Essay on Film Genre
A true film genre relies on shared iconography, formalistic themes and similar narrative structures and content.
‘What genre does is recognize that the audience any one film within a context of other films, both those they have personally seen and those they have heard about or seen represented in other media outlets. …In general, the function of genre is to make films comprehensible and more or less familiar. (turner 97)’.
Action/adventure, the Western, Gangster/Crime, Detective/Film Noir, Comedy, Science fiction/Fantasy, Horror/Monster, Suspense Thriller/Spy/Heist and many others groups are usually used for marketing in stores where films are being sold. The majority of viewers, film critics, and film producers talk about films in relation to the categories. These categories are generally called genres. ‘The word “genre” is originally French, and it simply means “kind” or “type”. It’s related to another word, “genus”, which is used in the biological sciences to classify groups of plant and animals.’ A true film genre is a product of interaction between audience and the text. Therefore, all producers and audiences must have a quite good understanding and what is more important shared knowledge of genre’s characteristics.’ For instance,’ westerns, at least the traditional ones, tend to share the same basic conflict and usually the same type of setting. All detective films share the same basic story: the uncovering of causes. Musicals share nothing more than frequent prominent interludes of music and perhaps dancing during a story.’ This shared knowledge, however, is not set in stone. Different people will have divergent understandings of genre.’ According to this statement, audiences expand general ideas about any kind of genre based on going to the cinema, media coverage or advertisements and marketing. As a result of consequence, viewers have their own anticipations about a particular genre and define films according to their expectations. ‘Genres are based on
‘What genre does is recognize that the audience any one film within a context of other films, both those they have personally seen and those they have heard about or seen represented in other media outlets. …In general, the function of genre is to make films comprehensible and more or less familiar. (turner 97)’.
Action/adventure, the Western, Gangster/Crime, Detective/Film Noir, Comedy, Science fiction/Fantasy, Horror/Monster, Suspense Thriller/Spy/Heist and many others groups are usually used for marketing in stores where films are being sold. The majority of viewers, film critics, and film producers talk about films in relation to the categories. These categories are generally called genres. ‘The word “genre” is originally French, and it simply means “kind” or “type”. It’s related to another word, “genus”, which is used in the biological sciences to classify groups of plant and animals.’ A true film genre is a product of interaction between audience and the text. Therefore, all producers and audiences must have a quite good understanding and what is more important shared knowledge of genre’s characteristics.’ For instance,’ westerns, at least the traditional ones, tend to share the same basic conflict and usually the same type of setting. All detective films share the same basic story: the uncovering of causes. Musicals share nothing more than frequent prominent interludes of music and perhaps dancing during a story.’ This shared knowledge, however, is not set in stone. Different people will have divergent understandings of genre.’ According to this statement, audiences expand general ideas about any kind of genre based on going to the cinema, media coverage or advertisements and marketing. As a result of consequence, viewers have their own anticipations about a particular genre and define films according to their expectations. ‘Genres are based on
Bibliography: Pramaggiore, Maria, and Wallis, Tom. Film: A Critical Introduction. Laurence King Publishing, 2005. Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin, Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Nelmes, Jill, An Introduction to Film Studies. Routledge, 2003. Rayner, Philip, Wall, Peter, and Kruger, Stephen. “AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction”. Routledge, 2001. [ 3 ]. Bordwell, D., Thompson, K. (2010), Film Art An Introduction, p.328 [ 4 ] [ 5 ]. Lacey, N. (2005), Introduction To Film, p.46 [ 6 ] [ 7 ]. Rayner, P, Wall, P., Kruger, S. (2001), AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, p. 292 [ 8 ] [ 9 ]. Rayner, P, Wall, P., Kruger, S. (2001), AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, p.296 [ 10 ] [ 11 ]. Lacey, N. (2005), Introduction To Film, p.48 [ 12 ] [ 13 ]. Wallis, T., Pramaggiore, M., (2005), Film: A Critical Introduction, p.33 [ 14 ] [ 15 ]. Wallis, T., Pramaggiore, M., (2005), Film: A Critical Introduction, p.357 [ 16 ]