A set of conventions recognisable, usually through iconography, familiar narrative, mise en scene, actors and style of representation.
“Genre is what we collectively believe it to be”- Andrew Tudor (1986)
“Genre is a context in which meaning is created.”- Douglas Pye (1975)
Genre is define by repertoire of familiar elements
Repetition and variation
However Phillip Brophy (1986) “argues that modern horror film is a saturated genre as audiences are over familiarised with the repertoire elements and their possible variations.”
Variation is needed so audience to not become bored.
“Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre.”- Steve Neale (1980)
“A set of predictable conventions provides a number of pleasures. These include anticipation of these predictable features and satisfaction when expectations are fulfilled.”- Patrick Phillips (1996)
Hybrid films
Mix the convention of two or more genres for instance in slasher they consist of elements of comedy, thriller, horror e.g. in “Psycho” the thriller was the “who dun nit” enigma running though the film, the horror was the killer and the comedy was cross-dressing of Norman Bates.
Basic genre development
Christian Metz genre cycle:
1- Loose grouping of films- “Psycho”(1960, Alfred Hitchcock), (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)(1974, Tobe Hooper) (Black Christmas)(1974,Bob Clark)(Halloween)(1978, John Carpenter)
2- Evolution to “classic period”-“Friday the 13th” (1980, Sean S Cunningham), “Nightmare On Elm Street”(1984, Wes Craven)
3- Decline (“genre in crisis”)- sequels and Freddy vs. Jason franchise nothing new was being created so the audiences became smaller
4- REINVOGRATION- “Scream”(1996, Wes Craven), Remakes
Series of cycles:
1st cycle- relaxation of censorship, (Vietnam War), growth in teen culture
2nd cycle- special effects- technology- more gory/graphic
3rd cycle – change in the way audience consume films
♥ 1980s- Video was invented
4th cycle- (post-modern cycle) parodies other slasher films
♥ New generation of audience
5th cycle – remakes: Big institutions cashing in money to produce these remakes.
♥ “Halloween” (2007, Rob Zombie)
♥ “Black Christmas” (2006, Glen Morgan)
♥ “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003, Marcus Nispel)
♥ “Psycho” homage (1998, Gus Van Sant)
Before and after event: Rick Altman “Film/Genre” (1999)
Before event=Producer define genre before films have been made by: Discovering what is successful in previous films and imitates features = formula. They would then looked at new successful films to see if they same formula is being used.
After event=Critics/ theorists define genre after the films have been made by: Analysing features of the film and arriving at a description of genre. E.g. film noir arrived from American crime films in the 1940s
Benefits of genre
Producers:
♥ Limits risk for producers because it is tried and tested and provides element of security for investors
♥ More straightforward- because the producers can use the same expertise, same props, cast ect... therefore is cheaper
♥ Can use repertoire of elements for marketing the film
♥ They use repeated storylines and stock characters
Audience:
♥ Audience know what to expect this limits risks as satisfaction and pleasures are repeated
♥ Plan to view with certain expectations and when these expectations are met the “Genre offers comfortable reassurance”- Patrick Phillips (1996)
♥ Enjoy subtle variations within the predictable framework
♥ Consist form of release and escapism
♥ Can engage quickly with easily recognisable plots and characters
♥ Easily follow narratives within genre
♥ Experiences a sense of cultural and emotional security
♥ Finds the choice of entertainment easy
Audience pleasures:
♥ Masochistic
♥ Sadistic
♥ Visceral
♥ Intellectual- thriller/ “who dun nit” enigma
♥ Counter culture attraction- being able to break moral and legal regulations
♥ Counter reading- repertoire of elements this is created by fan groups or create genre through their shared interest. E.g. slasher created from fans who like elements of both horror and thriller.
♥ Audience are taking of the challenge to be scared and can release their taboo desires in a safe social context.
