GENRE

1.
INTRODUCTION Whenever we see a media text for the first time it is like entering a new and unfamiliar world all the characters, locations and events are new to us. Everything about it would seem unfamiliar and therefore alarming if it werent for the fact that we could recognise the Genre and spot the conventions we feel at home in a strange world. Rather than just looking at what genre conventions are present, it is more interesting to think about what goes on in our head when we encounter a genre piece: the effect these genre conventions have on us as an audience and how much we are allowed to feel comfortable secure in the conventions of the genre. A text can use the conventions to make us feel at home, or confuse us by deviating from them. Genre offers audiences a structure; however rebellious we think we are we still like some level of organisation in the media texts that we enjoy. Genre offers us this we feel secure in our knowledge of the workings of the genre. In fact, there are a number of ways that we can enjoy genre as much as we like to be surprised, we also enjoy the anticipation for predictable features. Some people may complain, for example, that Neighbours or Home and Away is clichd and obvious, but one of the reasons that the series is so popular is precisely that regular viewers enjoy seeing their genre expectations fulfilled. Watching shows like this may not be as passive an experience as the newspapers suggest: the way that audiences wait for certain genre moments the way they predict elements before they appear requires thought and participation. There is pleasure in this order.

Were obsessed as a species with the idea of the story. We do it constantly: we tell stories about our past, our future, about the environment were in at the moment. Its about how brains organise the information they get into stories and try to make some sense of their existence. Thats what we do as human beings. Its built into us. Charlie Kaufman (Writer of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York, quoted in Sight & Sound magazine, June 2009, p. 28-29
While Kaufman is undoubtedly onto something in his insistence that stories are how we make sense of the world, it is important to also consider how we can also enjoy the unfamiliar, the rules being broken, so long as the media producer doesnt go too far. We will return to this aspect in greater detail in part 7/ Genre Subversion.

2.

HOW TEXTS ARE CATEGORISED

Genre refers to the labelling of texts through the identification of shared characteristics. Texts within certain genre categorisations will have certain things in common that will enable the audience to see similarities between texts. Grouping and categorising enables the audience to have a broad general idea as to what the content and style of a media text will be. Genres are categories or types of media text and are recognisable through the repeated use of generic codes (combinations of signs) and conventions (norms) which are in turn considered as coming from certain iconographies (specific visual or audio media language choices). The visual iconographies include aspects of a text which the audience recognises as the shared characteristics of a genre. For example the mise-en-scene of deep space usually indicates the genre of sci-fi. E.g. A desk on its own is not genre specific. Add key lighting, a modern mise-en-scene and a screen behind a male character dressed in a suit at the desk and the combination of these different signs (media language choices) create the codes (combinations of signs) and conventions (norms) to construct an image we associate with a news broadcast. ACTIVITY 1 List some common codes (combinations of signs) you may see in a comedy, a drama and a horror. Think about the visual iconographies of each genre that you have seen. For example, the sign of a knife does not necessarily suggest a Horror. If you add a chopping board, some tomatoes, a man in a big white hat and an oven you have a cooking programme What signs could you add to the knife to create a code of horror? COMEDY

DRAMA

HORROR

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HOW GENRE IS USED BY AUDIENCES

By using prior knowledge of the genre to anticipate whether they will enjoy a text Comparing its shared characteristics with another text To reject it due to its similarities with other texts To prepare the audience

Chandler states that genre frames the readers interpretation of a text. In other words, knowledge of a genre means we will have certain expectations of the text that we expect to be fulfilled. ACTIVITY 2 Genre isnt just about film. Choose one of the following television genres and try to complete a repertoire of elements chart for it. Reality TV shows/ Quiz shows/ Home makeover shows Narrative

Characters

Settings

Iconography

4.

HOW GENRE IS USED BY MEDIA PRODUCERS

Production Genres serve as paradigms (concepts/ models/ templates) that media producers can follow. For example, if a media producer wants to produce a new sitcom there are certain rules that should be adhered to. They can refer to successful examples of the genre and attempt to replicate what was popular and, of course, avoid the mistakes made by texts which have disappointed the audience. Attracting an Audience Some genres have loyal fan-bases. People will try out a new sitcom or reality show simply because it is new. This can help media producers minimise the potential for failure. Marketing Texts Good examples of this are film trailers which usually attempt to clearly define the genre of the film and then show as many of the codes and conventions in the trailer. This acts to attract fans of the genre and set up the expectations of the film. Similarly, genre can be sold through a star name e.g. when we see Hugh Grant in a film we are constantly reminded of all the films we have seen that star in

Other media producers do the same. As cable/ digital television has developed specialised channels e.g. Paramount have found that by broadcasting generic texts they are able to market solely through attracting interested audiences to very specific comedy programmes. On terrestrial television this occurs in the way channels use scheduling. There are specific times of the day when certain genres tend to be shown for example, 9pm and 10pm are the conventional (the normative) screening times for dramas on British Television. Given the vast amount of choice now available to the audience this makes the complicated job of finding a text easier for the audience and also helps the media producers market their product effectively. 5.

