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
musicali, un tempo famoso ma ora quasi
dimenticato, che riesce a organizzare il suo
ritorno sul palcoscenico con l'aiuto di alcuni
amici: la fine del film è infatti una sorta di
celebrazione di Astaire e, con lui, del glorioso
passato del genere musicale (si veda il video in
basso a sinistra). Come abbiamo accennato per il
western, anche il musical iniziò a incorporare
temi e toni di generi diversi: l'esempio più chiaro
è forse Sette spose per sette fratelli, che è
sostanzialmente un musical ambientato in un
contesto western (si veda il video in basso a
destra).
with the help of some friends: the end of the film
is in fact a sort of celebration of Astaire and,
with him, of the glorious past of the musical
genre (watch the video below left). As we
mentioned about the western, the musical, too,
started to incorporate themes and tones from
different genres: the clearest example is perhaps
Seven brides for seven brothers, which is
basically a musical in a western setting (watch
the video below right).
Spettacolo di varietà/The Band Wagon (di/by
Vincente Minnelli, USA 1953)
Sette spose per sette fratelli/Seven brides for
seven sisters (di/by Stanley Donen, USA 1954)
12.2. L'evoluzione finale: la parodia e la satira
L'evoluzione dei generi, in particolare il loro
passaggio da una fase di maturità "classica"
verso nuove forme (ed eventualmente nuovi
generi o sottogeneri) include quindi fenomeni
come l'inclusione di nuovi temi o argomenti, la
parziale mescolanza con altri generi, la tendenza
a diventare autoreferenziali (e quindi a
raggiungere una sorta di riflessività) e, come
cambiamento più radicale, la comparsa di
parodie del genere cinematografico stesso, in un
certo senso il riconoscimento finale che un
genere ha pienamente sviluppato il suo
potenziale intrinseco e può ora essere sfruttato a
livello secondario, denunciando e satireggiando
le sue forme e le sue convenzioni.
Nelle parodie, temi, argomenti e convenzioni di
un genere vengono riciclati con uno scopo
comico. Questo, ovviamente, presuppone che il
pubblico sia pienamente a conoscenza delle
caratteristiche principali di un dato genere, in
modo che gli spettatori possano riconoscerle:
ciò, a sua volta, offre agli stessi spettatori un
doppio motivo di intrattenimento, poiché
possono godere delle convenzioni originali del
genere parodiato e, allo stesso tempo, godere del
modo comico o satirico in cui vengono trattate
tali convenzioni.
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12.2. The ultimate evolution: parody and satire
The evolution of genres, especially their
transition fron a "classic" maturity stage
towards new forms (and possibly new genres or
sub-genres) thus includes such phenomena as
the inclusion of new themes or topics, the partial
mixing with other genres, the tendency to
become self-referential (and therefore achieve
some kind of reflexivity) and, as a more radical
change, the appearance of parodies of the film
genre itself, in a way the ultimate recognition
that a genre has fully developed its intrinsic
potential and can now be exploited on a
secondary level, by exposing and satirizing its
forms and conventions.
In parodies, themes, topics and conventions of a
genre are recycled with a comic purpose. This,
of course, presupposes that the audience is fully
knowledgeable with the main features of a given
genre, so that viewers can recognize them: this,
in turn, gives the same viewers a double cause
for entertainment, since they can enjoy the
original conventions of the parodied genre and,
at the same time, enjoy the comic or satirical
way in which such conventions are treated.
Practically every genre has given rise to
corresponding parodies, which have sometimes
been very successful as "original" movies in