Roland Barthes:
A genre is a type/category of art, media or literature. It comes from the French word meaning ‘kind’ or ‘sort’. Genre rests around a relationship between similarities and differences. Genres are very important to institutions and audiences.
“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” – Martin Scorcese, a personal journey through American cinema (1995)
Genres are the same, but different at the same time.
Narratives are based on binary oppositions. A dominant ideology of the film is created, so people are able to make judgements. This can also determine weather the narrative is reactionary or radical.
| Concept | Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly agree | Opposite concept |
| Good | X | Bad | ||||
| White | X | Black | ||||
| Male | X | Female | ||||
| Urban | X | Regional | ||||
| Poor | X | Rich | ||||
| Educated | X | Uneducated | ||||
| Positive | X | Negative | ||||
| Protesting | X | Accepting | ||||
| Smart | X | Simple | ||||
| Young | X | Old | ||||
| Employed | X | Unemployed |
It was punk’s “Summer Of Hate”, 1977, and the required pose was a sneer, a leather jacket and something hacked about – a spiky haircut, a ripped T-shirt, a sawn-off school tie. And, of course, no flares, the despised flag of hippiedom. But at the cold, concrete roots of Britain a very different aesthetic was also in the ascendant, one calling for an oversized tam, dreadlocks and a display of “the red, gold and green”, the colours of Rastafari.
In reggae terms, it had taken the emergence of Bob Marley to effect the uneasy coalition of rock fans, black youth, lofty Rastas and proto-punks that confronted each other at his celebrated 1975 Lyceum shows. After Marley, reggae was taken seriously as music of substance and innovation, where previously it had been treated at best as a novelty or simply ridiculed.
Criticism The Birmingham School’s subcultural theory:
● Focused on white working class masculinity
● Ignored ethnic minority, female and queer youth cultures
What is a subculture?
● Working-class youth culture
● Unified by shared tastes in style, music and ideology
● A solution to collectively experienced problems
● A form of resistance to cultural hegemony
Post-War British Race Relations:
● To understand the political significance of black music in the 1970s and 1980s, we
must first understand the racial situation in post war Britain.
● After WW2, many Caribbean men and women migrated to Britain seeking jobs.
They were faced with racism and discrimination, and found it difficult to find
employment and housing.
● During the 1970s and 1980s, the children of these Caribbean immigrants were
reaching adulthood. They were subject to violence and discrimination from both
the state and far right groups. However, they more likely to resist the racism of
British society compared with their parents.
Stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories
Suggests that all stories draw on familiar characters performing similar functions to provide familiar narrative structures.
The way in which CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:
‘These are not separate characters, since one character can occupy a number of roles or ‘spheres of action’ as Propp calls them and one role may be played by a number of different characters’
Stock character’s roles can be organised into
Things needed to create a film:
Aristotle:
Narrative structures and internal elements :
Todorov
Some Definitions:
Construction of reality: The way we present ourselves to other people is shaped partly by our interactions with others, as well as by our life experiences.
Repertoire of elements: When an audience consume a media text defined by a generic label they have certain expectations of the text.
Reinforced: Strengthened (existing feeling, idea or habit)
Historically specific: Historical people, situations, or things existed in the past and are considered to be a part of history.
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.
His book is ‘The Cultural Industries’ and it is about the relationship between media workers and the media industry. He talks about the vunerable and precarious career paths in the creative industry. Younger people are drawn into the celebrity-type lifestyle, not realising how much hard work has to go into it.