Genre Research

According to my understanding, a genre of any movie or an artistic piece of work may be identified by various codes and conventions which define a person's perception or his/her expectations. For example, bloodshed may define action, horror or a thriller. How we identify the very specific genre defining this bloodshed is dependent upon the iconography of the movie i.e. the location, lighting, camera placement, expressions, costumes, make-up, props, etc. For instance, to distinguish between romance and a chick flick movie, one would have to identify the location. a chick flick is usually shot in a high school setting while a romantic movie may or may not be set in a high school for example 'Jane Eyre' was shot in classic countryside setting while 'Another Cinderella Story' was shot in a high school setting. 

A genre of any media text can easily be identified by the various codes and conventions it follows. It helps the audience in defining their preferences when choosing a film. These codes and conventions may be easier to define if broken down into simpler terms i.e:

Style and Forms: These are the distinctive qualities in a media text that differentiate them with other genres. For example a horror movie is likely to hold more of disgusting gooey stuff and death while an action movie is likely to be based more on blood and a lot of physical fighting.

  

Paradigms: These are shared attributes of a genre with other media texts. These common elements maybe identified by the costumes, location, character archetypes, shot transitions, or plot content. For example the following stance is very common in all action movies, hence is easily identifiable.

.Iconography: A genre can be identified by the look of the images in the text. This is known as iconography, or the signs, that are associated with a genre. Iconography includes a wide range of ‘signs. To become part of the iconography of a genre, a pattern of visual signs remain constant in that genre over a period of time. This iconography may be identified by the colors, setting, stars and props used in the media text. The following screenshots are taken from action movies and it may be notice that all three images hold up a very serious facial expression.

                                                  

Structure: While a film's genre maybe identified by its communicative tactics, the narrative structure i.e its story line also holds significance when categorizing it. 

Theme: It refers to the main content of a media text. This theme may be identified by the forms and style, paradigms and a text's iconography to lead to the appropriate genre of the text in question. For example, every romantic movie is based on Todorov's theory on narratives whereby the theme revolves around a single content man who sees a women and falls in love. A series of problems arise and are solved by the couple in unison, leading them to a 'happily ever after'. This is the basic theme of the romantic genre on which the structure of the entire genre is built up.

Following are some basic genres and their study:

Horror- Action Horror, Thriller Horror, Slasher Films, Zombie Films

Thriller- Action Thriller, Drama Thriller, Psychological Thriller

Romance- Fantasy Romance, Contemporary Romance, Gothic Romance

Science Fiction- Near future, Military, Science Fantasy

Horror:

    

Image 1 has been taken from the movie ‘final destination 5’ while Image 2 has been taken from the movie ‘insidious’. Both the movies are contained under the genre of horror while both the shots have a very common element of violence, depicted in some way or the other. For example, image 1 shows the character as washed over in blood with a tired, hopeless expression, showing his chances of survival. Image 2 on the other hand is in the act of committing a violent act and the expression of fury and hostility on the woman’s face shows how ruthless she might just be. The low key lighting in both the images signify the dark edges in the movie, i.e. it directs the audience towards a feeling of fright and scariness and forces one to anticipate anything to happen at anytime from anywhere.

Now this here is another image from the movie ‘13 hrs’. When compared with the previous two shots, this one certainly gives one a heart-wrenching feel from the inside. How is this shot different from the above? Firstly, this image is a high angle shot of the character, signifying, to some extent, the authority and power responsible for this victim. Secondly the blood and the content of this shot whereby this super power has taken charge of all of the character’s inner organs assist in the creation of fear in the audience. The white flowers on the very lower left of the image might signify death as they do, generally.  Also, a white light has been used, again signifying lifelessness. Therefore, the content and the level of power a horror film contains, is widely dependent on the usage of the basic codes and conventions.

Thriller:

In this genre, i.e. thriller, I have been able to see two movies. Image 1 is a shot from black swan while image 2 is a shot from kill bill vol 1. A very common element in both the movies is the blood seeping out from the characters’ mouth and eyes and the expressions of pain and of the fear of dying.  We cannot judge anything by the background of image 2, however, the background used in image 1 suggests action and a certain amount of physical violence, leading to the consequent results i.e. the breaking of the mirror to create a destructed look.  Image 2 stars a Japanese character, directing one into believing that the blood might be caused due to kungfu or karate, signifying the movie as a martial arts film. Hence, it is an action thriller. However, image 2‘s character has a very gothic make-up, giving her face a peculiar lift while her expression is a mixture of both shock and anticipation. We cannot really identify the genre, however the character’s make-up and her hair style indicates nothing such as a one-to-one physical fight. Even the direction of the blood seeping out from her mouth does not indicate action as it is only a thin line. The lighting used does not give a fearful feel to the shot, therefore this movie cannot be a horror thriller, either. However, we can assume the movie to be a psychological thriller with relevance to the woman’s expressions and costume.

