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
dei casi, il pubblico contemporaneo (ma anche
produttori, critici, studiosi, ecc.) non era
consapevole che un genere "stava nascendo".
Moine (Nota 10) cita l'esempio di Mildred Pierce
(si veda il video sotto), che è stato descritto, volta
per volta, come un melodramma, un film
"femminile e un film noir, quando in realtà
dovremmo dire che questo film è stato
considerato, in tempi diversi e da persone diverse,
come un melodramma, un film "femminile" e un
film noir - il che evidenzia il fatto che
l'interpretazione critica può variare nel tempo e in
base alle mutate sensibilità e aspettative culturali.
contemporary audiences (but also producers,
critics, scholars, etc.) are not aware that a
genre "is being born". Moine (Note 10) quotes
the example of Mildred Pierce (watch the video
below), which has been described, in turn, as a
melodrama, a woman's film and a film noir,
when in reality we should say that this film has
been considered, at various times and by
different people, as a melodrama, a woman's
film and a film noir - which highlights the fact
that critical interpretation can vary across time
and on the basis of changing cultural
sensibilities and expectations.
Il romanzo di Mildred/Mildred Pierce (di/by Michael Curtiz, USA 1945)
Certo, la principale preoccupazione economica
dell'industria cinematografica è quella di rendere
un film il più redditizio possibile, e questo può
essere ottenuto, paradossalmente, non
promuovendo un film come esempio di un genere
specifico, perché ciò rischierebbe di alienare il
possibile pubblico non interessato a quel
particolare genere. Un film può quindi essere
promosso con una varietà di etichette, spesso
mescolando generi diversi (come
commedia/azione), oppure possono essere incluse
caratteristiche di generi diversi nel film stesso,
con l'obiettivo di attirare il pubblico più ampio
possibile.
All'interno di un singolo film possono anche
essere adottate posizioni ideologiche diverse e
persino divergenti, oppure le posizioni stesse
possono essere sfocate, in modo che il film possa
prestarsi a interpretazioni alternative e, ancora una
volta, attirare spettatori che hanno visioni del
mondo diverse. In Omicidio a luci rosse (si veda il
trailer qui sotto), ad esempio, un uomo osserva,
attraverso un telescopio, una donna che balla
eroticamente a un'ora specifica ogni notte, ma
assiste anche al suo omicidio senza poterla
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Of course, the main economic concern of the
cinema industry is to make a film as profitable
as possible, and this can be achieved,
paradoxically, by not promoting a movie as an
example of a specific genre, because this would
run the risk of alienating possible audiences
not interested in that particular genre. A film
can thus be promoted with a variety of labels,
often mixing different genres (like
comedy/action), or features of different genres
can be included in the movie itself, with a view
to attracting the widest possible range of
audiences.
Different, and even diverging, ideological
positions can also be accommodated within a
single movie, or the positions themselves can be
blurred, so that the movie can lend itself to
alternative interpretations and, once again,
attract viewers who hold different worldviews.
In Body double (watch the trailer below), for
example, a man watches, through a telescope, a
woman who erotically dances at a specific time
every night, but also witnesses her murder
without being able to help her. The film offers
ample space to voyeurism (which is actually