Film genres: features, functions, evolution
This Interactive workshop aims at exploring the origin of genres, their functions in cinema and their evolution, with particular emphasis on the latest developments. We first ask why we need genres at all and examine the variety of classification criteria that can be used. Then we focus on the specific features of genre films, analysing their conventions and their narrative structures. We then explore how different agents (from producers to audiences, from critics to film scholars) have used and still use genres, and highlight their economic, sociocultural and communicative functions. Finally, by taking a historical perspective, we explore how genres have evolved in the course of time and how modern cinema extensively use genre mixing and hybridization, thus pointing to the future of this important but complex category of film analysis. Part of the www.cinemafocus.eu research materials.
This Interactive workshop aims at exploring the origin of genres, their functions in cinema and their evolution, with particular emphasis on the latest developments. We first ask why we need genres at all and examine the variety of classification criteria that can be used. Then we focus on the specific features of genre films, analysing their conventions and their narrative structures. We then explore how different agents (from producers to audiences, from critics to film scholars) have used and still use genres, and highlight their economic, sociocultural and communicative functions. Finally, by taking a historical perspective, we explore how genres have evolved in the course of time and how modern cinema extensively use genre mixing and hybridization, thus pointing to the future of this important but complex category of film analysis. Part of the www.cinemafocus.eu research materials.
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I generi cinematografici: caratteristiche, funzioni, evoluzione
Film genres: features, functions, evolution
attraverso diverse fasi:
a) vengono descritti e discussi i preparativi per
l'esperimento: gli scienziati spiegano le proprie
motivazioni per provare l'esperimento stesso;
b) l'esperimento ha successo, il che rafforza la
fiducia in se stesso dello scienziato (spesso pazzo)
(si veda il video in basso a sinistra, da
Frankenstein);
c) l'esperimento mostra il suo lato più oscuro e il
suo fallimento morale: il mostro sfugge al
controllo dello scienziato e provoca vittime
innocenti. E' il caso del mostro di Frankenstein
che affoga una ragazzina;
d) la distruzione finale del mostro, come in La
mosca, dove Veronica, l'amante del mostro, alla
fine lo uccide; o l'autodistruzione, come in Dr.
Jekyll e Mr. Hide, dove il mostruoso Hyde viene
colpito dalla polizia e si trasforma di nuovo in
Jekyll (si veda il video in basso a destra, dalla
versione del 1941).
its sequels). Again, the story develops through
different phases:
a) the preparations for the experiment are
described and discussed, with the scientists
providing their own rationale for trying out the
experiment itself;
b) the experiment is successful, boosting the
self-confidence of the (mad) scientist (watch
video below left, from Frankenstein);
c) the experiment shows its darker side and
moral failure: the monster escapes from the
scientist's control and causes innocent victims.
This is the case of Frankenstein's monster
drowning a young girl;
d) the final destruction of the monster, as in
The fly, where the monster's lover Veronica
eventually kills him; or self-destruction, as in
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, where the monstrous
Hyde is shot by the police and transforms back
into Jekyll (watch video below right, from the
1941 version).
Video 1 Video 2
Simili tentativi di definire un genere in base alla Similar attempts at defining a genre on the
sua struttura narrativa hanno coinvolto anche il basis of its story structure have involved the
western. Wright (Nota 9) individua quattro western, too. Wright (Note 9) identifies four
principali tipologie di trama, che compaiono in major types of plot, appearing in some very
alcuni film di grande successo, che possono quindi successful movies, which can thus be
essere considerati rappresentanti del genere: considered as representatives of the genre:
a) la trama "classica": si tratta di uno straniero
solitario che arriva in una città travagliata e
ristabilisce la legge e l'ordine, come in Gli
avventurieri (di Michael Curtiz, USA 1939);
a) the "classical" plot: this involves a lone
stranger who arrives in a troubled town and
restores law and order, as in Dodge City (by
Michael Curtiz, USA 1939);
b) la trama della "vendetta", come in Ombre rosse b) the "vengeance" plot, as in Stagecoach (by
(di John Ford, USA 1939), dove il fuggitivo Ringo John Ford, USA 1939), where the fugitive
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