killer being insane due to a bad memories

or some psychotic issues that preys on groups of teens. However, the teenagers always

seem to be quite immoral and deluded when in bad situations and most likely there is

always a survivor (hero) that’s likely to be a female character.

Musicals

Musicals are distinct genres as they all tend to be telling a story through music and

singing, the songs always convey the emotions of the characters and most likely is a love

story. They always tend to be set in a fantasy world where nothing bad or negative

happens the overall film is very happy and positive because when they begin to sing a

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song a group of back up dancers that have beautiful voices begin to sing out of

nowhere. The narrative always tends to be happy, where good rules over evil. When the

characters are feeling down they feel better after singing or dancing to a song. Male and

female characters are both protagonists, hero’s that benefit the story.

Science fiction

sci fi films always tend to be set in a time, such as the future or past that contradicts

historical records and is set in a place such as a parallel universe or space. Narrative

content always involves technology like robots, scientific principles and conflict between

good and evil.

Activity 4:

What is Genre Theory? - Genre Theory Daniel Chandler: Conventional definitions

of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular

conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including

structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as

belonging to them.

How do we analyse film?

There is a number of different ways that film can be analysed, film is analysed through

the types of themes, setting, style and structure that the specific film has. Daniel

Chandlers idea of genre theory is: Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on

the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or

settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shared by the texts which

are regarded as belonging to them. However, Steve Neal seems to have a different view of

the idea of genre theory. His idea that genre is identified through repetition and

difference, “there would be no pleasure without difference. We may derive pleasure from

observing how the conventions of the genre are manipulated”. Lacey’s repertoire of

elements is a way that film can be analysed. By identifying key elements of a film such as

setting, character, style, iconography and narrative.

Leon and James Bond.

The film Leon is very unique and different from the usual crime/drama films. It has all

your key elements that a crime movie would have for example the big city opening

(Brooklyn, New York), the characters are male orientated, contains violence and the

overall narrative is action based just like the typical bond movies. However, Leon is much

different for example the main character “Leon” who’s job is hit man drinks milk and is

very protective over his plant so much so we see him risk his life in an explosion to save it.

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The whole features of the film make it stand out as in a James bond movie we would see a

smartly dressed man, driving posh expensive cars and perhaps drink an occasional whisky.

What makes the film Leon different is that we see Leon dressed quite unappealing

(scruffy), lives in a poor class flat and constantly drinking milk. In comparison with the

Bond films, both movies have a female character in which that are their too support the

men, James bond usual featured women character is mostly a middle age, high class and

sexy women that always seems to be dressed in long designer gowns. Moreover, Leon’s

female character is a 12-year-old girl “Matidha” who her and Leon are in love, this makes

the audience feel uncomfortable as we see this girl as a child and it is weird that a young

girl has fallen in love with an adult and even more strange that the grown man is in love

with a child.

Movie: Genre: Director: Year of Production:

Mean girls American teen comedy Mark Waters 2004

Character

Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron (hero) Rachel McAdams as Regina George (villain) Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian Jonathan Bennett as Aaron Samuels

Narrative

Mean girls follows the most obviously form of a classic story structure. At the beginning of the film ‘Cady Heron’ is a new student who is looking to fit in at her new school and ultimately make friends. As she befriends people she ends up in a tangled web of schemes that ultimately lead her to her downfall, she is then brought up again and treated almost like a ‘hero’ at the end after being ‘honest’ and ‘good’.

Setting (mise en scene)

Girly clothes, neat settings (show homes) upper class lifestyle cars, large houses, designer clothing.

Iconography

A typical teenage comedy and chick flicks many iconic themes are used. They are always set in High School location, usually American teen films are set in a rich part of America like Los Angeles or Beverly Hills, because they are a very superficial location, which mirrors the idea of superficial teenagers. The time period for this genre is very modern day and contemporary in a money orientated society.

Style: Camera/editing/sound/SFX

Diegetic sounds such as Phones ringing, music. Non diegetic sounds such as voices in head speaking out loud. Mean Girls uses continuity editing throughout, with techniques such as

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shot-reverse shot, 180-degree rule, match on action, and the eye line match. Split scene

Mean Girls

In this essay I will be talking about the style and genre of the 2004 American teen comedy film

“Mean girls” directed by Mark Waters, produced by Lorne Michaels and written by Tina Fey. The

film is based in part on Rosalind Wiseman's non-fiction self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes,

which describes female high school social cliques and the damaging effects they can have on girls.

