Genre theory. Genre Genre is the term used to identify and describe any form of category of literature or any other described forms of art and entertainment, an example of this is different types of music, whether the music is for example, pop or classical. The entertainment is put into a certain genre is based on a set of criteria, for example the theme within a film, so James Bond film can be described as an action film, due to the high amount of car chases, guns. Genres are also formed by certain conventions that are within the certain project itself. Over time new genres also develop and new sub-‐genres evolve. Genre theory Genre theory is a certain approach to the study of literary theory, film theory, and other cultural theories, such as music. Examining a certain genre means we will examine structural factors that aid the telling of a story. It is also used to find patterns within texts. When these factors begin to carry the same basic information, a genre is established. Genre theory is a way of exploring different collections of films made by a variety of artists. Genre began as an examination system for ancient Greek literature. Art forms such as poetry and performance had a specific style that would link into the theme of the story, if it were a play for example. For example the speech patterns in an actor’s dialogue for a comedy would most likely not be appropriate for a tragedy. Also, actors would be restricted to one certain genre they could act under as the public was under the assumption that actors may only be able to act under one certain genre. In later periods genres became more and more important within the art. For example it helped the public understand quite unpredictable art, as if they knew the genre of the piece they might be able to understand it. Art also became a response to express an opinion about a social state, so the use of genre also became a tool to help people understand and adapt to changing meanings. My chosen genre: Comedy. If a film is in the "comedy" genre it means it is a film that is meant to provoke laughter and a sense of humour through entertainment for an audience. Comedic films can be described as light-‐hearted dramas, as even though they are designed to make people laugh, they will usually have a confrontation or problem within the storyline for the characters. Within comedy films, the film can fall within two different groupings of comedic films. One example is a comedian led film, which is very likely to involve many gags and sketches, which involves visual and verbal jokes, which are carefully timed and delivered for maximum humour impact. Another example of a grouping is a comedy situation film revolving around a certain narrative, an example of this is a narrative where two friends have feelings for the same girl, what causes the audience to laugh within this type of film is the friendships within the characters and the social environment they are involved in.
But due to comedy being such a large genre, it does mean that comedy does have sub genres within itself. One example of this is "Teen comedy", usually set within a school, and usually involve teen sexual activity and the comedy value this provides. One prime example of this genre of film is the "American Pie" franchise. Another popular genre within comedy is "Romantic comedy" this is a genre, which can be considered a film "hybrid" as it involves the romance and comedy genres. This type of genre is aimed at women and couples, as the plots of these types of films seem not to interest the single male population. This type of film is also popular with the 25-‐35 age groups. An example of a romantic comedy is "The Break-‐up" starring Vince Vaughan and Jennifer Anistion. One other sub-‐genre of comedy is "Social comedy" which draws its comedy and humour from situation comedies, it usually draws from the idea of class conflict within society and also relies on the discussion of social realism, and these types of films are a very popular feature within British cinema. An example of a British film which features this is "Notting Hill" which explores the class system as it’s a normal person trying to date a movie star, which can then again also link into the "Rom-‐Com" sub-‐genre. Slapstick. Due to the high amount of sub-‐genres within the comedy genre and also how large and vague the comedy genre is, I will be focusing on one certain sub-‐genre within the comedy genre, I will be focusing on the sub-‐genre of "Slapstick" within the comedy genre. Slapstick comedies are a type of film that employ over the top factors to instigate laughter and humour. For example one factor is characters will suffer pain without any consequences to this, an example of this is "Norbit", as Norbit is usually fallen atop by his wife who is massively large compared to him, but he gets up straight away. Another example is the settings that cause impossible situations for characters for example in "Carry on Camping" where the woman's bra flings off to a man’s face when exercising, whereas it’s very unlikely to happen in real life. Another convention in slapstick comedy is the use of audio and as this is done in a number of ways. One example of the way sound is used is for the impossible stunts that are used within slapstick films. For example in "Carry on Camping", the bra makes a very loud "Twang" noise, which in real life would most likely not happen. Another way audio is used is the use of cartoon like sounds to exaggerate the comedy. For example if in a fight in a slapstick film, a character is punched, it will most likely be accompanied by a cartoony hitting sound, like from the popular show "Looney Toons". This is done in order to make something that shouldn't be funny (hitting someone) seem humorous. History of comedy genre. The genre of comedy has gone through several developments over the years. Comedy films first started with the Lumier brothers in 1895, they created a 49 second short film, the first ever known comedy film. Many early films popular in the US were silent comedies with comedians such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin being the most popular. In 1927 the industry undertook a massive change, as audio was now available within films. Studios operate a system whereby they would own the production company, the distribution company and the theatres the films were shown in, which
