Assignment advice - Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film
IB Film: Week 4.2The Birth of GenresWhy Film Genres?Mainstream genres provide structure for audiences and institutions alike. They represent a shorthand expression for defining expectation.The Western for example has become a brand with powerful iconography that audiences immediately comprehend.With frequent repetition, connotations are gradually reinforced. The characters, mise-en-scene and narrative, are all formulated rather predictably as a guarantee of profitable success for the industry and satisfaction for the audience.This notion of expectation however, provides a fantastic opportunity for innovation by filmmakers to exploit the established conventions of genre by subverting the generic principles. The limitations of genre instead become a tool for creativity.The Birth of GenresA genre is a category of film, like the categories when you are looking to rent films in a video store or with another online video provider.For many viewers, the kind of film they are watching is as important as the Director of the film or which actors are in the film. ( Of course, there are other film viewers who also depend on reviewers or film critics to give them guidance as to which films they may want to see ).Most audience members come to a film with a distinct idea of what kind of film they want to see.Often there are broad categories in video stores like Action films or Chick Flicks, which actually include many genres. Even so, a group of moviegoers will usually have a pretty firm idea about whether it is a night for an Action movie or a Chick Flick.This way of categorizing films indicates an essential fact about the audience for film.Usually, the audience has a pre-determined idea about the kind of film they want to see. In fact, some audience members may define themselves by the genre they prefer.These audience members are usually called fans.Some genres like Science Fiction, Mystery, and Horror have large followings who watch many, or most, of the films released in that genre and who also run internet sites, write books, and even hold conventions for like-minded audience members.Usually these fans ( the word is based on the term fanatic ) have an interest wider than just movies in the genre and also read books and magazines devoted to stories in the genre.In some cases, for example?Dr. Who?or?Star Trek, there may be fans who follow novels, magazines, comic books, spoken-word recordings, television shows, and films all devoted to a single work of fiction.Frequently these fans also write about the show's history, create fan fiction based on the characters, and hold conventions.Assignment adviceFor various assignments in the IB Film course, you will have to undertake research.?During your research, you will discover there are books and internet sites written both by academics and by fans. If you are citing information you have found, of course you want it as accurate as possible.?The first thing to consider is there are times when both academics and fans are wrong.?There are also times when the facts presented are subject to debate - there simply is not an easy answer.?When considering the validity of what has been written, academic critics usually hold themselves to higher standards of research than fans.?At the same time, often fans have delved into details and history of specific films, Directors, and technicians to a much greater degree than a regular film commentator or critic might have time to do.?In short, you may find very useful information from both academic and fan sources to be useful.?How do you tell if it is accurate??Often, you tell from context.?How well does the information you have discovered link up with other information you already know?Does it seemto be true??Another way of checking is to have done enough research that the information is verified by other sources - it is not information that only comes from one place.?Also, consider the source of the information.?Regardless of whether it is an academic or fan source, an interview with a Director, actor, or technician who was there when the film was made will usually provide relevant information ( although consider even then, people's memories are tricky things and often different sources do not agree ).?Frankly, there is always the possibility that information is wrong.?You must ultimately be the judge of what is significant and develop some ability to separate accurate from inaccurate information.?Another way to check the accuracy of your information is to make sure you consult many sources, for example books and DVD commentaries as well as internet sites.?If your only source for information is Wikipedia?or Rotten Tomatoes, you are quite likely to have a skewed view of your subject.Genre ConventionsBecause genres have an attraction to moviegoers, they are useful as part of the advertising campaign that is built around a film. Indicating the film's genre is a significant part of a film's appeal, but there are other reasons why genre is useful, both for moviemakers and for people analyzing how film works.A genre is, essentially, a collection of expectations on the part of the audience, a set of common plot devices, setting elements, and story features that are common to the type of genre on view. These common elements are called Genre Conventions.Genres frequently have literary origins. For example, Westerns began as 'Dime Novels',?inexpensive stories on cheap paper that resembled later 'Pulp Magazines'?( which are the origin of the title of Quentin Tarantino’s?Pulp Fiction?(1994)?).These Dime Novels were published between the 1860's and 1900, and would not really be recognized as modern Westerns, but they are the source for many of the conventions that would later become standard in the genre.For example, the 'frontiersman',?who later develops into the 'cowboy'?and the heroine who is in danger, the 'outlaw', and the violent 'gun-fight'.?These stories were often fictionalized stories about real people such as Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, and Jesse James.The Western developed during the era of the pulp magazines, and later also featured as a genre in comic books and mass market paperback books - all the various forms of evolving popular fiction.What this meant was that by the time?The Great Train Robbery?was made by Edwin Porter in 1903, the genre conventions of the Western were already well understood by the audience. ?In fact, one of the stars of?The Great Train Robbery, Broncho Billy Anderson, became the first Western star and subsequently made several hundred silent Western short films.Sub-plotIt is quite common for studios to use both genre and the Star System as a double-barreled approach to advertising to draw an audience to a