Mean girl’s stars Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, Rachel McAdams as Regina George, Lacy Chabert

as Gretchen Wieners, Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith, Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian and Jonathan

Bennett as Aaron Samuels. The film mean girls are in a Genre of “Teen Comedy” which has the

conventions of The main character usually begins as an outsider/socially awkward, the setting is

usually in a high school or in the home, the soundtrack usually follows music which teenagers

would listen to such as rock/pop and A teen comedy usually has the underlying theme of 'growing

up'. Lindsay Lohan's character is the new student and so she starts as an outsider looking for

friends. In addition to this she has what is seen as unusual tastes, such as music and clothing,

because she lived in Africa for a long time. The main setting is a high school, and it is otherwise

set at home or in a mall. These settings are familiar to audiences, which makes the story and the

character easier to identify with.

Mean girls, follows the most obviously form of a classic story structure, Linear narrative. At the

beginning of the film ‘Cady Heron’ is a new student who is looking to fit in at her new school and

ultimately make friends. As she befriends people she ends up in a tangled web of schemes that

ultimately lead her to her downfall, she is then brought up again and treated almost like a ‘hero’

at the end after being ‘honest’ and ‘good’. The narrative of ‘Mean Girls’ itself clearly reflects the

films institution, the simple and clear plot/characters make it easy for audiences to watch and it

ultimately requires little to no thinking on the audiences part.

Within the mise en scene, all four characters are seen wearing stereotypically girly clothing,

focusing on pastel colour such as blues, pinks and purples. The clothing is seen featuring lace and

jewelled studding when infused with these colours, indicating that these characters represent an

extremely girly and feminine group of girls. The locations are all seen to be extremely neat, giving

the effect of a 'show home' furthering the idea that these girls are almost 'unnatural', the 'show

home' idea infused with the clothing seen on the characters raises this idea of 'perfection'. Each

character is seen possessing a large amount of unnecessary belongings which, in addition to the

lavish rooms seen, indicate an upper class lifestyle.

The editing used throughout Mean Girls, is techniques such as shot-reverse shot, 180 degree rule,

match on action, and the eye line match. The effect of continuity editing is to keep the story in a

coherent time and space. This makes it easy for the audience to follow the plot and the

characters. This is conventional for the genre of teen-comedy and the institution of a major

Hollywood studio such as Paramount. One scene uses a split screen; the use of split-screen is

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prominent. It allows audiences to clearly witness each characters reaction to each other, in

addition to this it provides a more personal and up close nature to the scene, making audiences

feel as though they are looking into a personal conversation. The film involves both diegetic and

non-diegetic sounds such as a scene which involves a non-diegetic is where we as a audience can

hear the voice the is in Cady herons mind, music the intros into different scenes and diegetic

sounds appear throughout the film such as music at a party, mobile phones and things like a

school bell.

Iconography- A typical teenage comedy and chick flicks many iconic theme are used. They are

always set in High School location, usually American teen films are set in a rich part of America like

Los Angeles or Beverly Hills, because they are a very superficial location, which mirrors the idea of

superficial teenagers. The time period for this genre is very modern day and contemporary in a

money orientated society.

An auteur utilises the following techniques:

be the main creator of the work

demonstrate technical excellence

put artistic merit before commercial success

make films with a very individual style

make all other films have similar themes.

Movie:

Genre: Director: Year of Production:

Napoleon Dynamite

American comedy film Jared Hess 2004

Character

Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite Efren Ramirez as Pedro Sánchez Tina Majorino as Deb Bradshaw Aaron Ruell as Kip Dynamite Jon Gries as Rico Dynamite

Narrative

Napoleon Dynamite is a socially awkward 16-year-old boy from Preston, Idaho, who lives with his older brother, Kipling Ronald "Kip" Dynamite, and their grandmother. Kip, 32, is unemployed and boasts of spending hours in Internet chat rooms with "babes" and aspiring to be a cage fighter; their grandmother leads a secret life involving mysterious boyfriends and quad-biking in the desert. Napoleon daydreams his way

through school, doodling ligers and fantasy creatures, and reluctantly deals with the various bullies who torment him, particularly the obnoxious sports jock, Don. Napoleon likes to make up stories about himself whilst having a sullen and aloof attitude.

