Post 4; Genre as a media concept

Robert Altman is a theorist who had a strong opinion on Genre Theory.

Genre Theory....
Genre can be identified and explained in many different ways. Theorists, such as Daniel chandler, have their own personal views on how to define genre, as media students we are to explore the different ways genre can be interpreted and the theorists views on the word Genre.

In class we looked at different films, and how they can be categorised into genre's and sub genre's. We also thought about the "big question" which is why do we need genre theory?

For independent study we were asked to look at three different web links which have different views, and opinions on genre.




The first one was the media department in the Robert Smyth School.
A theorist called Barry Keith Grant stated that "Genre movies have compromised the bulk of film practice, the iceberg of film history beneath the visible tip that in the past has commonly been used as film art"I agree with this statement as Movies which have been categorised under a genre have been successful, even in the past and more importantly today's society,they are also easy for audiences to watch, and for them to make a choice of which film they would want to watch depending on their interests. He also stated that film has commonly been used as film art, and by the use of genre he has formed the argument that genre could be the make of film being classified as "Art".

Altman another theorist has other views concerning genre. He encourages us to consider the following:




-That genres are defined by producers and easily recognised by audiences.




This can be argued as true as the producers who make the film, target the audience to which specific genre, (usually the most popular at the time) making it easily recognisable for the audience, helping them to decide if they would like to go and watch the film.





-That texts belong "clearly" to a particular genre in each case.




People May disagree with this statement as there are many films that can fall into two different Genre's or sub genre's. For example: white chicks could be classed under the "comedy" category and also come under the chick flick genre.




-That genre's develop in predictable ways.






-That texts in a genre share key characteristics




This can be shown by the amount of films that come under more then one genre/ sub genre's. they must share some of the same features in order to categorise under more then one Genre.






-That genre's are ideological




This statement creates an assumption that a particular idea, that has been put in place for a reason, which people should aspire to. In terms of media, the idea would come first, then it would need to have people to back it up, and then it would result in power. For example: the idea could be a horror film, which would then have people to support it, which would be the audience, who go and watch it, then in power would be the producers and directors who made the film, who created a box office hit!






-That they are not specifically located in history











-and crucially, that genre critics are distanced from the practice of genre, or its working.




This statement is true as the critics are an audience just like us, and are put behind the work of the producers and directors, meaning they are distanced from seeing what really goes on, meaning they are distanced.

(Altman R) asks the question... should we read genre as a noun or an adjective. There are specific differences between a noun and an adjective. A noun is a doing word, whereas an adjective is a describing word.
I think that audiences would say that Genre is an adjective, a way in which to describe a particular film, and its qualities.
On the other hand, producers, directors and people who work in the industry could class it as a noun, because they think of a specific genre, and atchually make the film.

WIKIPEDIA....I have also looked at wikipedia's version of the word "Genre" and it said that the definition from dictionary.com states "a class or category of artistic endeavour having a particular form, context, technique, or the like"

Genre's according to Daniel Chandler, create order to simplify the mass of available information. He is saying that having the Genre theory creates order and prevents chaos.

Another theorist Amy.J Devitt focuses on rhetorical genre. She says that viewing Genre as a rhetorical device gives the author and the reader more freedom and "allows for choices". I agree with Amy as she is saying that Rhetorical situations define Genre, and i think that having a genre theory does allow for more choices, less chaos and more order within the film industry.

DANIEL CHANDLER....I already know Daniel Chandlers views in a basic form. He thinks that the word Genre creates order and prevents chaos. He believes that the word Genre comes from the French which is originally Latin and its meaning is "class""Contemporary Media genres tend to relate more to specific forms more to the universals of tradegy and comedy's"I think he is saying that Genre nowadays is more complex, and are more specific and popular rather then just the ordinary tradegy and comedy's.Daniel Chandler also believes that films are routinely classified nowadays (e.g television listings in magazines) as "thrillers" "westerns" and so on.