Slasher films
1960s:
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock): “granddaddy of the slasher genre”Villain/Psycho- Norman Bates
Final girl- split role between the two sisters Lila and Marion Crane
Hero-Sam Loomis
Failed authority figure: Arbogast
Narrative moment: “shower murder” became template for slasher films to follow. This scene is aimed at a male spectator as it has become fetishised through showing bits of Marion’s body, which is done to fit into the mentality of the killer/psycho. The phallic object is shown penetrating the women.
♥ The audiences are not reassured at the end as the film finished with Norman just laughing.
♥ Hitchcock is being sadistic to his audience
♥ The colour is black and white as black connotes bad/evil and white connotes good, which could be a metaphor for Norman Bates as the good aspect of him was the loyal son and the bad side of him was the mother. This reinforces misogyny and how the mother is to blame for his behaviour.
♥ The woman is older because there was not an emergence of youth culture at this point.
♥ Marion is punished for stealing and illicit sex, which is considered as deviant behaviour as she was pursuing her desire for money and passion. Again reinforcing misogyny and support the patriarchal conservative ideology.
♥ Monster becomes humane and something the audience could relate as horror films before Psycho; had monsters that were European like frankstien and mummies.
Wider context:
♥ Attitudes change towards sex, marriage and family life
♥ Relaxation in censorship in films
♥ Horror/suspense films reflect growing interest in psychology; schizophrenia and the killer as the boy next door rather then a monster or a vampire figure
♥ The Vietnam War (1964-1975) provided material for exploration of the horrors of the war and its dehumanising effects.
♥ 1961- contraceptive pill introduced- giving women greater control over their sex behaviour
♥ 1963- era of mini skirt and an increased in frankness of sex
♥ 1967- colour television introduced in Britain
♥ 1968- Assassination of Martin Luther King
1970s:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper)Villains: Leatherface (take on the role of the absent mother), Hitchhiker, OldMan and Grandfather
Final girl: Sally doesn’t have a boyfriend
Group of teenagers: Jerry, Franklin, Kirk and Pam
Murder weapons: knife, butcher’s hook, chainsaw and sledgehammer.
Set piece: chase between final girl and killer, the torture she is put through when she is tied to an armchair made out of human body parts.
The audience are not reassured at the end because Leatherface is left whirling his chainsaw around in a circle in the air. This connotes how his killing cycle will be everlasting, as a circle has no end. Additionally, this could be interpreted as symbolic masturbation as his killings are a metaphor for sex. However, they are reassured because sally escapes but she is mental when she does escape.
♥ Film was banned in mainstream cinema, was considered as a “video nasty” Video nasty was a term used to describe films that were distributed on video that were held by some to be unfit for domestic viewing. Many of these "video nasties" were low-budget horror films produced in Italy and the United States.
♥ Humans were considered as monsters which were capable of anything. In the film it was like a whole family of Ed Geins. It scares people because there are people like Ed Gein in the world.
♥ Dark humour is used in the film
♥ Reflects the zeitgeist by portraying the anxiety of the moral panic of the oil crisis.
Halloween (1978, John Carpenter)Conventional slasher film
Psycho/villain: Michael Myers is like the devil/ the personification of evil
Final girl: Laurie is a virgin and does not have a boyfriend
Group of teenagers: Annie, Lynda, Paul and Bob.
Failed authority figures: Sam Loomis
Phallic object: knife
♥ Enigmatic shots, point of view shots of the killer
♥ Intertextual reference to psycho (1960) Marion’s boyfriend Sam Loomis
♥ Set in a suburban area – links to the wider context the moral panic influenced “white flite” in which white middle class people went to live in safe suburban settings. However, what they repressed returns.
♥ Ideology of sex= death is promoted through Michael Myers seeing sex as a bad thing in Psychopathology. This is illustrated to the audience by him killing his sister as she is being irresponsible by having sex with her boyfriend instead of looking after Michael.
