1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?
2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?
Independence Day and The Day after tomorrow.
Independence Day and The Day after tomorrow.
3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?
Disaster places the hero role into a group of people. Action is isolated from other people.
Disaster places the hero role into a group of people. Action is isolated from other people.
4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell?
• Director / Star, e.g. Ben Stiller Films
• Technical Process, e.g. Animation
• Style, e.g. German Expressionism;
• Series, e.g. Bond;
• Audience, e.g. Family Films
5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.
whether or not they are likely to enjoy a text. This helps when
selecting a media text whether it is a lifestyle magazine, a film
or a television programme.
b) They are able to compare a text through its shared
characteristics with another. If you try to describe a TV
programme to someone who has not seen it, you are likely to
define its genre and then clarify what other text it is similar to.
c) They also use their knowledge of genre to reject a text. For
many of us there will be genres we actively dislike and therefore
will avoid accessing texts we assume to hold those
characteristics.
6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.
Genres are paradigms or templates media producers can follow.
If a media producer wants to produce a new sit-com, there are
certain ’rules’ that must be followed. This actually makes life
easier for writers and producers as they don’t have to invent
things from scratch. They can also look to successful examples
of the genre and attempt to replicate what was popular and, of
course, avoid the mistakes made by texts which have
disappointed the audience.
b) Attracting an Audience
Some genres have loyal fan-bases. People will try out a new sitcom
simply because it’s a new sit-com and this can help media
producers minimise the potential for failure.
c) Marketing Texts
Good examples of this are film trailers which usually attempt to
clearly define the genre of the film and then show as many of the
codes and conventions in the trailer. This acts to attract fans of
the genre and set up the expectations of the film.
7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?
Horror.
• psychological horrors (Saw (2004, dir. J. Wan)),
• gothic horrors (Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992: dir. F. Coppola)),
• ghost stories (The Grudge (2004: dir. T. Shimuzu)),
• the teen slasher (Scream (1996: dir. W. Craven)),
• haunted-house movies (The Amityville Horror (2005: dir. A.
Douglas)).
Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:
1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.
Avengers Assemble (2013)
Scott Pilgrim (2010)
Chronicle (2012)
Super (2010)
DC’s Arrow
2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?
Superman represents WW2.
Superman battles against Lex Luther=In the 1930s, the blame for the
Great Depression was put on the greed of capitalis
One of Batman’s enemies in the 1995 film Batman Forever is
Two-Face = The latter half of the 20th Century saw the secure knowledge and understanding of
previously stable binaries become eroded.
In X Men (2000), Mutants are outsiders who are seen as freaks
by ‘normal’ people=Superhero films are often seen as reactionary and conservative. The first X Men
film has quite progressive values and foregrounds tolerance, community and
communication.
Spiderman 3 (2007) gives Spiderman several different enemies
– Sandman - a man made of sand and Venom, created by an
oily substance that infects from within and turns people into
monsters=The film offers a not too hidden metaphor for the conflict the US found themselves
in during the 00s. Wars had been fought in desert regions with the main prize being
the control of oil.
3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?
The Theory Applied to the Superhero Genre
• Innovation: The visual codes for the superhero genre were
largely established via the comic books. As soon as film and
TV began to use the comic book characters other codes and
conventions regarding the presentation of the genre in moving
image were set. This can be seen in the early superhero shorts of
the 1940s.
• Classical: By the 1950s the superhero genre could be seen to
be in its classical stage with the codes and conventions being
replicated in the film and TV programmes of the time.
• Parody: Batman (1966) was intentionally funny and camp and
wouldn’t let its audience take the superhero too seriously. It
had an ironic tone that flagged up the daft nature of the genre
and allowed the audience to enjoy the awareness of that. After
Batman, the classical and parodic versions of the genre were
largely located in children’s animation, from Spider-Man whose
animated adventures were on TV from the late 1960s, to the less
than serious versions of the genre in Mighty Mouse (a perennially
popular cartoon first made in the 1940s), Atom Ant (from the late
60s), Captain Caveman
The Theory Applied to the Superhero Genre
• Innovation: The visual codes for the superhero genre were
largely established via the comic books. As soon as film and
TV began to use the comic book characters other codes and
conventions regarding the presentation of the genre in moving
image were set. This can be seen in the early superhero shorts of
the 1940s.
• Classical: By the 1950s the superhero genre could be seen to
be in its classical stage with the codes and conventions being
replicated in the film and TV programmes of the time.
• Parody: Batman (1966) was intentionally funny and camp and
wouldn’t let its audience take the superhero too seriously. It
had an ironic tone that flagged up the daft nature of the genre
and allowed the audience to enjoy the awareness of that. After
Batman, the classical and parodic versions of the genre were
largely located in children’s animation, from Spider-Man whose
animated adventures were on TV from the late 1960s, to the less
than serious versions of the genre in Mighty Mouse (a perennially
popular cartoon first made in the 1940s), Atom Ant (from the late
60s), Captain Caveman
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