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
La saga di Alien/The Alien saga
Queste considerazioni ci aiutano anche a
comprendere il potenziale dei generi
cinematografici come agenti socio-culturali. Il
consumo di film di genere, spesso (sebbene oggi
sicuramente meno che in passato) svolto come
esperienza collettiva, fornisce non solo il piacere
di vedere sullo schermo l'espressione dei propri
valori e/o conflitti, ma anche l'opportunità di
vivere l'esperienza della condivisione di
preoccupazioni comuni, di sentire (anche se
forse brevemente e fugacemente) un senso di
"comunità". Naturalmente, come abbiamo
appena visto, questa visione dei generi
cinematografici è sempre filtrata da ideologie
contrapposte.
Allo stesso tempo, però, le funzioni socioculturali
dei generi cinematografici, come li
abbiamo considerati in questa sezione, devono
prestare la dovuta attenzione al ruolo del
pubblico, poiché i film acquisiscono il loro
pieno significato quando vengono
effettivamente visti, analizzati e interpretati da
spettatori reali, che non sono solo destinatari
passivi di suoni e immagini dallo schermo. Le
esperienze degli spettatori con i film precedenti,
le loro motivazioni, aspettative, credenze e
atteggiamenti interagiscono con i film come
testi, rendendo il pubblico parte attiva del
processo, iper cui le funzioni dei generi possono
essere valutate solo alla luce di questa
interazione. Inoltre, la stragrande maggioranza
degli studi sui generi cinematografici riguarda i
film di Hollywood, insinuando così il dubbio di
una visione etnocentrica. Altre industrie
cinematografiche, che sono l'espressione di
culture diverse, producono generi
cinematografici che possono essere interpretati
in modo molto diverso.
Certamente le industrie cinematografiche di
Hollywood (e, almeno in parte, più in generale
These considerations also help us to realize the
potential of film genres as socio-cultural agents.
The consumption of generic films, often
(although now certainly less than in the past)
carried out as a collective experience, provides
not just the pleasure of seeing one's own values
and/or conflicts expressed on the screen, but also
the opportunity to experience the sharing of
common concerns, of feeling (although maybe
briefly and fleetingly) a sense of "community". Of
course, as we have just seen, this view of film
genres is always filtered through opposing
ideologies.
At the same time, however, the socio-cultural
functions of film genres, as we have considered
them in this section, must give due attention to
the role of audiences, since films acquire their
full meaning when they are actually seen,
analysed and interpreted by actual viewers, who
are not just passive recipients of sounds and
images from the screen. Viewers' experiences
with previous films, their motivations,
expectations, beliefs and attitudes interact with
the films as texts, making audiences active
participants in the process, so that the functions
of genres can only be assessed in the light of this
interaction. Also, the vast majority of studies on
film genres deal with Hollywood movies, thereby
insinuating the doubt of an ethnocentric view.
Other film industries, which are the expression of
different cultures, produce film genres that may
be interpreted quite differently.
Certainly the Hollywood (and, at least partially,
more generally Western) cinema industries are
powerful financial corporations, obviously
serving the economic and ideological interest of
their stakeholders, which makes their products
(films, and film genres in particular) capable of
exercising a degree of control on the receptive
side as well, i.e. on audiences. This is a crucial
key in explaining the success of a Hollywood
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