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
aprì la strada alle grandi produzioni
hollywoodiane degli anni Cinquanta (es. il
remake de I dieci comandamenti - si veda il
video in basso a sinistra), che, oltre a tornare
sugli schermi francesi, aprirono la strada ai
film italiani (spesso a basso budget) degli anni
'60 (come Ulisse - si veda il video in basso a
destra), ai quali alla fine fu assegnato il
termine "peplum". Sebbene il termine abbia
poi cominciato ad essere associato a un gran
numero di film di questo genere, ma molto
diversi per paese di origine, livello di budget e
background ideologico, lo stesso termine non
si è mai effettivamente diffuso in America,
dove è stato piuttosto utilizzato il termine
"epico" - applicato anche a film successivi
come Spartacus (di Stanley Kubrick, USA
1960) o, più recentemente, Il gladiatore (di
Ridley Scott, USA 2000).
to the (often low-budget) Italian movies of the
1960s (like Ulysses - watch the video below
right), with which the term "peplum" was
eventually attached. Although the term then
began to be associated to a large number of
films of this sort, but vastly different in terms
of country of origin, level of budget and
ideological background, the same term never
actually spread in America, where the term
"epic" was rather used - also applied to such
later different films as Spartacus (by Stanley
Kubrick, USA 1960) or, more recently,
Gladiator (by Ridley Scott, USA 2000).
I dieci comandamenti/The ten commandments
(diby Cecil B. De Mille, USA 1956)
Ulisse/Ulysses (di/by Mario Camerini, Mario
Bava (non accreditato/uncredited),
Italia/USA/Francia - Italy/USA/France 1954)
Il film completo è disponibile qui/The full film
in Italian with subtitles is available here.
13. Generi e "cicli"
13. Genres and "cycles"
UN MOMENTO PER RIFLETTERE
La saga di James Bond è probabilmente una delle
più longeve del settore, avendo prodotto finora
(2021) venticinque film, dal primissimo Agente
007, licenza di uccidere (di Terence Young,
GB/USA 1962).
Per rinfrescarti la memoria sulla saga di 007,
guarda la compilation qui sotto e, se possibile,
STOP AND THINK
The James Bond saga is probably one of the
longest running in the industry, having
produced so far (2021) twenty-five movies
since the very first one, Dr. No (by Terence
Young, GB/USA 1962).
To refresh your memory about the 007 saga,
watch the compilation below - and, if possible,
think back to Bond films you have watched and
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