This theory suggests that NARRATIVES (=myths) are STRUCTURED around BINARY OPPOSITIONS eg: good v evil
creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film, audiences are encouraged to make a judgements about characters, groups, places, history, society etc.
| Concept | Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree | Opposite Concept |
| Male | X | Female | ||||
| Black | X | White | ||||
| Protest | X | Acquiesce | ||||
| Urban | X | Rural | ||||
| Old | X | Young | ||||
| Aggressive | X | Calm |
A practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. It can also be considered as a mechanism, for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.
It helps identify how media texts are classified, organised and understood, essentially around SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCE. Media texts hold similar patterns, codes and conventions that are both PREDICTABLE and EXPECTED, but are also INNOVATIVE (different) and UNEXPECTED.
. . . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . . – this means that vertically integrations are massive factories that produce movies.
predictable expectations – When you know something is going happen or you are predicting it before it happens because it is very obvious
reinforced – which are done a certain way
amplify –
repertoire of elements –
verisimilitude –
corpus –
realism – looks very real
construction of reality. –
historically specific –
sub-genres –
hybrid genres –
Genre is a way of organizing products into different categories, for example films can be ordered into the genres of horror, comedy etc. These categories all have similarities that run through a specific genre and differences between each genre, making them PREDICTABLE AND EXPECTED but also INNOVATIVE AND UNEXPECTED.
Genre is applied to all forms of media, including radio, TV, music etc.
“. . . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . .” – Scorcese, A personal Journey through American Cinema (1995) This quote shows that studios have specific genres that they stick to, creating the foundation for how films are made in each studio. Each of these genres have specific elements that the studios follow to create their films.
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.Dennis McQuail 1987, p. 200
In some ways it hold conventions of other genres, as such it could be considered as a SUB-GENRE film (a genre within a genre) or a HYBRID GENRE (a combination of two genres). However, overall, it could be said that “genre is a system of codes, conventions and visual styles which enables an audience to determine rapidly and with some complexity the kind of narrative they are viewing” (Turner p.97 Film as Social Practice)
A key theoretical area that underpins Media Language is the study of GENRE. Genre is a way of thinking about media production (INSTITUTIONS) and media reception (AUDIENCES). Overall, genre study helps students to think about how media texts are classified, organised and understood, essentially around SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCE. In that media texts hold similar patterns, codes and conventions that are both PREDICTABLE and EXPECTED, but are also INNOVATIVE and UNEXPECTED. The ideas of codes and conventions are the starting point to think about MEDIA LANGUAGE and has been discussed in earlier posts, remember each MEDIA FORM has its’ own language.
. . . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . .Scorcese, A personal Journey through American Cinema (1995)
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.
Dennis McQuail 1987, p. 200
In that media texts hold similar patterns, codes and conventions that are both PREDICTABLE and EXPECTED, but are also INNOVATIVE and UNEXPECTED.
. . . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . .Scorcese, A personal Journey through American Cinema (1995)
Key words:
predictable expectations –
einforced –
amplify –
repertoire of elements –
corpus –
verisimilitude –
construction of reality –
historically specific –
sub-genres –
hybrid genres,
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.
As an example, Martin Scorcese, in his 1995 documentary ‘A personal Journey through American Cinema’ talks about the way Hollywood was organised around large corporations who could be defined by recognisable styles. This shows the extent to which institutions can become genres in themselves – think for example, of Disney, Pixar, Working Title, Momentum, etc etc. While Scorcese recognises the innovation and creativity of many of the ‘tudio directors’, for others, it illustrates the extent to which ‘genres are dependent upon profitability and exemplify the standardisation associated with Hollywood cinema’
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication. – Denis McQuail 1987
. . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . .Scorcese, A personal Journey through American Cinema (1995)
A key theoretical area that underpins Media Language is the study of GENRE. Genre is a way of thinking about media production (INSTITUTIONS) and media reception (AUDIENCES). Overall, genre study helps students to think about how media texts are classified, organised and understood, essentially around SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCE. In that media texts hold similar patterns, codes and conventions that are both PREDICTABLE and EXPECTED, but are also INNOVATIVE and UNEXPECTED.
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.Dennis McQuail 1987, p. 200
In some ways it hold conventions of other genres, as such it could be considered as a SUB-GENRE film (a genre within a genre) or a HYBRID GENRE (a combination of two genres). However, overall, it could be said that “genre is a system of codes, conventions and visual styles which enables an audience to determine rapidly and with some complexity the kind of narrative they are viewing” (Turner p.97 Film as Social Practice)
. . . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . .Scorcese, A personal Journey through American Cinema (1995)#######}
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.
Dennis McQuail 1987, p. 200
. . . saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures . . .
Scorcese, A personal Journey through American Cinema (1995)
Each director has their own different style, and this is a genre in it’s own right.
| Steve Neale | Neale believes that films of a type (genre, like romance or horror) should include features that are similar, so the audience know it is a horror film or romance, but also include features that are different, to keep an audience interested. This is his theory of repetition and difference. |
| predictable expectations | expectations that others have too that are set before and also throughout reading a book, watching a film or listening to a song. |
| reinforced | strengthen (an existing feeling, idea, or habit). |
| amplify | enlarge upon or add detail to (a story or statement). |
| repertoire of elements | the repetition of components that make up the ‘body’ of similar texts – corpus. |
| corpus | body of similar texts. |
| verisimilitude | the appearance of being true or real. |
| realism | the quality or fact of representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life. |
| construction of reality | |
| historically specific | in accordance with or with respect to history an historically accurate account |
| sub-genres | |
| hybrid genres | |
| different |
The genre may be considered as a ‘practical device’ for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers.
Genre is a way of thinking about media production (INSTITUTIONS) and media reception (AUDIENCES). Overall genre study helps students to think about how media texts are classified, organised and understood.
Consumers want their media to be PREDICTABLE and EXPECTED but they also want it to be INNOVATIVE and UNEXPECTED.
saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures