MIGRAIN: Genre

 

Read Media Factsheet 03 - Genre: Categorising texts and answer the following questions:

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

Newspaper genres and TV/Film westerns.

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?

In soap operas, domestic problems are typically the focus of a family. For example, a character may be having problems with their boss at work, who is sometimes portrayed as a monster and abusive. A sitcom tells its tale in episodic form, but a soap opera could take longer to conclude. In a sitcom, the boss would be more foolish than malicious. 

3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?

In catastrophe films, the heroic figure is typically positioned inside a group of people, whereas in action films the hero is isolated from others. Frequently, each member possesses unique abilities that contribute to the problem-solving process when a team works together. Action movie characters, such as James Bond, are usually portrayed as "Lone Wolves" who take on villains on their own, even while they are a part of a group. However, in disaster movies, the character takes on a heroic position within the group, and oftentimes the group have special skills that they work together to use to solve the problem. 

4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell? 

- Period or Country, e.g. US films of the 1930s

- Director / Star, e.g. Ben Stiller Films

- Technical Process, e.g. Animation

- Style, e.g. German Expressionism;

- Series, e.g. Bond;

- Audience, e.g. Family Films

5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.

Prior knowledge: They predict whether or not they will love a piece based on their past familiarity with the genre.

Compare – They are able to compare texts by looking at the similarities between them.

Reject a text: There are genres that we actively detest, and as a result, we won't read writings that we think to have those qualities. 

6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.

- Using the genre as a paradigm or template to follow when creating a new text

- Attracting an audience

- Marketing texts

7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?

Horror is used as an example. Each of these sub-genres have different conventions however still fit into the same genre as they are not that different from one another.

-vampire movies (Blade)

-psychological horrors (Saw) 

-gothic horrors (Bram Stoker’s Dracula )

-ghost stories (The Grudge )

-the teen slasher (Scream)

-haunted-house movies (The Amityville Horror)

Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.

Avengers Assemble (2013)

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) 

Chronicle (2012) 

Super (2010) 

Spider-Man (2002)

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?
Regarding World War II and the US war against the "Germans" in Europe, Superman was shown as fighting the bad guys in Europe in the 1940s. Later on, however, Superman went up against wealthy businessman Lex Luther, whose hardships echoed those of the 1930s Great Depression, when everyone was having a hard time and Superman was fighting unfair wealth and standing up for the common man. Superman's reputation as a national hero was further solidified when industrial issues further fuelled friction between the wealthy and their workers into the 1970s.
3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?

Innovation: Started with 1940s superhero cartoons and comic comics.

Classic: By the 1950s, superhero clichés were being parodied in historical motion pictures and television shows.

Parody: The 1966 film Batman was meant to be campy and humorous, not allowing the viewer to take the superhero too seriously. Following Batman, the genre's classical and humorous iterations could be seen in children's animation. These included Spider-Man, whose animated adventures aired on television in the late 1960s, as well as less-than-serious iterations in Mighty Mouse (produced in the 1940s), Atom Ant (produced in the late 1960s), and Captain Caveman (produced in the late 1970s).

Deconstruction: The 1978 film Superman inaugurated a new era in the superhero genre, with special effects using technology to provide more lifelike visuals.

Task 2: Genre analysis case study


General - American Pie
1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?

Because it is known as a comedy gold film. 
2) In what context did you encounter it?

Me and my friend were wanting to watch something funny.
3) What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text?

I was hoping for a good laughter.
4) To what genre did you initially assign the text?

Comedy.
5) What is your experience of this genre?

Negative as modern comedy is mostly action comedy's which have become over saturated.
6) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?

American Highschool, sex, group of close friends.
7) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?

Its a typical 2000's American high school film.
8) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?

Typical, predictable and boring.
9) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where)?

Not sure
10) What generic labels have others given the same text?

American Highschool film
11) Which conventions of the genre do you recognize in the text?

Not sure
12) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?

Not sure
13) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?

Not sure
14) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s))?

Not sure
15) What familiar motifs or images are used?

Not sure

Mode of address
1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?

It was aimed for a young adult/teenagers. Very typical.
2) How does the text address you?

use humor and relatable situations to engage and entertain their audience.
3) What sort of person does it assume you are?

Somebody that is craving for fun and entertainment.
4) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?

This film is more for the middle/lower class, young people, both genders and any ethnicity(a bit of leaning to the white side)

5) What interests does it assume you have?

Fun and entertainment 

Relationship to other texts

1) What intertextual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)? Intertextuality is when a media product references another media text of some kind.

Music: The "American Pie" films feature a range of popular music from the late 1990s and early 2000s, which serves as an intertextual reference to the music of the era.

2) In terms of genre, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?

Superbad(2007)is like the American Pie as Superbad follows the humorous misadventures of a group of high school friends as they try to navigate the challenges and awkwardness of adolescence.

3) What key features are shared by these texts?

Group of friends and a high school environment.

4) What major differences do you notice between them?

American Pie follows a group of friends as they make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation, leading to various sexual misadventures.

Superbad centres around two inseparable high school friends who are on a mission to buy alcohol for a party and impress their crushes.