Genre

Genre

► Debbie Stone: We were up at "the

top of the world" and we saw this

shooting star and we decided to go

look for it. But instead of finding the

shooting star we saw this... this

circus tent. And that's when we

went inside, and that is when we

saw those people in those... those

pink, cotton candy cocoons. Dave, it

was not a circus tent. It was

something else.

Dave Hanson: What? What?

Mike Tobacco: It was a space

ship. And there was these things,

these killer clowns, and they shot

popcorn at us! We barely got away!

Curtis Mooney: Killer clowns, from

outer space. Holy shit!

► (1988)

Introduction to Film Genre

► Film genre is a concept

that involves a process of

categorisation and

labelling of easily

recognisable conventions

that exist in any particular

set of films

► It is used by both film

producing/distributing

institutions and audiences

Institutional use of genre

► Film producers use genre

as a means of minimising

the economic risk in

making films

► Film distributors/exhibitors

use genre as a means of

advertising and promoting

films

► Both depend upon

audiences‟ foreknowledge

and past experience

Audience use of genre

► Audiences use genre to

give them predictable

pleasures when

consuming/watching a film

► Audiences have certain

expectations of genre films

► Audiences expect genre

films to involve innovation,

inflection/subversion of the

generic conventions

Generic conventions

► A film genre is defined by its conventions

► These conventions must be present to make a

film a genre film but should involve some

aspect of innovation, subversion and/or

inflection (otherwise it becomes a formula

film)

► Generic conventions will vary from genre to

genre but will usually involve such areas of

repetition as:

 Mise-en-scene

 Setting

 Visual style

 Themes

 Ideology

 Stars

 Character-types (including stereotypes)

 Narratives (including events and resolutions)

 Iconography

 Cinematography

 Special effects

 Sound/music

 Function

against genres

► captive audience

► against innovation + originality

(romanticism)

► triviality of the interpreting activity, “low-

art”, genre works=popular=bad

► marketing oriented

in favour of genres



► a work has meaning in relationship to other works (Barthes)

► it brings in cultural context & historical perspective

► It helps us distinguish between works to avoid banal

generalizations, i.e. “all games are violent”

► Genres are not simply features of texts, but are mediating

frameworks between texts, makers and interpreters. Fowler argues

that 'genre makes possible the communication of content„. Genre

constrains the possible ways in which a text is interpreted, guiding

readers of a text towards a preferred reading.

► Pleasures of identifying genre features (uses & gratification model)

Science-fiction

► There are many sub-

genres of SF films

depending upon the

mixture of conventions

► The basic premise of SF

films is:

 The what if…. scenario

 It must involve some

extrapolation of a scientific

or technological

development

SF sub-genres

► Alien invasion ► Independence Day, Invasion of

► Disaster the Body Snatchers

► Adventure ► Earthquake, Deep Impact

► Hard SF ► Star Wars, Star Trek

► Fantasy ► 2001: A Space Odyssey

► Time-travel ► Conan the Barbarian

► Space travel ► Terminator

► Exploration

► Hybrid (film noir, horror, ► Blade Runner, Alien, Westworld

western) ► Metropolis

► Technology gone wild ► Frankenstein

► Mad professor

The Western

► “Western Films are the major

defining genre of the American

film industry, a eulogy to the

early days of the expansive

American frontier. Westerns are

characteristically American in

their mythic origins. Western

films have also been called the

horse opera, the oater, or the

cowboy picture. The western

film genre has portrayed much

about America's past, glorifying

the past-fading values and

aspirations of the mythical by-

gone age of the West.” (Tim

Dirks)

Setting

► Westerns are often set on the American

frontier during the last part of the 19th

century (1865-1900), in a geographically

western (trans-Mississippi) setting with

romantic, sweeping frontier landscapes

or rugged rural terrain. However,

Westerns may extend back to the time

of America's colonial period or forward

to the mid-20th century, or as far

geographically as Mexico.

