Exploring Film Traditions - Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film



IB Film Year One: Week 11.3Film Traditions vs Film GenresTraditions and GenreWhether you are looking at a cinematic tradition or a single genre, either element is important to examine and assess since both can provide insight into the individuals making the film, the culture from which is it made, as well as audience expectations and response. ?Consider tradition and genre as you continue to view films from various cultures and historical periods.Exploring Film TraditionsThe word genre is often used casually by people to describe a group of films.As you have seen, linking similar films together by the codes and conventions they share is a powerful way to understand film and to understand the audience expectations for certain types of films.However, there are times when genre is not really a precise term.For example, it is quite easy to understand someone talking about the anime genre.However, a real question exists about whether or not anime is a genre, or a tradition.Ultimately, the word anime describes a certain kind of Japanese animation.Within the tradition, there are many genres.Examples of Anime Genre???????HaremA series where one boy finds himself the object of the affection of many girls.The popular Anime?Fruits Basket?(2001), is a reverse-harem anime where one girl finds herself the object of affection of a number of boys whose alter egos are the animals of the Chinese zodiac.Magical GirlfriendGuy meets girl series where the girl is an alien, monster, goddess...etcetera.MechaA series that is focused on giant machines and their operators like the popular?Gundam?or?Evangelion?series.ShojoAnime for a teenage girl audience, like?Sailor Moon.ShonenAnime for a young male audience, like?Naruto.There are many more genres within anime, and fans can further sub-divide each genre (for example, mecha fans speak of super robots, stories in which one powerful robot is piloted almost like a secret weapon by a pilot, and real robots, a sub-genre in which robots are a universal feature of the society they are part of with many pilots).There are other ways in which genres blend into traditions.Indian GenresIn India, most films feature music and dance, but otherwise the stories often blend many different genre features.This kind of film is called a Masala film?The word masala comes from cooking, where it is used to describe a mixture of spices.The masala tradition is associated with director Manmohan Desai in the 1970's, but its origins probably go back much further into Indian storytelling tradition.Indian epics like the Mahabharata?and the Ramayana?feature techniques like the side story, backstory, and story-within-a-story.Indian films often have plots that branch off into sub-plots, and this tradition comes from the literature of Indian culture.Another influence is Sanskrit drama, which featured music, dance, and elaborate hand gestures in a stylized acting form that had a high emphasis on spectacular dance-dramas.?These influences, and later influences from other Indian drama, influenced the birth of the masala tradition, which utilizes the conventions of many different genres to create its effect.Earlier, you looked at the influence of German expressionism.This tradition, which also originated from theatrical set design and from painting, using chiaroscuro shadows and stylized sets to convey thematic and psychological story elements.Although the original films associated with the tradition are related to the horror genre, films like?The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?(1920) and?Nosferatu(1922), expressionism also influenced science fiction films like?Metropolis?(1927).Elements of German expressionism continue to be associated with the horror film, but later also came to be associated with film noir.It continues to influence filmmakers like Tim Burton in films like?Batman?(1989) and?Edward Scissorhands?(1990).Film TraditionsThough genre may be a convenient shorthand to discuss any group of films that share similar codes and conventions, you will want to be precise when you analyze film language or discuss film theory and film history.Film traditions go beyond the boundaries of genre, though they are also defined by codes and conventions, which are technical, symbolic, or an element of a film’s writing or audio.A tradition might contain many genres, like anime. A tradition might feature individual works that transcend genre boundaries, like India’s masala films. Or a tradition might contribute elements to many different genres as German expressionism does.Ultimately, understanding genres and traditions allow us to understand filmmakers' intentions, filmmaking cultures, and audience expectations. ................
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