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
cinemafocus.eu
sopravvive alla sparatoria finale tre contro uno (si
veda il video in basso a sinistra);
Ringo survives the three-against-one final
shootout (watch video below left);
c) la trama di "transizione", in cui l'eroe alla fine c) the "transition" plot, in which the hero
lascia la società, come in Mezzogiorno di fuoco (di eventually leaves society, as in High noon (by
Fred Zinnemann, USA 1952), dove lo sceriffo Fred Zinnemann, USA 1952), where Sheriff
Kane, dopo aver sparato a un feroce fuorilegge, Kane, after shooting a vicious outlaw, throws
getta nel fango la sua stella e parte con la moglie his marshal's star in the dirt and departs with
Amy sul loro carro (si veda il video in basso a newly-married Amy on their wagon (watch
destra);
video below right);
d) la trama "professionale", con professionisti
"pagati" per combattere per la legge, come in Un
dollaro d'onore (di Howard Hawks, USA 1959),
ma anche in film western "new wave" (o della
"New ollywood") come I professionisti (di
Richard Brooks, USA 1966) e Il mucchio
selvaggio (di Sam Peckinpah, USA 1969).
d) the "professional" plot,
featuring professionals "paid" to fight for the
law, as in Rio Bravo (by Howard Hawks, USA
1959), but also in "new wave" western films
like The Professionals (by Richard Brooks,
USA 1966) and The Wild Bunch (by Sam
Peckinpah, USA 1969).
Queste strutture di base della trama sono
completate da un insieme di personaggi tipici
(l'eroe, il cattivo e la società rappresentata, ad
esempio, dalla gente di una città o da un gruppo di
allevatori) e dalle già menzionate opposizioni tra
valori di base (esterno contro interno, bene contro
male, forte contro debole e selvaggio contro
civilizzato). Tali opposizioni costituiscono le
relazioni strutturali che stanno alla base delle
situazioni e delle azioni del western "classico",
che possono essere così riassunte:
These basic plot structures are complemented
by a set of typical characters (the hero, the
villain, and society as represented, e.g., by a
town's folks or a group of ranchers) and by the
already mentioned oppositions between basic
values (exterior vs interior, good vs evil, strong
vs weak and wild vs civilized). Such oppositions
constitute the structural relationships that lie at
the basis of the situations and actions of the
"classical" western, which can be summarized
like this:
"Il western è sempre ambientato su o vicino a una
frontiera, dove l'uomo incontra il suo doppio non
civilizzato. Il western si svolge così al confine tra
due terre, tra due epoche, e con un eroe che
rimane diviso tra due sistemi di valori (perché
unisce la morale della città con le abilità del
fuorilegge)." (Nota 10)
"The Western is always set on or near a
frontier, where man encounters his uncivilized
double. The Western thus takes place on the
border between two lands, between two eras,
and with a hero who remains divided between
two value systems (for he combines the town's
morals with the outlaw's skills)." (Note 10)
Video 1 Video 2
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