► '... Hollywood's West has typically been

from 1865 to 1890 or so ... within its

brief span we count a number of

frontiers in the sudden rush of mining

camps, the building of railways, the

Indian wars, the cattle drives, the

coming of the farmer. Together with

the last days of the Civil War and the

exploits of the badmen, here is the raw

material of the western' (Kitses, 1969)

Location

► The western film genre

often portrays the

conquest of the wilderness

and the subordination of

nature, in the name of

civilization. Specific

settings include lonely

isolated forts, ranch

houses, the isolated

homestead, the saloon,

the jail, the small-town

main street, or small

frontier towns that are

forming at the edges of

civilization.

Plot

► Usually, the central plot of the

western film is the classic, simple

goal of maintaining law and order

on the frontier in a fast-paced

action story. It is normally rooted in

conflict - good vs. bad, man vs.

man, new arrivals vs. Native

Americans (inhumanely portrayed

as savage Indians), human vs.

nature, civilization vs. wilderness,

villain vs. hero, lawman vs.

gunslinger, law vs. anarchy, the

rugged individualist vs. the

unknown, settler vs. nomad, and

farmer vs. industrialist to name a

few. Often the hero of a western

meets his opposite "double," a

mirror of his own evil side that he

has to destroy.

Generic Conventions

Typical elements in westerns

include:

► hostile elements

► guns and gun fights (sometimes on

horseback)

► violence and human massacres

► Horses

► trains (and train robberies)

► bank robberies

► stagecoaches

► shoot-outs and showdowns

► outlaws and sheriffs

► cattle drives and cattle rustling

► posses and pursuit or 'search and

destroy' plots

► distinctive western clothing

Heroes

► Western heroes are often local

law enforcement officers,

territorial marshals, or a skilled,

fast-draw gunfighter.

► They are normally persons of

integrity and principle -

courageous, moral, tough, solid

and self-sufficient characters

(often with trusty sidekicks),

possessing an independent and

honorable attitude.

► The Western hero can usually

stand alone and face danger on

his own.

Binary Oppositions

► Levi-Strauss‟ theory of narrative

based upon the principle of

conflicting ideologies in the form of

filmic elements is particularly

apposite for the Western

► Consider location, character and

plots of the Western, for example:-

 Civilisation vs. savagery

 Wild landscape vs. settlements

(towns/homesteads)

 Indians vs. cavalry

 Sheriff/lawmen vs. outlaws

 Cattle baron vs. the homesteader



All of these are based on the conflicts

which existed in the frontier basis of

the West.

Summary

► In no other genre is setting the real basis for

all other generic conventions.

► The landscape is an element which

characterises the genre

► It is savage (the desert) and uncivilised; it

contains elements which are opposed to

civilised human existence (heat, expanse,

dust, Indians)

► Within this landscape settlers try to impose

law and order (a Garden) and live together in

peace and harmony, pursuing the American

Dream of equality of opportunity, freedom

and individual liberty to pursue happiness

► Opposed to this American Dream are the

Indians and outlaws who emerge from the

outside desert; thus there are insiders and

outsiders.

► Individuals have their place in this but are

only seen as virtuous if they help the „insiders‟

achieve this Dream.

► The Christian concepts of purgation and

reform (salvation?) are key concepts; thus an

outsider can reform if he takes on these

principles.

The Western is dead…long live the

Western…

► By the 1970s the western was in full decline

and apart from the European spaghettis, and

a handful of films like Dances with Wolves

(1990) and Unforgiven (1992), died as a

genre.

► However, because the western themes are so

close to the American way of life, culture and

ideology, they live on in other genres, notably

in Science-fiction and action/adventure films.

► Frayling argues that the „man with no name‟

character played by Eastwood in the Dollars

trilogy is the prototype for the roles that

Stallone, Schwarzenegger et al have played in

countless action films. They are the equivalent

of the individual who comes from the outside

to reinforce/restore the morality of the

community, essentially the same as the lone

rider helping the small community being

terrorised by the outlaws.

► Consider SF films, where an outside threat

(alien, invasion, natural catastrophe) is

nullified/neutralised by our single hero and his

deputies.

► Therefore, I would conclude that all films are

westerns!