♥ Humour is used in film
♥ Exploitation films feature explosions, drug use, scantily clad women, nudity, machismo, forbidden sex, wanton violence, freaks and geeks, gore, monsters, destruction, rebellion and mayhem. Such films have existed since the earliest days of moviemaking, but they were popularized in the 1960s with the general relaxing of cinematic taboos in the U.S. and Europe. Was considered as an exploitation film but became a successful independent film.
♥ “Tale of the hook” (urban legend) was used to scare teenagers from having sex and was used in Halloween.
♥ Was not intended for a mass audience, but had a huge response there were people screaming when they watch it.
Wider context:
1970- Growth of feminism and demands for gender equality
1973:
♥ Oil crisis leads to three working day week in Britain,
♥ Film: “The Exorcist” (William Friedkin, 1973) causes controversy in the UK.
♥ “Festival of light” pressure group campaigns against pornography and violence in films
1975- Vietnam War is over- USA withdraw
1979- Margaret Thatcher comes to power
1980s:
Friday the 13th (1980, Sean S Cunningham)Villain: Mrs Voorhees
Final girl: Alice has masculine qualities this is established through her costume and appearance
Isolated location
♥ Enigma running though the whole film
♥ Counsellors punished for abandoning their responsibilities
♥ 1980s version of the Blair Witch Project
♥ violence was overt
♥ Major release because of the audience. Girls were the primary audience they would go with their friends and then go again with their boyfriends.
♥ No stars, low budget
♥ Real success in the last 3/4 minutes in the film where Jason emergences from the water
♥ Role reversal mother is psycho and has a split personality used as the novelty aspect of the film. Intertextual reference to Psycho
♥ Oedipal relationship between the mother and the son
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Wes Craven)Villain: Freddy Kruger has inhuman qualities as is very much like the “bogeyman”.
Final girl: Nancy is more resourceful and independent. She does not die and comes back in one of the sequels nightmare on elm street 3 and dies in that one. She saves herself on her own.
Failed authority figures: Nancy’s father who is a policeman. Parents are either physically or emotionally absent from the children. Police failed to grant the seriousness of the teenager’s worries and fears.
Group of teenagers: Glen, Teena, Rod
♥ Freddy Kruger- work of fiction as he was monstrous and devilish
♥ Fairytale: “Blood Chamber” going into a place where you shouldn’t
♥ Confine space because he invades the dream of teenagers
♥ Circular narrative starts off as a dream and ends as a dream
♥ Sleep=death because sleep is a teenage pleasure therefore is regarded as worthy of punishment
♥ Darkened boiler room analogy of the unconscious deep down underground, trapped
♥ Freud believed a dream is an unconscious desires and wishes being fulfilled and a nightmare is a wish gone wrong
♥ Wes Craven’s new nightmare (1994) Kruger as a character making fun of the genre.
♥ Kruger was the iconic monster of the 80s
♥ Franchising Freddy Kruger made him less scary as he became a lovable character through merchandising him through dolls and making lots of sequels which resulted in the audience becoming familiarised with him taking away the impact he once had on an audience. Additionally, by franchising him it took away the character from the plot.
Wider context:
1981- Economic depression- unemployment reaches 3million
1982- AIDS identified and named
1984/1985-Under the 1984 Act, the BBFC was renamed the 'British Board of Film Classification' and became responsible for the certification of both cinema and video releases. All video releases after 1 September 1985 had to comply with the Act and be submitted for classification by the BBFC. Films released on video before that date had to be re-submitted for classification within the following three years. The increased possibility of videos falling into the hands of children required that film classification for video be a separate process from cinema classification. Films that had passed uncut for cinema release were often cut for video.
