Genre and the Genre System By John Belton
“Genre and the Genre System” By: John Belton Presentation By: Cassie Branum
Outline/Aims Gain an Understanding Genres (15 minutes) n Watch Clips and Have Group Discussion (10 minutes) n Review Questions (5 minutes) n
GENRE n “refers to a kind, type, or category of a particular phenomenon or thing” n “used to designate various categories of motion picture production”
Examples of Basic Genres Musicals n Comedies n Action and Adventure Films n Crime and Detective Films n Horror and Science-Fiction Films n Suspense Films n Disaster Films n
Examples of Various Genres
Subgenres n From the main genre, the movie can be broken down into a subgenre or subdivision.
Examples of Subgenres n Romantic Comedies: n Action Adventure Disaster:
Why do we have genres? n Genres stabilize the film industry, which is definitely described as unstable. n Instability occurs because of the high costs in creating films. “In 1950, a film would cost about 2. 2 million. As of 1991, films costs range from 50 million” to infinite amounts as seen with Titanic.
Risks with Creating a Film n The Money Issue n The Product Itself: A movie is not something that the consumer can take home and use. A movie is not something that can be pin pointed by a “brand name. ”
What can help to Compensate? n The Star System: who is who and who is popular in current films n The Genre System: developing films that have popular genres; “represents an attempt by the film industry to control the entertainment marketplace”
How did the genre system occur? n “The proven success of one movie leads to another movie with a similar theme but a different essential plot. ” Example: Scream leading to I Know What You Did Last Summer & Scary Movie n Or, one movie leads to a sequel of the original. Examples: Godfather, Jaws, Indiana Jones
Fixed Settings within the Genre n “Each genre has fixed settings that new films draw from. ” n These settings include: body of characters, story types, settings, situations, costumes, and props
If all films have specific similarities, what brings in the audience? n The prospect of a new twist. n The audience is “enticed by the prospect of seeing a film that differs in a number of respects from films they have seen before. ”
In Closing. . . n “By looking at a large body of films within individual genres, we can see how those genres help to shape and are shaped by our understanding of American culture, character, and identity. ”
Review Questions n What is a genre? n Why do we have genres? n Name a few with a film example.
- Slides: 15