GENRE THEORY

In film theory, Genre refers to the method based on the similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. The project that I’m going to discuss today is the one I made in AS which was an opening sequence of a romantic movie. The film which I shot actually belongs to the “Hybrid Genre” (two different genres merged together in a single film) with suspense and romance carried side by side. The story revolves around two lovers out of which the girl meets a brutal car accident and dies. Her death greatly affects the male character and the opening sequence ends with the teenage boy putting a gun to his head and while he’s pulling the trigger slowly the screen fades out with a shot sound.

Since the project was an opening sequence it has a suspense element to it and thus can be related to the “Genre Theory” in many ways.

The 1st theory that I can link it with is “Rick Altman’s”. Altman argues that ‘Genre offers audience a set of pleasures’. There are 3 kinds of pleasures. (1) Emotional Pleasures: They generate a strong sense of audience response and are present almost in every film. (2) Visceral Pleasures: Are gut responses and are defined by film’s construction and its effects upon the audience. (3) Intellectual puzzles: Pleasure is derived from predicting the plot and forecasting the end or the being surprised by the unexpected. Since my project was a mixture of romance and suspense so automatically it links to this theory of pleasures. The element of romance and tension in the film triggers the audience’s emotions. That is, they feel ecstatic when they boy and girl are walking hand in hand and laughing and talking to each other. But when the girl dies and the boy becomes lonely and depressed, that’s when

the audience feel sad.Moving on, the visceral pleasure provided by my opening sequence is the instant gut feeling the audience get about the male character when he puts the gun to his head and the people feel as if he’ll kill himself. Lastly, my film contains an intellectual puzzle for sure and that is when the audience has figured it all out that the male character will shoot himself and die, the screen blacks out and a gunshot sound is heard which leaves the audience in a state of confusion whether the character shot himself or someone else?

The 2nd Theory I will link my project with is “Jason Mittel’s”.Mittel argues that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience, and cultural practices as well. In short, industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions that often make cultural references to their audience’s knowledge. My project can relate to his theory in such a way that in the modern society, teenagers being in a relationship are very common. Also, if one partner leaves or dies the other one because gloomy and reach to the point of self destruction. This teenage culture has been portrayed vividly in my opening sequence. Thus, teenagers are more attracted to my film rather than adults because they can relate very much to the scenario being showed.

3rd and the last theory which connects to the project is ‘Steve Neal’s”.Neal argues that genre keeps evolving with time. If you look at movies carefully and compare the one’s made in 80’s 90’s with the ones made in/after millennium you;’’ get to know the difference. Romance movies then had a very simple story with two lovers falling in love and facing the test of time but they eventually meet in the end. But nowadays the romance movies we see differ from one another. It’s not the

same old repeated story but it’s the one with action/tragedy involved.

The genre that I worked with was romance, however, it’s moving away from conventions by looking at the accident and self destruction part rather than “falling in love”. However, my opening sequence conforms to some conventions by including a couple in love (these portions making up flash backs) which builds audience expectations for the movie.

In the end, audience will enjoy the subverting of the conventions and see it as an interesting look at male representation, since males are likely to be taken as strong and very egoistic. Not taking relationships seriously or moving ion with life too easily. And a new way at looking at the romance genre - making them feel positive about themselves.