WHY GENRES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE Keeping the audience interested

Over repetition of the codes and conventions can mean that texts run the risk of becoming predictable. However, moving too far away from conventions could cause audience dissatisfaction as the text does not fulfil generic expectations. According to Steve Neale, Media producers have to balance repetition and difference. Too much repetition creates clich, too much difference and the audiences generic expectations are not met.

These two images show how much the iconographies of the Gangster genre have altered over time. Despite their differences there are many similarities between conventional gangster films and the modern equivalents: the genre focuses on groups of criminals, often romanticises the gangster lifestyle and the texts within this genre are violent and deal with conflict between the police and the criminals. They also focus on conflicts within the gangster community such as rivalry between opposing gangs or internal power struggles. These themes remain the same whether the text is Scarface, Reservoir Dogs or The Sopranos. Over time, the iconographies have changed so the genre has not become stale and uninteresting for the audience. However, the basic conventions of the genre remain. New gangster films share codes (combinations of signs) with the traditional ones but create more modern approaches to the subject matter to stay up to date with modern audiences interests and changes in culture.

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SUB GENRES

All of this seems to imply that it is easy to identify a genre and all texts fit within one or another simple category. This is not the case. Genres can also include sub-genres. Horror for example is a very broad term but in film it can include: Vampire movies (Blade, 1998, Norrington) Psychological horrors (Saw, 2004, Wan) Gothic horrors (Bram Stokers Dracula, 1992, Coppola) Ghost stories (The Grudge, 2004, Shimuzu) Teen slasher (Scream, 1996, Craven) Haunted house movies (The Amityville Horror, 2005, Douglas)

For each one of these sub genres has a whole host of codes and conventions of their own. Iconographies like crosses, holy water, graveyards and gothic mansions are part of the vampire sub genre (and are within horror codes) but are not necessarily included in the teen slasher film. Add to this the fact that there are also hybrid (mixture, fusion, combination) genres. These are texts which deliberately mix the codes and conventions of more than one genre. For example Buffy the Vampire Slayer successfully blended codes of gothic horror, comedy, romance and soap opera and so provided many different viewing pleasures for its audience.

7.

GENRE SUBVERSION

For example, during Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction (1994) members of the audience can feel at home because we have seen many gangster films in the past, but we also enjoy the script which makes the characters talk like no gangsters weve ever seen, the situations are stock ones (e.g. drugs bust/ heist/ shoot-out), but the dialogue is from a very different kind of film. All of this works because we have become a sophisticated audience that can cope with seeing genre conventions played around with, or even mixed with those of another genre. This puts us ahead of the audiences past: we have seen more media than anyone else in history of the media, and expect that producers surprise us. Consider how in Scream (1996) we are introduced to Drew Barrymores character. She is represented as our protagonist, we find out information about her background, we are asked to empathise with her, the assumption being that she will be our guide throughout the story. As she cooks the popcorn in a foil bag and a threatening caller talks to her the genre expectations are slowly and surely turned on their head as, shockingly, her throat is slit by the caller and she is left for dead in the films opening sequence. Therefore, while the iconography of a genre brings us a sense of security and comfort, the subversion of expectations can also bring audience enjoyment. For example, on first sight Indiana Jones: Raider of the Lost Ark (1982) can be seen as a perfectly straight forward genre movie. In many ways it is a recreation of the old adventure epics of the 1930s, but Steven Spielberg still plays with the genre conventions. At the end of a long escape from the villains Indy finds himself at the end of a street with his exit blocked off by a swordsman. The swordsman elaborately flourishes his sword and begins to move in for the kill. Indy takes out his gun and shoots him. If the audience didnt know the genre and had no expectations of what was

meant to happen, this would just be disappointing we want to see a fight and instead it is all solved too quickly. However, because we know the genre and what is meant to happen, we enjoy the fact that he doesnt do what is predictable the scene becomes funny rather than annoying. This play with genre in the media has been called post-modernism and you can talk about texts that do this as being post-modern. It is helpful to think of post-modern texts as films that mix genres together: hybridisation. Some people would see this as a cynical (distrustful) attempt to maximise their potential earnings by getting audiences who are interested in different genres to see films. On the other hand it could be argued that the post-modern audience has grown to expect this hybridisation. Another criticism of hybridisation has been that rather than producing new and radical re-inventions of genre, it can quickly lead to stagnation, as every media producer gets on the same bandwagon. Post-modern media texts do not just show awareness of the genres of the past; they also knowingly adopt (pastiche) or make fun (parody) of their conventions. A large part of modern media output could be seen as being post-modern e.g. the knowing Shrek films with their references to fairy tales, celebrity culture and other movies demonstrate this self-reflexivity common through post-modern texts. When a media text makes reference to other texts which the audience are expected to recognise it is called Intertextuality. Some people have said that this wish of modern media to constantly make fun of previous genres makes modern media texts often meaningless while ideology is very easy to spot in most films, a more post-modern film like Team America: World Police (2004) makes fun of everything and everyone indiscriminately some would say it does not appear to have an actual message (although this is very debateable). At the same time, because of this apparent lack of meaning in recent Hollywood product, some film-makers who feel they have something to say will do the opposite and stick to their genre rigidly to make their ideology all the clearer. ACTIVITY 3 Give three examples of media texts which you think could be described as post-modern, and explain why 1