Genre Conventions

Genre Theory Applied

Genre 5: Hybrid Genres

Nicholas Abercrombie (1996) suggests that: 'the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable'

This is the creation of the idea of hybrid-genres. Which have become more popular in modern times. This is the idea that genres are using parts of others genres and no longer one specific genre.

Abercrombie is concerned with modern television, which he suggests seems to be engaged in 'a steady dismantling of genre’. By this he explains that overtime we are seeing a break-down of genre as codes and conventions of different genres are becoming more complex, perhaps they're no longer as recognisable as specific genres. 

David Bordwell (1989)
Bordwell states that 'any theme can appear in any genre' expanding on the idea of hybrid genres and crossing-themes. His argument is that there is no set of sufficient conditions which can mark off a genre from other sorts of groupings in ways that all film-goers or experts would find acceptable.

David Buckingham (1993)
In addition to the above theories Buckingham adds that genre isn't just a 'given' by a culture it is a constant  process of negotiation and change. Genres are not fixed and therefore this allows for genre-crossover. A good example of this is Kylie Minogues, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" 

In this video we can see the genre of 'Pop' and 'Sci-Fi' merging and crossing over. It has dancing and performance which is typically seen as a pop convention however the setting and theme is sci-fi therefore we can see how the genre isn't fixed and has got elements of each of the genres.

Genre 4: Postmodern Style

Short Films - Eco (1981)
Short films are a medium which do not have to have a specific genre. However feature films and short films differ in that they generally focus on one or few characters and a single strand narrative. Short films can also be anti-narrative, surrealist and are often experimental, meaning they can have ambiguous or open meanings for the audience to interpret and process. Postmodern theorist, Jacques Derrida said "the law of the law of genre . . . is precisely a principle of contamination, a law of impurity". In relation to genres she believes that music videos are currently in 'genre-crossover' with short films. Many narrative videos use conventions from short films and in fact can be classed as short films. Below is Portishead - To Kill A Dead Man which is a short ten minute film including the song. We can see how it uses different conventions like a beginning, middle, end and characters to create a short film. 

Music videos are a medium to directly appeal to youth sub-cultures by reinforcing generic elements of musical genres. Music videos are used as a way of pop-promotion which are used to raise the profile of the song and the artist. Dyer would agree with this idea however believes it is more focused on the artists promotion "Music videos are postmodern texts whose main purpose is to promote a star persona (Dyer, 1975)." To do this they do not need to be literal representations of the song or lyrics but just include the artists performance in order to sell the star as an image. 
In terms of genre, narrative and performance some videos choose to combine both. Others include themes which may fit around the lyrics of the song or society which is open to experimental and controversial content. Generic conventions stay the same however the style (which is the look of the video) changes between music genres. Relating this back to the idea of music videos aiming to directly appeal to youth, certain  common themes apply in videos to do this: 

Teen angst
Rebellion
Romance
Nostalgia
Nihilism
Coming of age rituals (e.g. the prom, falling in love, losing your virginity etc.)
Tribalism: Popularity verses unpopularity, e.g. cliques
Bullying

Juvenile Delinquency: Moral panics and the teenager as a folk devil

The currency of ‘cool’

Hedonism: living purely for pleasure

Friendship

Avril Lavigne is a prime example of a artist who appeals to youth subcultures. In her earlier videos, rebellion was a main theme in her videos and not conforming to society. In her video 'Complicated' it shows her and a group of friends causing havoc at a mall, possibly conforming to what society thinks about teenagers. The video shows themes of: friendship, 'cool', shows youths as folk devils, rebellion and teenage angst. The lyrics are relating to romance however which isn't shown in the video as much as the rebellion side.

Genre 3: Rich Altman

Rick Altman argues that  genres offer a 'set of pleasures'. These are in effect the reactions that are offered to an audience.

Emotional Pleasures: Emotional pleasures offered to audiences of genre forms are significant when they generate a strong audience response. This can be a wave of emotional reactions ranging from happy to sad to angry.


Visceral Pleasures: This is a physical reaction feeling from the audience. Referring to 'internal organs' and 'gut' responses which are defined by how the film's stylistic construction elicits a physical effect on the audience. Often these are related to feelings of revolution, kinetic speed or a 'roller-coaster ride'.




Intellectual Puzzle: These pleasures offer the audience a media text
which urges them to use their brain and mind to concentrate and work out plots. Films such as thrillers or 'whodunnit' are an example of genre's which the audience can feel pleasure in trying to unravel a mystery or a puzzle. The audience can feel satisfaction which derives from deciphering the plot and forecasting the end or finding themselves surprised by the unexpected.

Genre 2: Jason Mittel

Styles and treatments are different from genres as they do not have a specific 'look'. For example comedy and animation are not genres but a 'style'.

 Jason Mittel (2001) believes genres are cultural categories which surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience and cultural practices. Industries harness and use genres to sell products to audiences. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions that often make cultural references to their audiences knowledge and society. This creates a genre, which allows audiences to make choices what products they want to consume.

Genre 1: Steve Neale

Barry Keith Grant (1995) believes that all genres have sub-genres, which is a genre within a genre. With this in mind he argues that they're divided up into more specific categories which allow audiences to identify within them specifically by their familiar and what becomes recognisable codes and conventions.

Here we can see a range of genres and what is counted as a 'sub-genre'
of that genre. 

However as opposition Steve Neale (1995) states 'Genres' are not 'systems' instead they are processes of systemisation'. This idea is that genres are dynamic and evolve over time to have different iconography such as location and props. The main contributors to genre are institution, text and audience. As throughout time these factors change media products must adapt to this. Below we can see how the film 'Cowboys Vs. Aliens' is a cross-over of the Western genre and the Sci-Fi genre. The lighting shows this. In the alien picture the lighting is blue, in the western picture we can see oranges and yellows representing the western sunset. In the mixed genre picture we can see how the both oranges and blues have been used to show a contrast of genres. We have the traditional 'look' of a cowboy on the poster (gun, cowboy hat, brown pants and a shirt) however we can see on his left arm a futuristic looking device which glows blue. Signifying the sci-fi element to the film.

Genre Introduction

Genre is useful to study texts and audiences responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements. Genre is a paradigm which uses codes, conventions and iconography which the audience can recognise. Daniel Chandler (2001) puts forward that the word 'genre' comes from the French and means 'a kind' or 'class'.
Different genre characteristics:
- Mise-en-scene
-Narrative
-Generic types and archetypes
-Typical studios/production companies
-Typical personnel
-Typical sound design
-Typical editing