Setting (mise en scene)

Carpet, 80s, out of date, nerdy, old fashioned, lighting is bright.

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Iconography

Nerds, unpopular.

Style: Camera/editing/sound/SFX

Long shots, slow camera movements.

Jared Hess is considered to be a auteur director due to the different and recognizable techniques

he uses throughout his films. First Jared’s films are all created and filmed on a low budget and

outside the Hollywood studio. This limits his resources to create the film however Hess says

himself “being on a low budget allows you to be more creative and fun”. Also one thing that can

be identified in his films is his use of animated drawings that convey the character’s life that

appears in his films. The genre he uses in most of his films are aimed at youths, teens and young

adults and mainly contain things that teen-age age range can relate to. Hess also can be

considering a auteur due to his use of camera work for example his use of locked of camera work

(used to distance the audience from the characters).

The film “Napoleon dynamite” is much different from “mean girls”, however they are both the

same genres “American teen comedy”.

Napoleon Dynamite is a socially awkward 16-year-old boy from Preston, Idaho, who lives with his

older brother, Kipling Ronald "Kip" Dynamite, and their grandmother. Kip, 32, is unemployed and

boasts of spending hours in Internet chat rooms with "babes" and aspiring to be a cage fighter;

their grandmother leads a secret life involving mysterious boyfriends and quad-biking in the

desert. Napoleon daydreams his way through school, doodling ligers and fantasy creatures, and

reluctantly deals with the various bullies who torment him, particularly the obnoxious sports jock,

Don. Napoleon likes to make up stories about himself whilst having a sullen and aloof attitude.

The film is different fro

His film Napoleon Dynamite relates to the conventions Hess uses in many of his f ilms. Napoleon is

more than just a nerd but a genuine dork. He is angry at the world, incapable of basic social skills

and a mouth breather that makes moments even more uncomfortable. He is not a likeable

character but he does not like others either. The audience does sympathies for him as he is

portrayed as a victim through the constant bullying. He is shunned by everyone including his

grandmother. Pedro is Latin and barely intelligible, oddly dressed and parents are absent.

Auteur theory

A person considered to be a “auteur” is a filmmaker/director who’s has their

individual style and complete control over all elements of the production of a

film, they usually give a film its personal and unique stamp which can then be

identified by audiences so they can recognize the film creator.

Examples of Auteur directors.

The principal creator of a film (e.g. Tarantino)

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A filmmaker who demonstrates a particular style (e.g. Tim Burton)

A filmmaker who demonstrates innovation (e.g. James Cameron) A filmmaker who values artistic merit over commercial success (e.g. Luc

Besson)

A filmmaker who makes films with similar themes (e.g. Martin Scorsese)

Tim Burton –

Films made by Tim Burton are easily identifiable. They incorporate his beliefs

and values. They feature actors and

crew members that are frequently a

part of his team for example “Johnny

Depp”. Furthermore, the stories are

told from his perceptive, both in

terms of themes and the style (mise-

en-shot).

Tim Burton spent the majority of his childhood as an outsider. He grew up in

suburbia (Burbank, California) and because he wasn’t like everyone else, he

was often misunderstood. His childhood experiences living in the suburbs left

him with the belief that society tries to stifle anything that makes people

individual. His views against society started early on. His experiences as a

child helped give him a distinct point of view that now shapes his films in

adult life. It’s these beliefs that give his work their own distinct style.

Tim Burton’s work has an element of adventure and wonder. His characters

are usually kind hearted and childlike, for example his character “Victor”

in his film Frankenweenie or “Edward” in Edward Scissorhands. He also

explores dark themes, such as death in Beetlejuice and Frankenweenie. He

appreciates the fact that everyone has two sides to his or her personality and

so, all of his films explore this contrasting balance of innocence/darkness and

good/bad. Following with the genre Tim Burton’s chosen heroines in his films

are usually different from other people in some way. They are

misunderstood by those around them and as a result, they are isolated from

others. For example, Edward Scissorhands. When forced out of his house and

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into the centre of town, people look at him strange almost in fright because

he is different from everyone else. People assume he is mean and dangerous

because of his hands, when he actually the complete opposite.