meant that studios would have more control over the whole process including the performers. However in 1949 Anti Trust Laws saw the end of the studio period with them having to sell off their cinema part of the process to prevent them having so much control in the industry, by 1955 the studio era was over. Television now started to compete more and more with films during the 1960s and 70s, because films started to make less money than in previous years. By the 1980s smaller companies were replaced with big conglomerate like AOL Time Warner and News Corp who own 20th century fox and film because big business again with conglomerate owning several companies across media forms. Iconography Iconography is a feature of genre. The usual symbols on screen that have become so typical of the genre their use actually signifies it. For slapstick this might be a ladder, a bucket, a plank of wood or a deck chair. One factor within slapstick comedy films is that there will be a lot of physical comedy, which often means a high number of props. For example in "The Kid" starring Charlie Chaplin (1912) we see the child throwing rocks at windows to help an adult. The use of physical comedy was very important to actors such as Chaplin as they relied on this type of comedy; given they starred in silent movies that had no dialogue. This meant that most likely a piano musical accompaniment that reflected the narrative would be played throughout. But, by this it means that actors would have perform quite melodramatically to express the emotion of what was happening on screen, to the viewer and for the contemporary viewer that can see a source of comedy that may not necessarily have been intentional. The use of physical comedy is a feature of slapstick films. Another example of this is the film "Carry on Camping' a part of the successful British franchise of "Carry on" films. Both "Carry On Camping" and "The Kid" contain physical comedy, but Carry On Camping is from a later time period and so also contains dialogue and sound effects to enhance the impact of the slapstick comedy. An example of this is when the girls are exercising and one of the girl’s bras flings off and hits someone in the face, a “twang” sound is used when the bra comes off. It is a cartoon like sound and is obviously added deliberately to add to the illusion the created soundtrack. Camera work Cinematography is an important genre feature and at the start of the comedy genre with the silent movies equipment was limited and ideas were simple. In silent comedy films most shots would be static long shots and the comedy would be “performed as if a stage is within the frame almost. For example, in Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid” we see the kid run off across to the other side of the street and in modern film the audience may
expect a tracking shot following the kid, but in this film it is just a static long shot. We need to bear in mind though at this time equipment was basic and extremely heavy.
As the comedy genre progressed so did technology and this meant that more high quality films could be made and shot variation and cameras were also developed. For example in the film “Carry On Camping” we often see tracking shots as to follow characters via the use of dollys. Filmmakers used improvements in cameras and film stock to also take advantage of colour and widescreen in order to separate their product from TV Editing. In early cinema, a scene would change by a "circle fade" which would slowly cover the entire screen to black; this would then re-‐open, as the next scene would begin. For example we see this in Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid” when the woman leaves her child and starts to walk away and this fade is used to progress to the next scene. Editors in this time period would not have had the capability to do anything else as things were hand cut and the circle close way the camera shutters closing as they stopped filming. As time went on editing became faster and easier, mechanics improved and films could be digitified, we now use CGI as a sense of humour, for example in “The Mask” we see the character of “The Mask” stick his tongue out to a very far extent and his eye roll out of his head. This is impossible to do without the use of CGI. Sound As said before with early comedy, a musical piece (usually piano) would be played live complementing the screen action and on screen there would be subtitles to show either what is happening on the screen or the speech the character would say. When quality of recorded sound emerged, some actors found themselves out of work, as they couldn’t adopt & “Singing In The Rain” provides a humorous approach to this. However, sound effects could also be added for comedic effect and to over-‐exaggerate the comedy, like I have explained previously with the example of “Carry On Camping” In modern day cinema we now have the factors available in order to record dialogue before or after a scene is shot, and then dubbed in during the editing process. This can be seen in the film “The Mask” starring Jim Carey, for example when the mask starts to scream when the landlady screams it is a very sharp, loud, piercing sound, which is very unlikely to have been recorded on set within 1 take and was most likely to have been recorded and dubbed on in past production. Dubbing involves the movement on screen matching the audio, a keen audience viewer may be able to spot this but in most cases the audience will even try to notice. Sub genres and hybrid genres: Due to comedy being such a large genre there are many sub genres within it, such as slapstick, the sub-‐genre I have focused on. Slapstick is a subgenre and a comic device. Slapstick films usually involve over the top violence for example, or the exaggeration of situations that occur by unfortunate accidents for comedy value.