film.?Over the years, various stars have been associated with Westerns from Broncho Billy Anderson?and William S. Hart?in silent films, to later stars like John Wayne?and Clint Eastwood.?Horror movies as a genre also had many actors associated with them, such as Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and later Peter Cushing?and Christopher Lee.?Modern action films may be poorly defined as a genre, but they have definite stars, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone.?Can you think of other connections between genres and movie stars?The American Film Institute defines Western films as those -"... set in the American West that embody the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier."After the silent era, during the early history of sound movies, the Western was mostly taken over by smaller studios because they could be made cheaply and there was a genre audience.But in 1939, John Ford's?Stagecoach?became one of the biggest hits of the year and revived the genre.Throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the Western remained one of the most popular film and television genres.Probably this is partly because of its iconic nature, harking back to a time when life seemed simpler and more in the control of the individual.?There is no doubt that the idea of the open frontier where a man can build his own destiny is an appealing escape for many modern audiences who feel their life is far less full of possibility. ( It should be pointed out that some Revisionist Westerns also feature women building their own destiny ).There have been many sub-genres of the Western from the silent era on.The Classical Western?- Directors John Ford and Howard Hawks are 2 of the most famous Western Directors, and both frequently used John Wayne as a star.The Spaghetti Western?- so named because these films were Italian productions, though they were usually shot in Spain. ?The most famous director was Sergio Leone, who frequently used actors like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van CleefThe Revisionist Western?- a genre that questioned many of the conventions of the Western, such as the assumption that Native Americans were savages, which often fueled the conflict of early Westerns.As you have probably already realized, genres have a close relationship with other iconic aspects of film, such as the Star System.The genres are useful to the institutions that create films because they help create audience expectations. For this reason, genres tend to rise and fall in popularity depending on socio-cultural reasons.For instance, as the Western declined in popularity during the 1970's, Science Fiction, another genre with similar iconic values rose in popularity.Like the Western, a common assumption of Science Fiction is an open frontier where man ( or woman )?can better themself, a thread that runs through science fiction like?Star Trek: The Motion Picture?and?Star Wars: A New Hope.Though films that could be categorized as Science Fiction had been made before the 1950's, it was during the 50's that the first great period for the genre occurred.This included films of nuclear paranoia - giant insect movies like?Them?and?Godzilla?and films of space travel like?Rocketship X-M?and?Destination Moon.Like the Western, Science Fiction had a long history from the time of the?Scientific Romances?of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, to its appearance in genre specific pulp magazines that featured solely Science Fiction stories and newspaper comic strips like?Buck Rogers?and?Flash Gordon.By the 1950's, the genre’s conventions had been established in movie serials derived from?Buck Rogers?and?Flash Gordon,?and by years of literary stories.The 1950's saw many films that were based on paranoia of invasion by aliens, a mirror for the ongoing Cold War at the time.Films that dealt with the Cold War fears of nuclear destruction directly, like?The Day the Earth Stood Still?and films that dealt with the threat of invasion more metaphorically like?Invasion of the Body Snatchers?were popular. Also, the first big budget films of travel to distant stars were made such as?Forbidden?Planet.But ultimately, moviemakers discovered that cheap monster movies made as much money as more expensive productions.During the 1960's, very few big budget Science Fiction films were made until Stanley Kubrick’s?2001: A Space Odyssey?in 1968.The late 1950's and 1960's had seen the dawn of the Space Age, with man's first journeys into space culminating in the landing on the Moon in 1969.Television shows like?Star Trek?first became popular during the 1960's, reflecting an optimism about the open frontier that man was now exploring and all its possibilities.In short, because of events taking place in society, another genre with similar conventions to the Western was offering similar iconic meaning to audiences.In the late 1970's, when films like?Star Wars?were becoming some of the most financially successful films in history, Henry Fonda ( an actor associated with both the Classic and Spaghetti Western ) would point out that one of the reasons for its success was its similarity with the Western genre. Other critics would notice that George Lucas had borrowed scenes from classic Westerns like?The Searchers.This is the way that genres evolve, from many influences that stimulate audience interest including literary forms, previous film genres, and socio-cultural events.Ultimately, genres form a link between audience expectations and Film Art, which, though it may be most useful simply as an advertising technique, ultimately reveals much about the concerns of both filmmakers and the audiences for films in question.Genre History relates to the socio-cultural history of the culture that the genre springs from, and so it is an important source of information when looking at the history and development of film.One of the ways in which genres develop is by borrowing conventions of other genres. Science Fiction fans had used the term Space Opera to describe a Space Western?long before?Star Wars?was made.In fact the term Space Opera?is derived from a term for the Western, a Horse Opera.An interesting?self-described Space Western is writer / director Josh Whedon’s?Firefly.Try watching this and noting the conventions that are shared between the 2 genres, and also note how at times the Western conventions seem a little surprising to find in a Science Fiction series.This should help you get a strong appreciation for what is iconic about a genre, the way that conventions create genre identity for a work of art.There are 14 episodes of the television series?Firefly.?There is also a feature film,?Serenity.Review -?Firefly TV SeriesReview -?Serenity ................
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