Genre Theory

How artwork has influenced the horror genre within films

•        Heavily influenced by culture and what’s happening in the world, genre and the representations of this genre are also linked to art development and popularity, influencing film aspects regarding mise en scene, lighting, camera framing etc.
•       The gothic style was first on screen during the German Expressionist (art form) Cinema of the 1920s. Films like Fitz Langs Metropolis (1927) and Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919) show an interesting use of shallow space and theatrical set design.

•       This is also present in Nosferatu (1922) where characters and settings have an essence of the “Gothic” style while inspired by German Expressionism. In these films dark, depressing often surreal artistic values reflected the economic and social depression in Germany following defeat in WW1. Example of where what was happening in the world effected film.

•       Also, many British directors turned to the Gothic style as a consequence of WW2. Hammer studios and “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957) and “Dracula” (1958).
•        Gothic films set designed to aid the dark emotional horror- elongated shadow and walls, low key lighting, Gothic woodcut etchings with harsh angles, high contrast and deep backgrounds.

•        Lighting is a vital feature to the Gothic style- creating long shadows, drawing out elements of mise en scene, harsh contrasts, cold forms and black and white. Shadow creates feelings of terror without revealing anything scary.
•        Chiaroscuro is a term used by artists and photographers to refer to the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, effecting whole composition. - add sense of depth
•        Chiaroscuro can be seen in the Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), Nosferatu (1922), The Cabenet of Dr Caligari (1920), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and Staler (1979).

•        American artist Edward Hopper’s paintings express the alienation of modern life in unsentimental scenes of physical or metaphorical isolation. His piece “The House by the Railroad” (1925) has influenced directors from Hitchcock to Craven. This sense of Gothic becomes psychological and links to the surrealist movement. Leading surrealist, Andre Breton and Salvador Dali, was insprired by the Gothic style- shown in the Alfred Hitchcock film Spellbound (1945).

•        Placing of human elements in a larger structure- most recognisable feature in gothic art-  Antoni Gaudi (architect) produced countless grotesque and monstrous figures emerging from his magnum opus, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.- this influenced much of the set design of Ridley Scotts’ Alien film (1979)- the Gothic cathedral interiors. Gothic interaction between figures and their enviroments can be seen in Aliens (1986) when the little girls mother appears fixed to and emerging from the wall as if half hidden within its structure.

•  Henry Fuseli (artist)- Gothic sensibilities and whose work was frequently displayed a dramatic and grotesque humour. Best known piece “The Nightmare” (1781)- gargoyle creature sitting on a bed with a reclining woman- the canvas seemed to portray both a dreaming woman and the subjects of her nightmare. This influenced Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein (1818) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher (1839). Also influenced Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) by Francis Ford Coppola when Lucy is seduced by the beast.
  

•        Francis Bacon- not considered gothic, but using bold, graphic and emotionally raw imagery, sombre colour and expressive brushwork. His paintings inspired the idiosyncratic look of Heath Ledger’s Joker in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” (2008). Bacon’s paintings communicated the Joker’s edgy unsettling essence and dressed him in purple, linking to the colours used in Bacon’s pieces.
•        Tim Burton-Batman franchise. Like German Expressionists of 1920’s, Burton’s films contained the visual and emotional elements of Gothic nature without the needless horror and gore. Frankenweenie (1984 and 2012) the young hero brings his dog back to life- Edward scissorhands(1990), corpse Bride (2005) and Sweeney Todd (2007). Burtons films use the central misunderstood characters who go on great lengths to overcome adversity and achieve empathy.
•        Gothic art has always sought to reconnect with the “dark” side of human existence. It has offered us an opportunity to see the world through a twisted and surreal filter and to observe a glimpse of the chaos that threatens the order we seek to impose upon our lives. Where once we could only experience Gothic art via paintings and other traditional art forms, we now also have cinema, and with filmmakers like Tim Burton and David Lynch the future of the Gothic tradition looks to be in very safe hands.

How genres are always evolving

Genre theory

•        Looking further into genre theory, I came across a website called "An Introduction to Genre Theory" (http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/intgenre/) published by Daniel Chandler. This documentation gave a lot of information into the problems in defining genres, working with genres to produce the desired effects and advantages of analysis of genre.

Genre definition

•        Genre can be defined as a set of patterns, conventions or styles of which individualise films. However, the thought of genre definition is questioned as being a real form of definition or a declaration due to analysis of the product in question. Questions revolving around whether genres are timeless products or whether they mould themselves to modern society, relating to current events and influences, were discussed also.

