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
temi principali temi come la diffusione della
civiltà contro gli "indiani selvaggi", il
contrasto tra un selvaggio West senza legge e
l'istituzione di diritto e giustizia, o la
costruzione di un'identità americana legata alla
colonizzazione delle terre occidentali, che il
termine "western" iniziò ad essere assegnato a
film che esibivano tali temi e attivavano
rilevanti aspettative di pubblico (si veda il
video in basso a destra).
to films exhibiting such issues and activating
relevant audience expectations (watch the
video below right).
Follie d'inverno/Swing time (di/by George
Stevens, USA 1936)
Quindi, secondo questa visione, l'emergere di
un nuovo genere è un processo che implica la
presa di coscienza, sia da parte della
produzione (industrie cinematografiche) sia da
parte della ricezione (pubblico
cinematografico) di un insieme di film che
possono essere attribuiti a un certo tipo perché
esprimono specifici tipi di forma e/o
contenuto. Ciò significa che lo stesso genere
può emergere in contesti e in tempi diversi, per
cui è difficile, se non impossibile, "inquadrare"
un genere con una specifica "data di nascita".
Moine (Nota 5) fornisce l'esempio del
cosiddetto "peplum", cioè film ambientati
nell'antichità in contesti egiziani, greci,
romani o anche immaginari: film di questo tipo
furono prodotti precocemente nel cinema
italiano (es. Quo vadis?, di Enrico Guazzoni,
Italia 1913, o Cabiria, di Giovanni Pastrone,
Italia 1914) così come a Hollywood (es. I dieci
comandamenti, di Cecil B. De Mille, USA
1923, o Ben Hur, di Fred Niblo, USA 1926),
ma il termine "peplum" stesso emerse in
Francia solo negli anni '60 e solo dopo che fu
adottato dal pubblico. Perché ciò avvenga,
però, bisognerà attendere la produzione
italiana di film "ideologici" dell'epoca
mussoliniana (come Scipione l'Africano, di
Carmine Gallone, Italia 1937) e dell'immediato
dopoguerra (con film come Le fatiche di
Ercole, di Pietro Francisci, Italia 1957): questo
La carovana dei mormoni/Wagon master (di/by
John Ford, USA 1950)
Thus, according to this view, the emergence of
a new genre is a process which implies an
awareness, from both production (cinema
industries) and reception (cinema audiences)
of a set of films which can be attributed to a
certain type because they express specific
kinds of form and/or content. This means that
the same genre can emerge in different
contexts and at different times, so that it is
difficult, if not impossible, to "pin down" a
genre to a specific "date of birth". Moine (Note
5) provides the example of the so-called
"peplum", i.e. films set in ancient times
in Egyptian, Greek, Roman or even imaginary
contexts: films of this type were produced early
in Italian cinema (e.g. Quo vadis?, by Enrico
Guazzoni, Italy 1913, or Cabiria, by Giovanni
Pastrone, Italy 1914) as well as in Hollywood
(e.g. The ten commandments, by Cecil B. De
Mille, USA 1923, or Ben Hur, by Fred Niblo,
USA 1926), but the term "peplum" itself only
emerged in France in the 1960s, and only after
that it was adopted by general audiences. For
this to take place, however, we have to wait
until the Italian production of Italian
ideological films of the Mussolini era (like
Scipio the African, by Carmine Gallone, Italy
1937) and immediately after the war (with
films like Labours of Hercules, by Pietro
Francisci, Italy 1957): this opened the way to
the big Hollywood productions of the 1950s
(e.g. the remake of The ten commandments -
watch the video below left), which, besides
reaching French screens again, paved the way
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