These are two shots from the movie ‘unstoppable’. As is clear, we cannot see any blood involved in either of the two shots but extreme action is in place. Hence, we can easily determine the movie to be a action thriller owing to the direction of the train, the way the camera has been placed to give a dangerous edge to the feel of the shot, the choppers hovering in the background, the dangerous position, the character is in the first shot trying to hold two parts of the train together, the sparks and the uncomfortable and crowded in background; all suggest an action thriller. The thrilling part being, how the train is actually stopped and how the entire nation is actually depending on one main character.

Romantic:

     

   

 These are a few scenes from the movie ‘a walk to remember’ and it depicts various aspects of a romantic drama. Romantic, because of the various codes and conventions used such as innocent expressions, expressions showing helplessness, happiness, bliss and the eye-to-eye contacts and drama because, generally all real life love stories are said to have problems, happiness, solutions, companionship and an unusual ending most of the time and secondly the helplessness signifies a tragedy that cannot be undone.  

                                                                                                                       

 

‘The Vow’ is another romantic drama, dictating the same lines of content. And if noticed closely, both the movies, i.e. ‘a walk to remember’ and ‘the vow’ use exactly the same codes and conventions. Companionship, innocence, bliss, happiness, helplessness; it’s all there. Therefore, these particular codes and conventions are a common element, defining a romantic drama.

 

                                      
                                      

In comparison to the above movies, I watched ’Beastly’ and unlike its dangerous title, it actually turned out to be a romance fiction. Above are a few shots from the film and while they too show companionship, happiness and innocence, these scenes have some additional elements which distinguish between a romance drama and a romance fiction. For example the tattoo in image 2 does not really represent something usual; a tree with sprouting branches, the rainy background in this image signifies gloominess. Hence, if interrelated, the arm tattoo does not signify something pleasing or enlightening to the audience, but something sad. the costumes of the female lead and her make-up gives a dreamy look and feel to the entire film and that helps building up her character because a dreamy look usually indicates fantasy, someone with charm and a soft nature, innocence of course and wonder. The appearance of the male lead, however, explains the movie title and one only wonder how he manages to get that appearance. Therefore, romantic drama and romance fiction might have some differences, however, the basic codes and conventions used in a romance genre remain the same.

Science Fiction:

                                        

                               

     

   

The above two scenes have been taken from the movie, ‘I, Robot’ while the lower two have been taken from the movie, ‘Iron Man 2’. The most common elements, again, in both these movies is the usage of virtual reality and hi-tech computer systems and the creation of fighting robots, through this high-level technology. The human characters in both the movies seem to be driven by this technology while the robots created may or may not serve a positive purpose, i.e. of saving the world. The scenes derived, however, do suggest combat as the above image shows an army of such robots while the lower image shows a robot, already at work.  These movies have the very common codes and conventions used in action sci-fi movies.

Consequent to the above, I saw ‘avatar’ which, too, has been subjected under the genre of action sci-fi. What distinguishes ‘Avatar’ from the above is the usage of technology, not for the creation of robots but for the creation of a scientific development which allows humans to travel into another world altogether and communicate with the aliens or the other species, whoever, they might be. Image 1 signifies the creation of this scientific machinery whereby a human works on a human to send him to the world unknown. Image 2 shows this other world, its species and how they are in combat with the humans as the latter try to exploit their natural land, its beauty and their species. Robots, too, have been used in this movie, however, in his movie, they are not given much significance, indicating the fast pace of lives and how the human world is already way ahead of the creation of fighting robots. The hi-tech laboratories used, the robots used, choppers that maybe used in a ‘no-gravity zone’ and the various other communication devices used direct one towards identifying the basic genre of the movie i.e. science fiction and the battle between two very different worlds indicates action. ‘Avatar’ may be subjected to the same genre as ‘Iron Man 2’ and 'I, Robot’, however, the use of fantasy and seeing way beyond today, lifts the genre up as the word fiction is better depicted and understood in ‘Avatar’.