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
Tuttavia, sono la forma e lo stile che distinguono i
melodrammi hollywoodiani da quelli italiani.
Forse la differenza più evidente sta nell'uso del
colore nei film americani in contrasto con il
bianco e nero di quelli italiani. Il colore, che è
stata una delle principali attrazioni attraverso cui
Hollywood ha cercato di affrontare la concorrenza
della televisione, viene utilizzato nei melodrammi
per aggiungere brillantezza e intensità alle scene,
rendendole più spettacolari, ma, come le
ambientazioni e l'iconografia, anche" esternalizza"
le passioni che ardono dentro i personaggi. Invece
di essere semplicemente usato per effetti realistici,
il colore diventa simbolico, mettendo in risalto le
emozioni dei personaggi fino all'eccesso.
Al contrario, il bianco e nero della maggior parte
dei melodrammi italiani sottolinea le atmosfere
più cupe e la tensione drammatica insite nella
rottura delle convenzioni sociali (a volte regionali)
che minacciano l'identità culturale dei personaggi
e delle loro famiglie.
Un'ultima differenza riguarda l'uso della musica:
mentre gli archi vibranti accentuano il pathos
delle scene più drammatiche in entrambi i generi,
la tradizione musicale italiana a volte porta
all'inclusione di canzoni all'interno della storia
(come mostrato nel video di Catene qui sopra),
rendendo così omaggio alla musica in molte delle
sue forme (dall'opera lirica ai canti del patrimonio
regionale, spesso nella tradizione napoletana).
N.B. Per approfondire il tema del melodramma si
vedano questi Dossier:
- Il melodramma classico hollywoodiano
- La persistenza del melodramma: da Sirk a
Fassbinder a Haynes
17. Conclusione
Una definizione molto concisa di "film di genere"
è stata fornita da Barry Keith Grant:
"Quei lungometraggi commerciali che, attraverso
la ripetizione e la variazione, raccontano storie
familiari con personaggi familiari in situazioni
familiari" (Nota 11).
In effetti, il concetto di "familiarità" (soprattutto
per il pubblico) è centrale nella definizione dei
86
However, it is the form and style that set
Hollywood and Italian melodramas apart.
Perhaps the most obvious difference is in the
use of colour in American movies in contrast
with the black and white of the Italian ones.
Colour, which was one of the main attractions
through which Hollywood tried to face the
competition of television, is used in
melodramas to add brilliance and intensity to
the scenes, making them more spectacular, but,
like the settings and the iconography, it also
"externalizes" the passions burning inside the
characters. Rather than being simply used for
realistic effects, colour becomes symbolic,
highlighting the character's emotions to the
point of excess.
By contrast, the black and white of most of the
Italian melodramas stress the darker
atmospheres and the dramatic tension involved
in the breaking of social (sometimes regional)
conventions that threaten the cultural identity
of the characters and their families.
A final difference regards the use of music:
while vibrant strings accentuate the pathos of
most dramatic scenes in both cinemas, the
Italian musical tradition sometimes leads to the
inclusion of songs within the story (as shown in
the above video from Chains), thus paying
homage to music in several of its forms (from
opera to regional heritage songs, often in the
Neapolitan tradition).
N.B. To consider melodrama in more depth, see
these Dossiers:
- Classical Hollywood melodrama
- The persistence of melodrama: from Sirk to
Fassbinder to Haynes
17. Conclusion
A very concise definition of "genre films" was
given by Barry Keith Grant:
"Those commercial feature films which,
through repetition and variation, tell familiar
stories with familiar characters in familiar
situations" (Note 11).
Indeed, the concept of "familiarity" (especially