GENRE

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A2 MEDIA STUDIES H140: G325

HOW FILM-MAKERS USE GENRE TO TARGET AN AUDIENCE

Take a look at the poster for Independence Day (Emmerich, 1996). At first sight it is clear that it is going to be a science fiction film.

Various ingredients of the genre are present in the advert: the distant earth and the giant spaceship. We see the ingredients, we re-organise the genre and if we like science fiction we may decide to see the film. However, the advertising campaign is more complex than that. Part of its success lies in its use of echoes from previous examples of the genre. The shots of the distant earth are a familiar feature of science fact as well as fiction. Ever since the Apollo missions they have become a signifier of space travel an image that we know from real life shots as well as from Apollo 13 (Howard, 1995). The picture is therefore plugging into the associations that we may have from this film of realism and drama. Similarly the poster is reminiscent of the marketing for the film Alien (Scott, 1979). This also involved a black space background, a mysterious looking alien object and an enigmatic (mysterious/ unknowable) threatening caption: In space no-one can hear you scream

In 2005 the poster for War of the Worlds (Spielberg, 2005) bears a strikingly obvious resemblance to Independence Day. The theme of alien invasion is the same, of course, as is the reasons for the aliens ultimate downfall: a kind of virus.

Science Fiction as a genre became massively popular again in the 1990s mainly as a result of one ground breaking television series The X Files (Carter, 1993). The enormous financial backing needed to make films such as Independence Day was made possible due to the popularity of the series The X Files successfully tapped into two apparently contradictory parts of human nature: our fascination with and fear of the unknown. One of the strap-lines for Independence Day read: The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered, which very obviously goes for those same feelings and attempts to bring to our mind the associations from the programme. There are also plenty of elements from another type of film which had been out of fashion for a long time. The masses of people killed and the idea of a few people ganging together to survive against incredible odds are key ingredients of the

disaster film genre which was massively popular in the 1970s including examples such as The Towering Inferno and the Airport movies. Taken all together, Independence Day comes out as a hybrid movie where genres are mixed in an original way. This once again is part of the enjoyment of the film: we may not spot where exactly the difficult genre elements are coming from but we are aware that we are seeing something different from a traditional science fiction film. We are able to enjoy the moments when our expectations are fulfilled (Will Smith helps save the day), but at the same time we find it very enjoyable when the genre traditions are broken (e.g. when Will deals with an alien by simply kicking it). Our knowledge of the genre allows us to predict a happy ending, but not the journey that will take us there. 2. GENRE CHANGES OVER TIME Audiences liked the novelty of a sci-fi/ disaster movie hybrid. Its success made it likely that many more would follow, and they did: Armageddon (Bay, 1998), The Day After Tomorrow (Emmerich, 2004) and War of the Worlds (Spielberg, 2005) all owe their existence to the success of Independence Day, which has become a genre defining moment in cinema. Since Independence Day the sci-fi genre has become more heavily associated with action as audiences expectations of sci-fi have shifted e.g. I, Robot (Proya, 2004) Genre defining moments are fairly rare in the media and they only normally become apparent a long time after the txt has been created when we can properly see its influence. They dont always have to be popular media products either. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) with its dystopian (dark, bleak, pessimistic view of the future) settings in hostile but recognisable cities in earths future has had much more effect on the science fiction genre than its contemporary E.T. (Spielberg, 1982) despite the fact that Blade Runner was virtually ignored on release and E.T. is one of the biggest films ever. While genre defining moments do not happen that often, it is certain that genres do change over time. Consider music, to avoid repetition that could turn it into clichd comic scenarios the genres of Rock, Hip Hop and R n B, just like Comedy, Horror and Drama in Film, have evolved in order to keep up with the changing fashions. 3. IDEOLOGY The changes in any genre also reveal a lot about the dominant ideology (thought, belief, ideas) of the time it was made. Consider the changes in Science Fiction over the years: 1950s