This is used in modern films, for example in "Meet The Parents" when a character goes to visit his girlfriend’s parents. He ends up flooding the garden and setting a mini chapel on fire. Slapstick is used in modern film but is mostly known from being in older films, slapstick is still popular because physical movement was the only way an actor could communicate in film, but film has moved on. Another sub-‐genre that is popular within the comedy genre is dark comedy, comedy film that involves a more serious situation or has a "darker" tone. These types of film will be very similar to a slapstick film as it still involves a similar narrative, but a darker comedy film might have a sadder ending. Films of the dark comedy persuasion were made mostly in the 1960-‐70s, because this was the time period that youth would start to rebel, whether this was against their parents or the authority figures. Black comedy will also use satire and social commentary as a way of trying to create humour, trying to find comedic situations within actual world affairs instead of over the top drama. Also, black comedies will deal with much more serious situations such as artificial death. For example comedies that involve any army or military involvement. There is of course also the "Rom Com", or romantic comedy. This type of comedy film will feature light-‐heartedness with plot lines that are humorous; an example of this is a guy trying to go out with a girl who is way out of his league, and trying to overcome obstacles to achieve his goal, with humorous and disastrous results. Romantic comedies can also be described as a hybrid genre as it is a sub-‐genre from both comedy films and romance films. The plot of a romantic comedy will focus around a man and a woman and usually the plot will involve a confrontation or obstacle that will cause the two to separate, but usually there will be a happy ending where they re-‐unite. The comedic side to these films is the challenges they confront in order to come back together. But these plots can vary. For example instead of trying to make to characters into a couple the films will centre on two characters already in a relationship. An example of this type of film is "The Break Up" starring Vince Vaughan and Jennifer Aniston. The theme will still involve obstacles within each character, but instead of it being characters trying to get together, this film shows obstacles of trying to break up, and then get back together, there is the obligatory happy ending. Characters In slapstick. Characters are very similar across names. For example it is very likely the male character will be quite a mischievous character that can be described as quite cheeky. For example in "Carry on Camping" we see the character of "Sid", and his mischievous tendencies as he tricks his lady friends into attending a nudist camp. This can also be seen in the film "The Mask" as Jim Carey's character becomes a very mischievous person, once he is under the influence of the mask, he is jumping out of a window and then laughing with the aid of the supernatural mask. But usually with a character like this, their mischievous ways catch up with them and there are consequences. We see this with the character of "Sid" as his plan to go to a nudist camp backfires as they end up at a normal holiday camp. We also see this in “The Mask” as his
past actions catch up with him in a way as he is put in prison, though this involves a happy ending as he ends up getting the glamorous girl. There will also be certain character traits that are repeated in the female roles in slapstick films. For example it seems a common trait that the women in slapstick films seem to be the reason for the male’s cheeky mischievous way. Like in "The Mask" Jim Carey's character uses the mask in order to impress the character of Tina, yes this may lead to the main problem for Carey's character in the film as he ends up being hunted by gangsters, but he ends up winning the girl. We can also see this in earlier slapstick films such as "Carry On Camping" Whereas the girlfriend characters are the main reason for Sid and his friend trying to go to a nudist came, and have sex as he can't do this at home because she lives with her parents, but this again leads to a happy ending, well we assume that it does, as this is done by innuendo as all the viewer sees is the couples running into each others tents. In some cases in slapsticks films you will get a female character that is a very strong-‐ minded character. For example in "The Pink Panther 2" we see this within the character of "Sonia" as she works her way into the group of detectives by using manipulation and flirting. The viewer finds at the end of the film that it was her that stole the pink panther diamond, showing that she is a very strong, scheming woman, which