1986- Widespread homophobic reaction to AIDS
1989- Collapse of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe
1990s:
Scream (1996, Wes Craven)Villains: Billy Loomis
Final girl: Sidney Prescott had boyfriend and is not a virgin
Failed authority figures: Dewey
Phallic objects: gun, knife
♥ Post-modern text- Intertextual references to a number of films some examples are: Halloween, Prom Night, Candyman, Basic Instinct, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Exorcist, Silence Of The Lambs, Nightmare On Elm Street…
♥ Explicitly state the conventions making it a self referential text/self reflexive
♥ Reference to film and film making
♥ Killer is not monstrous is a normal person
♥ 3rd wave feminism women can have sex- attitudes to sex have changed
♥ knowing audience
♥ who dun nit enigma running through the film
♥ refers to why audience watch horror films
♥ reinvigorates slasher genre
♥ is a pastiche because borrows elements of other texts for example the opening of “ when a stranger calls” and parody to some extent as the mask mocks previous slasher masks.
Wider context:
1991- Development of the Internet
1995- Film “Natural Born Killer” (Oliver Stone, 1995) cause controversy
2000:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003, Marcus Nispel)Villains: Leatherface and his family
Final girl: Erin has a boyfriend
Group of teenagers: Morgan, Pepper, Andy, Kemper
Failed authority figure: Sheriff Hoyt, old women at the diner
♥ killings are more graphic
♥ final girl has to kill her own friend can reflect euthanasia play more of an active role she tries to save her friends, tries to save her male friends who is badly hurt
♥ more suspense as audiences are more desensitised now
Wider context:
2000- Project for New American Century see the USA as globally dominant
Why genre changes over time?
♥ Changes in target audience
The demographics influence the way a text is made, they decide on things like the special effects used. Target audience for films have become younger over the years and could be the reason why slasher films are aimed primarily at teenage audience. This is called “juvenilisation” of cinema. Moreover, research states in heterosexual relationship the woman tends to pick the film whereas the man pays. This suggests the films have to carefully marketed to attract the female audience.
♥ Changes in audience expectations
Audience are more sophisticated viewers therefore an audience reading a text from and established genre is likely to be familiarised with the codes and conventions of the genre from looking at other similar texts. Filmmakers can manipulate the audience emotions by meeting or cheating the expectations. Therefore a certain amount repetition and variation is required for the audience to gain satisfaction. Furthermore, the genre is kept fresh through developing parody, pastiche and hybrid forms. However, to enjoy these new developments you would have to have knowledge on previous texts. For example, in order to enjoy “Scary Movie” (2000, Keenen Ivory Wayans) you would have to be familiar with the conventions of both parody and horror to see how the genre has changed.
♥ Changes in society, ideologies, values and representations
Contemporary audience are harder to shock and are desensitised to the representations of graphic violence, sexual images and “bad” language.
Feminism has helped improve the representation of women
Vietnam War has been reflected in films
♥ Censorship and codes of conduct
Relaxation of censorship has made audience desensitised to graphic sex and violence. However, in 1960s explicit nudity was banned and swearing and excessive and lustful kissing was considered unacceptable.
♥ Influence of particular texts, stars, authors and directors
Some stars, directors and authors have a big impact on audience. For example Alfred Hitchcock’s work has amazed audiences that that his work in influenced in contemporary thrillers as a result of this he is referred to as “the master of suspense.”
♥ Media institution e.g. film industry
Powerful media owners fund the text which goes through a process of production, editing and marketing the text. Over time, particular studios or publishers become associated with particular genres and they will influence the style or themes of the text they produce. For example dark castle entertainment which is a production house associated with Warner Brothers that help with horror film remakes from the 1950/60s. Some of the films they have made are:
(x) House on Haunted Hill (1999)
(x) Ghost Ship (2002)
(x) Gothika (2003)
(x) House of Wax (2005)
♥ Changes in technology
() Steadicam is development in technology that helps with stalking shots.
() Development in digital video editing techniques have led to fast paced editing and exact pacing of music with on-screen action.
() Films can be marketed through internet
How slasher genre appears in other media?
Eminem is a rapper who uses iconic elements from slasher film when he is performing. For example, the Jason’s hockey mask from “Friday the 13th” is used and the chainsaw is from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is used. This is used in a post modern way and is communicating to his fans in a short hand way that he is like a psycho who people can not control.
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