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
etichette generiche, differenziandolo così dai
suoi possibili concorrenti.
11.2. La funzione socio-culturale
La discussione sulle funzioni che i generi
svolgono nel contesto socio-culturale è stata
pesantemente influenzata da preoccupazioni
ideologiche. Per alcuni, i generi sono uno dei
modi migliori attraverso i quali il pubblico può
vedere le proprie speranze, aspirazioni, valori,
credenze e atteggiamenti rispecchiati sullo
schermo; per altri, sono invece un modo
attraverso il quale le istituzioni (sia private che
pubbliche) possono veicolare messaggi,
influenzare il comportamento delle persone e
mantenere lo status quo, ovvero i valori e le
ideologie delle classi dominanti e i rapporti di
potere prevalenti. Questo, a sua volta, indica due
concetti molto diversi della funzione dei mass
media nelle società moderne: uno che enfatizza
il valore della produzione popolare (di massa),
l'altro che vede questa produzione come alienata
e repressa dal sistema sociale dominante. In ogni
caso, non c'è dubbio che i generi
cinematografici, come tutti gli altri artefatti
culturali, non siano neutri, ma piuttosto
esprimano visioni del mondo diverse, se non
addirittura alternative.
I generi cinematografici (come tutti gli esempi
di "generi") sono caratterizzati da alcuni tratti
ricorrenti, se non ripetitivi, che tendono a fornire
al pubblico personaggi, storie, situazioni che
possono facilmente trasformarsi in stereotipi.
Ora, gli stereotipi sono visioni eccessivamente
semplificate, che negano la singolarità e la
differenziazione e promuovono giudizi di valore
generici e facilmente formulabili - in quanto tali,
si prestano facilmente a ridurre la complessità e
la diversità dei fenomeni a idee semplicistiche.
Il "lieto fine" di molti film (di Hollywood) è
spesso citato per provare come un pubblico
possa essere facilmente influenzato e "alienato"
rispetto alla pura e dura realtà, suggerendo sogni
e aspirazioni che difficilmente possono essere
realizzati per la maggior parte dei membri del
pubblico stesso nel mondo reale. Questo è stato
considerato come un modo per distrarre gli
spettatori dai problemi che li attendono fuori dal
cinema, lontano dallo schermo - una funzione
11.2. The socio-cultural function
The discussion on the functions that genres fulfil
in the socio-cultural context has been heavily
influenced by ideological concerns. For some,
genres are one of the best ways through which
audiences can see their hopes, aspirations,
values, beliefs and attitudes mirrored on the
screen; for others, they are instead a way
through which institutions (both private and
public) can convey messages, influence people's
behaviour and maintain the status quo, i.e. the
values and ideologies of the dominant classes
and the prevailing power relationships. This, in
turn, points to two very different concepts of the
function of mass media in modern societies - one
emphasizing the value of popular (mass)
production, the other seeing this production as
alienated and repressed by the dominant social
system. In any case, there is no doubt that film
genres, as all other cultural artifacts, are not
neutral, but rather express different, even
alternative, world views.
Film genres (like all examples of "genres") are
characterized by some recurring, if not repetitive,
features, which tend to provide audiences with
characters, stories, situations which can easily
turn into stereotypes. Now, stereotypes are oversimplified
views that deny singularity and
differentiation and promote generic, ready-made
value judgments - as such, they lend themselves
easily to reducing the complexity and diversity of
phenomena to simplistic ideas. The "happy
ending" of many (Hollywood) movies is often
cited to show how an audience can easily be
influenced and alienated from the harsh facts of
reality, suggesting dreams and aspirations that
can hardly be realized for most members of the
audience itself in the real world. This has been
considered as a way to distract viewers away
from the problems that await them outside the
theatre, far from the screen - an "escapist",
illusionary function that generic films can fulfil,
especially at particular times in history. The
musical genre of the 1930s, for example, by
offering love stories in a (usually) high-level
social context, where "problems" can be solved
by singing and dancing, leading to the bliss of the
couple in question (remember the Astaire-Rogers
films) has been seen as a powerful instrument to
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