Genre: blog tasks

 Task 1: Genre factsheets

Read Media Factsheet 03 - Genre: Categorising texts and answer the following questions:

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

    The mise-en-scene of deep space usually indicating the sci-fi genre, this visual iconography is important because it lets the audience know what genre they're watching. Also since the audience may already have established expectations of that genre it could tell them if they may like what's coming next, due to the conventions of that genre.

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?

Soap opera's , sitcoms and action films.

3) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell? 

• Period or Country, e.g. US films of the 1930s

• Director / Star, e.g. Ben Stiller Films

• Technical Process, e.g. Animation

• Style, e.g. German Expressionism;

• Series, e.g. Bond;

• Audience, e.g. Family Films

4) List three ways genre is used by audiences.

• They use their prior knowledge of the genre to anticipate if they whether or not they're going to enjoy the text.
• They are able to t compare the text with it's shared characteristics it has with another text. When someone is explaining a film to someone who hasn't seen it you use it's genre to describe it and films that relate to it.
• They use their knowledge of genre to reject text, assumingly those they won't like due to the genres conventions.

5) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.

• Producers can look at previously successfully texts of the genre they want to replicate and take ideas from them making them better in the aspects that need to be improved for the audience.
• Some genres have quite loyal fan bases which producers use to capitalise off and rely on, saving them from potential failure.
• Marketing tactics are used by the producers so their shows become alluring to their respective audiences. They do this by  showing as many codes and conventions relating to the genre ,within the trailer for example, as possible.

Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.

1) Lois and Clarke: The New Adventures of Superman

2) The 1995 film Batman Forever

3) 1940s, Superman

4) 1960s Batman

5) X Men (2000)

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?

• Superman 1978, with it's new innovative technologies
• The rise of Marvel Studios with the X Men 2000 , after the less than positive reception of the 1997 Batman and Robin

3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?

Innovation: The conventions established by comics

Classical: By 1950s films and Tv programmes were replicating the conventions of the classical superhero genre.

Parody: Batman 1966 taking n intentionally comically route

Deconstruction:  Superman 1978, with it's new innovative technologies


Task 2: Genre analysis case study

Carry out your own genre analysis using the model provided by media theorist Daniel Chandler. Choose a film or TV text and answer the following questions - brief answers/bullet point responses are fine:  The Glory

General
1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?

 

I think it is one of the most original revenge K-dramas I have ever watched, and there has been nothing like it ever since.

    
2) To what genre did you initially assign the text?

Dark, revenge drama.

3) What is your experience of this genre?

I've mostly seen K- dramas indulge in this specific type of drama, however it is one of my favourite genres especially since all the ones I've seen are done so well.

4) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?

Bullying, Violence and Domestic abuse.

5) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?

I think violence is one of the typical themes within a revenge drama, however the other two themes are subject to the specific narrative the show is based around.

6) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?

I expect there to be themes of violence and multi-strand narratives.

7) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where - try imdb.com if unsure)?

 

It is a psychological thriller according to imdb.com

8) Which conventions of the genre do you recognize in the text?

• The location - Usually set in urban settings
• Sound - Eerie and tense music
• Flashbacks 

    
9) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?

Monochromatic colouring isn't used, it instead uses dark colours( blacks, greys and dark blue)

10) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?

     The colours are used to convey the mindset of each character, so hose with lighter colours have a happier mindset whereas those with darker clothes have an unhappier/darker mindset.

11) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s))?

The injury detail leans more towards the Horror/classical Thriller genres

12) What familiar motifs or images are used?

     I'm not too sure

Mode of address
1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?

 Female Older teenagers/young adults, this coincides with the genre.

2) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?

Ethnicity- Jamaican: Ever since I got locs, many people have asked me if I'm a Rastafari. Which I find highly disrespectful, to me as well as Rastafaris'. It has made it abundantly clear to me that Jamaican/Caribbean culture is a joke to many people within the Uk, yet our cultural is widely used and accepted as "Uk slang". It has also opened my eyes to the multitude of people I was surrounded by that I let think how ok it is to use my culture as a joke towards me. 

Gender- Female: Stereotypically that I am "weak" physically, although I've never had anyone assume anything of be because of my gender in recent years.

Age - 16: That I know less than them about general life(mostly older people assume this of me)

Class- Working Class: I have never been in a position where my class has affected me in a negative or equally positive way, therefore I am unaware of any assumptions made towards be regarding my class.

3) What interests does it assume you have?

   

I'm unsure what interests it would assume I'd have.

Relationship to other texts
1) What intertextual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)? 

The show is loosely based around a real- life incident in 2006 that occurred in an all girls high-school in Cheongju, South Korea.

2) In terms of genre, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?

My Name , K-drama

3) What key features are shared by these texts?

They are both psychological thrillers, have violent themes as well as injury detail and both are revenge dramas

4) What major differences do you notice between them?

The protagonist in My Name kills anyone in her way or whose done her wrong instantly, there is no other punishment than a painful death with her and uses her physical strength to do so. My Name is also more action based than The Glory.

With the protagonist in The Glory , she uses her smarts to outwit and trap her wrong doers, rather than physicality.