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
Nel Video 1, le convenzioni di genere indicano
chiaramente questo film come un horror.
Tuttavia, dopo i primi 60 secondi, si sente
"Azione!" e altre voci in sottofondo, e ci
rendiamo conto che si stava girando un film
horror: vediamo il set, e l'attore che viene
aiutato a uscire dalla sua posizione (scopriremo
che soffre di claustrofobia!). Quindi il video
procede con i titoli di testa sovrapposti alla
presentazione del personaggio principale, e non
abbiamo altre indicazioni del suo genere reale.
Tuttavia, se abbiamo familiarità con il regista
De Palma e la sua produzione cinematografica,
abbiamo buone ragioni per supporre che il film
che ci è stato presentato sarà una sorta di thriller
(con la sequenza iniziale che funziona a tutti gli
effetti come una parodia dei film horror). Se
abbiamo visto e ricordiamo il film vero e
proprio (Omicidio a luci rosse) siamo
ovviamente in una posizione migliore per
interpretare e apprezzare questa sequenza di
apertura.
Il Video 2 è, ancora una volta, una chiara
introduzione a un film horror. Tuttavia, anche in
questo caso la nostra precedente conoscenza del
film e del suo regista (Mel Brooks) e/o degli
attori (incluso Gene Wilder) ci consentirà di
assegnare questo film a un genere speciale - la
commedia horror (o, ancora, una parodia dei
film horror, e dei film di Frankenstein in
particolare).
Tutto ciò mostra chiaramente che gli spettatori
iniziano a guardare un film con molti tipi di
informazioni precedenti memorizzate nella loro
mente, per quanto riguarda il film stesso, ma
anche il regista, gli attori, il tema/argomento - e
queste informazioni provengono da ogni sorta di
fonti diverse, come pubblicità, trailer televisivi,
recensioni di film, articoli di giornali e riviste,
discussioni con gli amici, chat, blog, siti Web su
Internet, ecc. Ciò indica alcuni fatti importanti.
Innanzitutto, gli spettatori utilizzano tutte queste
informazioni di base come la parte dall'"alto
verso il basso" (top-down) del processo di
visione, integrandole con le informazioni che
provengono dal "basso" (bottom-up), dal film
che stanno effettivamente guardando. In
secondo luogo, i generi si stabiliscono non solo
attraverso i film stessi, ma anche attraverso
In Video 1, the genre conventions clearly point to
this movie as a horror. However, after the first
60 seconds, we hear "Action!" and other voices
in the background, and we realize that this was a
horror movie being shot: we see the set, and the
actor being helped out of his position (we will
discover that he suffers from claustrophobia!).
Then the video proceeds with the opening credits
superimposed on the presentation of the main
character, and we have no other indication of its
actual genre. However, if we are familiar with
director De Palma and its film production, we
have good reason to assume that the film we have
just been introduced to will be some sort of
thriller (with the opening sequence working at all
effects as a parody of horror films). If we have
seen and remember the actual film (Body double)
we are of course in a better position to interpret
and appreciate this opening sequence.
Video 2 is, again, a clear introduction to a
horror film. However, even in this case our own
previous knowledge of the film and of its director
(Mel Brooks) and/or actors (including Gene
Wilder) will enable us to assign this movie to a
special genre - the comedy-horror (or, again, a
parody of horror films, and of the Frankenstein
films in particular).
All this clearly shows that viewers start watching
a movie with many kinds of previous information
stored in their minds, as regards the movie itself,
but also the director, the actors, the theme/topic -
and this information comes from all sorts of
different sources, like advertisements, TV
trailers, film reviews, newspaper and magazine
articles, discussions with friends, chats, blog and
web sites on the Internet, etc. This points to some
important facts. First, viewers use all this
background information as the top-down part of
the viewing process, integrating it with the
information that comes, bottom-up, from the film
they are actually watching. Second, genres are
established not only through the films themselves,
but also through many other sources of
information which, directly and indirectly, form a
network of communicative discourses which
intersect and interact with the main relationship
between the producers (the film companies) and
the consumers (the audiences), as shown in the
figure at the beginning of this Dossier (Section
52