Tim burton also has a unique set (mise en scene) that

appears throughout his films, in a scene from Edward

Scissorhands the town Surbia is shown as a mass of houses

varying in colours yet they are all the same style. Everything

is so stripped of individuality yet people are convinced that

they are unique. This is created to further the audiences

understanding of the narrative. He also included multiple

symbols in his films they are images that mean something to

him, most common symbols used are Bats, Dogs, Skeletons, black and white

stripes and a model town. For example, the nightmare before Christmas

features skeletons and skulls this helps make up burtons signature.

James Cameron –

James Cameron has a very distinctive

style of directing. All of his films are

controversial and no doubt packed with

dramatic music and effective camera

angles to portray an important idea for

each film.

He doesn’t stick to the same genre; although no matter what genre his film is

there is always a strong aspect of love and it isn’t always romance for

example in titanic “Jack and Rose” and in Avatar “Aang and Katara”. There

are however some similarities within the films he has directed.

Firstly, James Cameron has a large budget when it comes to making his films.

Identifying the budget; Aliens was around $18,500,000; Titanic at

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$200,000,000, and a more recent film being Avatar at $237,000,000. Two top

box office films were also both made by James Cameron. It could be argued

that James Cameron is an auteur when it comes to money in terms of the

budget and the profits.

Secondly, there is always an aspect of strong love within his films. In both

The Terminator, and Aliens the human forms a relationship with the non-

human species although that same species within each film is shown to be

bad. In Terminator the viewer

witnesses a strong love between

the robot and the boy almost like a

father and son relationship

although the enemy is also a robot.

In Aliens, although it is a horror and

the aliens are the enemy there is a

scene where Ripley has no choice

but to kill the alien to survive but it

is quite emotional as there is a bond between this alien and herself. In both

of the above films the non-human species is shown to be good and bad. It

changes with Avatar. A human and a Na’vi fall in love, and instead of one of

the non-human species being the enemy, the human is. Which takes the film

from another perspective but it still shows a strong love within this film.

Although not as obvious as another director such as for example Tim Burton,

James Cameron can be viewed as an Auteur Director.

Jared Hess – Napoleon Dynamite.

Jared Hess can be considered to be an Auteur Director due to his unique

representation of an American teen comedy film “Napoleon Dynamite”.

Hess is from Arizona is the US, he is a writer, director and an actor. He is best

known for his classic film Napoleon Dynamite. His films are all independent

films because they are filmed and funded outside the Hollywood Studio

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System and do not confirm a profit

motif. They are low budget movies

and can also be considered as art

films rather than genre based

narratives as the ones at the

cinema.

The teen genre he chooses in

multiple of his films are targeted at teens and young adults. The narrative is

usually focused on teenagers and relatable teenage themes. These include

'coming of age', first love, rebellion, conflicts with parents and alienation. For

obvious reasons teen films are also often set in high schools. Whilst another

one of his films “Nacho Libre” does not conform to the teen genre

conventions it still has a strong appeal to a teen audience due to some of the

characters being quite young and the nature of the humour in the film. Hess

says when you’re working on a film with a lower budget, it allows you to be a

little more creative when developing the overall result.

The quirky opening sequence is another Hess signature, features obscure

paraphernalia and strong references to geek culture. His films also included

animated drawings that convey the characters. The things that feature in the

mise en scenes are geek culture references.

Also Hess is identified as an Auteur due to his different camera work, his

camera work is often locked

off as a technique to

distance the audience from

the dethatched characters

and to enhance the

awkwardness of the

narrative. The shot

durations are longer than

audiences expect which

exaggerates uncomfortable

moments in the film and allows audiences to take all aspects into the frame.

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Genre and auteur theory can lead to a wider appreciation of film because it

notifies the audience exactly what type of film they are watching, it will help

a certain genre gain more customers and it helps the audience understand

the storyline of the film and appreciate it more. Auteur theory portrays the

writers vision, this will help them gain a lot more credit for the film, not just

the film and characters alone It helps us gain a symbolic insight into films and

this can help us understand deeper meaning and underlying tones which

most people don’t pick up by watching just one film/piece of work from a

certain auteur.