Robert Stam

• Robert identified four key problems with generic labels, linking to films:
•    extension ( the narrowness or broad labels it defines the film to relate to)
•  normativism ( the fact that preconceived ideas of the product will be generated through genre definition)
• monolithic definitions (giving the impression that the product only relates to this one set genre
• biologism( the problems of defining genres through the evolving standardisations that keep changing due to current events and popular discussions)
•  The classification of genres, it is stated, is not a neutral or objective procedure, but more so a matter of opinion or a relation to the set "conventions" of a set genre. Genre definition is therefore an abstract concept of categorisation of films so that the general public have an idea of the "type" of film in question and what to expect from it.

David Bordwell

•  David, film theorist, stated in 1987 "any theme may appear in any genre", going on to asking "Are animation and documentary films genres or modes? Is the filmed play or comedy performance a genre? If tragedy and comedy are genres, perhaps then domestic tragedy or real life dramas can be categorised as genres also?". All points of which can be reflected on. 
• Bordwell concluded that "One could argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable".
•   Bordwell's overall ideal that he is bringing across is the problems with definitional approaches on film products, still a very controversial issue in today's modern culture.
• The document goes on to explain that defining genres may not initially seem problematic but should be seen from the small amount of presented research that in fact there is a lot to take into account when defining them.
•  The idea of taking a genre such as a "western", and analyse it to list its conventions is to say that a person must first isolate the body of film products that are "westerns" to define them. However, the basis of the conventions can only be discovered from the films themselves, after they have been defined as a specific genre which defeats the purpose of genre definition and analysis.

David Chandler

•    "Conventional definitions of genre are based on the idea that they share particular convention of content in, for example, themes or setting"

Steve Neale

•     "Genres are instances of repetition and difference; this is what pleasure for the audience is derived from"

John Hartley

•  "The same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times"

David Buckingham

•    "Genre is a constant process of negotiation and change"

John Fiske

•    "Genre attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in a culture of the conveniences of both producers and audiences"

•  Defining genre is the method of relating the repetition and variation of familiar conventions to a set category, genre, but is not as simple as labelling or classifying films to a set in stone concept. Genres change over time and" hybrids" emerge creating to sub-genres and modified classification of. An example is "Attack the Block". This has been presented as a supernatural urban drama with action aspect added to it also. Another example is"Shaun of the Dead" which has been presented as a rom-zom-com- a mixture between romance, zombie and comedy. These two examples show how versatile genres can be.
• Most genres can be categorised in several ways, most commonly the setting of the film as well as the theme topic, mood or format. For example, when we speak of horror we know that within this collection of films we may expect several death scenes, a main antagonist who survives, blood, gore, violence, an dark tone lighting with thrilling conventions with high tension, graphic scenes.
•  Below is an image found on "My MediaBlog" listing a complete record of different genres and the sub-genres that can be attached to them:

Different examples of genres:

comedy

action

crime

romance

war

 horror

Generic Conventions

•        A film genre is defined by its conventions. these conventions generally change from genre to genre, but will usually involve aspects of:
•    mise-en-scene
•    setting
•    themes
•    characters
•    narratives
•    special effects
•    sound
•    camera angles and framing
•    lighting

Traditional theorists

Rick Altman

•        Altman argues that genres are usually defined in terms of media language and codes, e.g. the horror genre: gothic architecture, dark atmosphere, victims, criminal weapons or even stars like Christopher Lee who became notorious for his frightening role in the early Dracula, or certain ideologies and narratives.

Jonathan Culler

•        (1978) Generic conventions exist to establish a contract between creator and reader so as to make certain expectations operative, allowing compliance and deviation from the accepted modes of intelligibility. Acts of communication are rendered intelligible only within the context of a shared conventional framework of expression.

Tom Ryall

•        (1998) sees this framework provided by the generic system; therefore, genre becomes a cognitive repository of images, sounds, stories, characters and expectations.

Genre and the Audience

Different genres attract different audiences. The idea of stories and films link to escapism and the chance for people to allow themselves to be lost in a new set of circumstances to their own. People also tend to like some genres more than others due to the fact that they can relate to them more, for example the romance genre would probably be targeted by couples and people in relationships.

To produce a film, a genre needs to be established and specific conventions must be followed or specifically subverted. To the distributor, the genre provides a good base on which to promote the film playing off the audiences initial assumptions. To the audience, the genre identifies whether or not they would like the film based on conventions of films that have been categorised in that genre previously.