An introduction to AS Media Studies

An introduction to Genre 

So far over the course of 3 media lessons, we have began to talk about and try to understand what is really meant by the term 'Genre'. Genre is, by standard definition, a main theme of a film or piece of media such as Comedy, so then people can associate this film with comedy; then they would create expectations when they would see it in the cinema. Genre is hugely important to Media and the industries, because Genre provides all the knowledge the audience would think they know about the film, then they go to the cinema to see the film and spend their money. If Genre didn't work like this, the audiences wouldn't form expectations of the film as soon as they hear its name and genre, they may not be invested to see it; because they don't know what to expect. But luckily genre will always give people their expectations as they are extremely familiar with it all, however genre isn't quite as simple and one-dimensional as us audiences may think.  

Each genre has its specific conventions that make the genre that type of genre. For example horror films we would associate with dark, abandoned houses, creepy noises, and a lot of the film set at night time. And action films must all involve shooting, explosions, and lots of fun. But is it really this simple, does a film really only have one genre? Realistically the answer is no. Such as in class, we discussed Star Wars and the first genre that came to peoples head's to describe this film trilogy was Sci-Fi. But when we looked a bit deeper, we found lots of genres that apply to this film trilogy. Such as drama, Westerns, action and adventure, space opera etc. However at first, audiences wouldn't probably associate these other genre types with Star Wars, because we are so used to thinking films are limited to a couple of genres, and not have considered further genres hidden in the films. But even so, genre performs a massive part to attract people and audiences to see the films. They just have to hear 'Bruce Willis action film' and they will know what to expect, what to imagine, and know that they will want to see this film. 

Genres also help the filmmakers out massively. Filmmakers can be told they will be making a new Thriller film; with the help of genre, they will have a good idea of what to do. They will conclude that they need a gripping script, unexpected twists in the story-line, a visually stimulating film, and some good actors to bring this thriller to life. They will also know what actors to incorporate, because these actors have previously been in thrillers before, plus the audiences are aware of this. So really, the audiences associate actors with specific genres, because they very familiar with actors and what types of films they're in. Genre is all about being formulaic; each film will have direct relationships to the previous film made, of the same genre. This is due to over time, filmmakers have understood that their film belonging to a type of genre must involve conventions employed by this genre. If they haven't followed the genre conventions, they may think audiences would be thrown off the film; because they are unfamiliar with it, it's not ordinary for the audiences. 

Genre also plays a roll on audience and people themselves. In standard films, the good main characters will always defeat the bad characters; the bad ones will rarely get away with their crimes. This is significant; as this ultimately re-presents life. People who commit murder, steal, and commit crimes are not going to get away with it, and this is reinforced by films and the media itself. If it was the other way around, the media would not be sending a very good message; due to the fact they are sort of telling us that we can commit real life crimes and get away with it, but this is not the case. So the fact that films and media does this is a good thing, and we now expect it due to the years of film that we have seen this characteristic many times.