you would most likely not find in other slapstick films. But this does not end happily for the Sonia character, as she is caught. -‐-‐-‐-‐ Genre theory argues that genres ran in cycle that French film theorist Christian Metz had four stages and he identified that one of these stages was the experimental stage. For comedy, the experimental stage was most likely the silent film era, because this is when comedy films were first made. For example films that starred Charlie Chaplin could be said to lay down the conventions of comedy within cinema, but also proved to be very popular still within modern day cinema. One feature experimented with was characters themselves. For example Chaplin would play the underdog hero in quite a lot of his films, like in "The Kid", he is a tramp who ends up being father to an abandoned child, and in comedy films the underdog character will usually have a happy ending. This factor is still used within modern day comedy films, as this type of character is still popular with audiences, as an audience will find themselves rooting for the underdog character when watching the film. It is good for an audience to see a happy ending for a character who would not be expecting it, as it then makes the audience feel good about themselves by watching it. Another feature within early comedy films is the use of exaggerated facial expressions. This was because in silent movies there was no speech, so a lot of what is needed to being expressed on screen needed to be done with facial expressions. For example it will show a character is either happy or sad quite obviously due to the expressions. In modern film this is still used somewhat for comedic value but it is not relied on as much as it was in silent films, instead dialogue provides much of the source of the comedy.
Classic The classic stage is where the conventions of the genre are now established and are familiar to audiences. These films would still be highly influenced by older silent films that introduced comedy conventions. Popular actors such as Laurel and Hardy started to make films, and the arrival of sound within cinema helped to enhance their comic conventions. The classical period also the advancement of “screwball” comedies, with idiotic characters in over-‐exaggerated physical comedy situations. Cartoon comedies were also produced here and an example of this is Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, this one of the first of its type Parody The parody stage is when films will start to play around within the certain conventions of a genre and actions and their use of them, or mock a genre as audiences have now become so familiar with it’s conventions. Comedy parody films seem to choose films from other genres to parody. For example this is shown in the parody film “Meet the Spartans” a parody of “300” and other epics. It follows storyline and conventions of the genre but odd certain comedic features. For example in the real film, “300” we see an enemy fall down into the pit, but in the parody we see American Idol judges judge how good Leonidas’s kick into the pit was. There are also horror parodies; the prime example of this is the “Scary Movie Franchise”. These films played on the idea of the stereotypical slasher horror films of the past, such as a masked murderer, or spending a night at a “haunted house”, but this is shown in a comic way. For example in “Scary Movie” we see the murderer go after a young woman in a locker room, which is a typical scene in teenage horror films, but the comedic sense in this is that the woman almost seems to know that this is a comedy film and plays along with it, by saying “oh is this where I break my leg?” and then she breaks her own leg. This makes the killer very uncomfortable, which adds to the comedic sense, as usually in horror films it is the killer who is very much in control. Deconstructive The deconstructive stage within a genre shows the genre broken down to show the vital points and it loses some of its conventions, often developing slightly differently and sometimes disappearing for a while. How much comedy has changed and how much it’s similar. Comedy slapstick was there at the start and is still around now, with the use of the over-‐ exaggeration of physical comedy (E.G. Someone falling over), but this factor is now often enhanced by the use of special effects in modern day cinema. However the use of camera have changed significantly from static long wide shots, to the occasional tracking of a single character, to now being shot for the edit and post production being where much of the comedy is made if we use “The Mask” as an example as a large amount of
the comedic value was added with special effects. However, much comedy is still classic Hollywood narrative, character driven and good orientation values.