The 50s were a time dominated by a fear of invasion e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956): The Cold War between the USA (Capitalism) and the Soviet Union (Communism). 1960s The 60s were a time dominated by excitement about the future e.g. 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Star Trek TV series (Roddenberry, 1966): fuelled by the space race and competition to reach the moon. 1970s and 1980s The 70s and 80s addressed worries over the power of technology through films like The Terminator (Cameron, 1984) and Robocop (Verhoeven, 1987). 1990s In the 90s this in turn leads to fear over the power of technology in the wrong hands e.g. The X Files 2000s In the 00s the impact of the internet on the concept of identity was examined in films such as The Matrix (Wachowski 99/02/03) and I, Robot (Proya, 2004) GENRE IDEOLOGY IN THE 2000s Ideology (beliefs/ thoughts/ ideas) can be found in everything from fairy tales, fables, religious stories through to TV and film. Ideology can be the most difficult area to deal with and as a result students shy away from it, but if you really want to explore how a genre changes over time, you should be able to show how different texts reflect the ideas and values of the society around them. Think about events that have happened in the last decade ACTION - Shooter, Hitman, 300 and Transformers The coming attractions are about vengeance, violence and kicking someones ass. Were living a fantasy where the message is if we cant win over there (Iraq), we can win at home on our home screens. To make a film like Transformers at a time of war is a political act Paul Haggis, Oscar winning Director of Crash (2005) Consider the fact that Transformers (Bay 2008/2009), films with good and bad robots slugging it out for the future of earth, was made with the full support of the US Airforce and Department of Defence, who supplied the producers with military aircraft. When we do this the ideology of the film can take on a new meaning. In this context a simple escapist Action film like Transformers could be viewed as being one about a fear of terrorism/ foreign invaders and the idea of protecting the world and standing up for whats right. As Haggis says, this idea of retaliating for

9/11 and re-building the ego of America could be seen as central to recent Action movies.

ACTIVITY Consider the following genres in the 2000s. What do they say about this generation? HORROR Saw, Hostel (Revenge fantasies), The Ring, The Grudge (Japanese re-makes)

COMEDY - Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Team America, Bruno (Satire) + Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Judd Apatow

THEMES AND NARRATIVE A Theme is the subject or topic of the film and a Narrative is simply a story.
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In the same way you can recognise visual ingredients (iconography) typical of, for example, a Western (cowboys/ guns/ saloons etc), you will also be able to recognise typical storylines and themes of a Western the heroes and the villains building up to a gunfight at the end of the film, or the theme of what it is to be honourable in a dishonest world. However, these themes and narratives can apply just as much to sci-fi, and so are not specific to one genre alone. It is important to remember that Genre should not be thought of as rigid, but fluid, and capable of hybridity with other genres. JUST FIVE GENRES THEORY: FRANK MCCONNELL As has been discussed, the way we normally recognise genre is to spot the most obvious elements from the generic repertoire science fiction is science fiction because it is set in space or the future, westerns are on horseback etc. This is easy, but not always helpful. Its very easy, for example, to argue that Star Wars is not a science fiction film, it could, for example be called a fairy tale, or a western in space.
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Frank McConnell (author of Storytelling and Mythmaking and professor of English at University of California) argues that instead of basing genres around the obvious

visual clues (iconography), it is more meaningful to split texts according to their themes and plots, and in particular their leading characters. He came up with five genres which specifically refer to typical events in the history of any society and the characters that play a part in them. He believes that since films reflect society, they will always involve these kinds of typical events.
o o o o o

The King/ Establishing the state1 (Epic) The Knight/ Consolidating2 the state (Adventurous romance) The Pawn/ Trapped in the institutionalised3 state (Melodrama) The Fool/ Responding to the madness of the state (Satire) Apocalypse/ Collapse of the state which leads to a new beginning (No single hero)

Although the terms belong to fairy tales or history, these five genres can be applied to any situation in a film where the lead character will fit one of these roles and the state will be their family, their business, or their empire. Some of these are easy to spot. Its quite easy to spot the fool in the films of Eddie Murphy or Jim Carrey or to see how Independence Day fits into the last category. However, even with such a small number of genres, there is still room for hybridity. Thinking about a text ideologically is one of the most difficult things to do when analysing a text, but is crucial for the A2 exams and something you should look to do as much as possible. ACTIVITY See if you can fit five films you are familiar with into McConnells genres: Remember that a film can fit into more than one of the categories. The King

The Knight

The Pawn

The Fool

1 2 3

State = Circumstances/ situation/ position/ condition Consolidating = Strengthening, uniting, combining Institutionalised = Societal, establishment, traditional

Apocalypse