Unit1 section3 genre notes

GENRE-  kind, sort, class (borrowed from the French)
– Genres have characteristic features that are known to and recognised by audiences
– This formula is reproduced again and again
– E.G in the western we see similar characters, situations and settings

AUDIENCES AND GENRES
– Audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations may be fulfilled and they may find pleasure in a predicting what will happen next
– The film scream tells us the rules of the genre – what's going to happen and then shows it happening
– The film has many characteristics suitable to the genre
– Audiences know what to expect from a genre but at the same time want some variations to prevent dissatisfaction and even boredom
– That's any text in a genre is a combination of the Familia and the unexpected

KEY COMPONENTS
– Stock characters (propp)
– Stock plots, situations, issues and themes
– Stop locations and backdrops
– Music and sounds

PROBLEMS OF GENRE
– Can sometimes be problematic
– The differences between genres
– This can be solved by the genre theory
 Altman. Semantic/ syntantuc approach

Semantic
– This is concerned with the conventions of the genre that communicate to the audience such as characters, locations, props, music, shooting style and other signifiers

WESTERN GENRE
-horses
-guns
-hats
-wilderness
-native Americans

HORROR
-masks
-weapons
-setting: dark/ dangerous place
-ghosts

SYNTACTIC
– This is concerned with the relations between these elements and the structure of narrative in genres
– E.G it a Romantiq comedy we expect the potential lovers to begin by not liking each other
– There were a series of meetings/problems (enigmas) which succeed in their successful relationship
– By implying these semantic/syntantic approach  it enables us to produce also considering audiences and institutions
– Boltzman expanded his approach to include these elements by proposing a semantic/Syntactic/ pragmatic approach

REPRESENTATION
– Definition – how different groups of people, ideas and ideologies are portrayed in the media

LAURA MULVEY-  The male gaze research
– Media texts construct meanings about the word – a picture, a film, a television programme or a newspaper article represents the world to help audiences make sense of it
– A popular understanding of representation is through stereotypes
– Stereotypes or a form of representation in which groups of people are characterised by attribute in their qualities that some individuals possess, and which later become associated with the whole group
– Stereotypes of widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups
– Siri types also sent totals for media producers. They can be used as a shorthand to condense a lot of complex information and data into a character who is easily recognised and simple to deal with
– E.G ugly Betty. It makes it easier for the audience understand the character and his or her role in the text b

 Branston in Stafford states there are four characteristics:
– They evolve both a categorising and an evaluation of the group being stereotyped
– Are usually emphasise some easily grass features of the group and suggest that these are the cause of the groups position
– The evaluation of the group is often, through not always, a negative one
– Siri types off and try to insist on an app salute differences and boundaries where the idea of the spectrum of difference in people is more appropriate
Accents, dialect, location, costume, hairstyle, skin colour and religion (represented and  characterised,props)

SPICE GIRLS
Representation of a character:
– The character – gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality and look
– The collective cultural background of use of the producer/director/institution
– The audiences reaction to the character
– Where and when the representation takes place – cinema/home/laptop/friends house

– Mediation is the process by which a media text represents an idea, issue or event to an audience
– Selection – whatever ends up on the screen or in the paper, much more will have been left out
– Organisation – various elements will be organise carefully in ways that real life is not in visual media this  involves Mise-en-scene and the organisation of the narrative
– Focusing – mediation always ends up with us being in college towards concentrating on one aspect of the tax and ignoring others