FR 103 - 20th century theatre, arts dramatiques

Outline of notes to the lectures, by topic (continued lecture week 4)

21 Oct

focus: genre, generic hybridity

One of the big questions in cultural studies is genre, by which is meant the typecategory to which a given piece of art belongs. We use genres to organize groups
of complex representation. There are different kinds of genres, oriented to
emotions (tragedy, comedy), places (the Western), or media (the cartoon). Some
genres are more specific than others, and some are more flexible than others. The
vast majority of genres are not fixed; they can change according to time, place,
and audience expectations.
One way to play with the idea of genre is to conceive of it as being a categoryfield, vs. being polar. In a field model, there will be a group of plays, or films, or
paintings that fit the criteria for a genre, and then others that do not: in field /
off-field. In a polar model, there will be the ideal or the archetype, which is the
pole; and then examples, all of which will fall, variously, closer to or further away
from the pole.
Genre becomes an especially thorny issue in the context of adaptation. Think
about Anouilhs Antigone in this light. It observes many of the classical unities, but
some critics have found it to fall short of being an ideal classical tragedy. Is it
imperfect, or is it a hybrid of genres? In many scenes it integrates pathos, true
feeling, with bathos, a fall from the great and lofty to the mundane and
laughable. Consider the character of the guards, for instance. Where do they, and
their situations, fall in this?
Anouilh raises this issue explicitly on pp. 28-29, when the chorus enters. The
chorus reflects openly on whether the situation it is witnessing is sordid drama, or
high classic tragedy. The critic Henri Francq picks up this question in his sceptical
review of the play, on pp. 77-78. See especially lines 24-26, where he perceives
the play to fall short of Sophocles standard; or lines 47-52, where he weighs up
the evidence as he sees it. The key question is: do you agree with him?