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
Eppure, si può parlare di un genere
cinematografico "James Bond" (o, più o meno
negli stessi termini, di un genere "Rocky" o
"Rambo")? Probabilmente no, e possiamo provare
ad elencare alcuni dei motivi principali.
Innanzitutto, l'"immagine" del protagonista (e le
associate "immagini pubbliche" degli attori che lo
interpretano, da Sean Connery in poi) è unica,
sebbene sia stata replicata più volte con diversi
gradi di successo, ed è così distintiva che spesso
risulta più interessante delle trame stesse. In
secondo luogo, e d'altra parte, gli "ingredienti"
della saga, in particolare i motivi sessuali e
tecnologici, non sono certamente esclusivi dei
film di Bond. Terzo, gli argomenti/temi sono
condivisi anche da altri tipi di film. In quarto
luogo, si può dire che i film di Bond
"ammicchino" ad altri generi, dalla commedia alla
fantascienza, dall'avventura al romanticismo. Così
la saga di 007 non si è trasformata in un genere
riconosciuto, ma è rimasta un "ciclo" indipendente
di grande successo, come un marchio irripetibile.
Al contrario, i cosiddetti "film catastrofici", che si
può dire inizino nei primi anni '70 con film come
L'avventura del Poseidon (si veda il video qui
sotto), mostrano tutte le qualità per dare vita a un
genere. "I film catastrofici sono film che
descrivono un disastro imminente o in corso come
elemento centrale della trama. I film in genere
presentano grandi cast e trame multiple e si
concentrano sui tentativi dei protagonisti di
evitare, fuggire o affrontare il disastro
presentato" (Nota 6). Tali film, a differenza dei
film di Bond, non sono incentrati su un singolo
personaggio interessante, ma sono unificati dal
livello di "disastro" della trama e dagli sviluppi
condivisi della storia che di solito portano a un
lieto fine (sebbene spesso con una massiccia
perdita di vite umane e altre spaventose
conseguenze). Tali caratteristiche condivise sono
diventate così distintive in un gran numero di film
che il "disastro" qualifica ormai un insieme
specifico di film, cioè un genere (forse all'interno
del più generale genere "avventura", che nel
frattempo ha talmente ampliato il suo campo di
applicazione da essere troppo "generico" come
genere...).
"La nascita di un genere cinematografico è
sempre il risultato di una combinazione di fattori,
70
genre (or, in much the same terms, of a
"Rocky" or "Rambo" genres)? Probably not,
and we can try to list some of the main reasons
for this. First, the "image" of the protagonist
(and the associated "public images" of the
actors playing him, from Sean Connery
onwards) is unique, although it has been
replicated several times with different degrees
of success, and is so distinctive that it is often
more interesting than the plots themselves.
Second, and on the other hand, the
"ingredients" of the saga, most notably the
sexual and technological motifs, are certainly
not unique to the Bond films. Third, the
topics/themes are also shared by other kinds of
films. Fourth, the Bond films can be said to
"beckon" to other genres, from comedy to
science fiction, from adventure to romance.
Thus the 007 saga has not turned into a
recognized genre, but has remained a highly
successful, independent "cycle", like a brand
which cannot be replicated.
By contrast, the so-called "disaster movies",
which can be said to begin in the early 1970s
with movies like The Poseidon adventure
(watch the video below), display all the
qualities to give birth to a genre. "Disaster
films are motion pictures which depict an
impending or ongoing disaster as a central plot
feature. The films typically feature large casts
and multiple storylines and focus on the
protagonists' attempts to avert, escape, or cope
with the disaster presented." (Note 6). Such
movies, unlike the Bond films, are not focussed
on a single interesting character but are unified
by the "disaster" level of the plot and by shared
story developments which usually lead to a
happy end (although often with a massive loss
of lives and other terrifying consequences).
Such shared features have become so
distinctive in a large number of movies that
"disaster" now qualifies a specific set of films,
i.e. a genre (perhaps within the more general
"adventure" genre, which has in the meantime
so widened its scope as to be much too
"generic" as a genre ...).
"The birth of a cinematic genre is always the
outcome of a combination of factors, being the
result of a process in which several cinematic