Project: What World, What Genre?

Research Point – Rules of a TV Genre

Having recently starting watching the show Robert Doherty’s 'Elementary' (2012), which is a modern day take on the tales of Sherlock Holmes, I was keen to look deeper into a few police detective style shows to look for any patterns of rules.   Being an avid fan of the Surnow & Cochran’s '24' (2001) I also watched a number of episodes to give me a comparison of the main styles of the show.  Of course, these two shows vary hugely in their content, but the main aim of the protagonist is always the same, simply to ‘catch the bad guy’. 

Despite 24’s often wayward story lines and sometimes quite unbelievable settings, the first comparison I drew between the show was the setting.  Both shows are set in the present, in a world with which the viewers can easily relate, usually making reference to some form of current affairs.  In 24 this is usually an ‘implied comparison’ to world events, where as in Elementary, this could simply be the brand of phone being used or a news flash on the television, based around true events.  I would imagine that this technique would be very powerful in ‘bringing the show to reality’ and making the viewer feel as though is could be, or is, happening right under their noses in everyday life. 

These are just a few things that one would or would not expect to see within such genres:

Things you WOULD expect	Things that you WOULDN’T expect
Victims	Ghosts/Demons
Crime	Magic
Action (chases/crashes/explosions)	Comedy
Science/Forensics	Biographical information
Death	Fairies/Elves
Complex chain of clues	Vampires/Demons
A complex web of characters

Of course, many of the things which I have put in the ‘WOULDN’T’ list could, in reality, be adapted to fit within the genres.  For example, JJ Abram’s 'Fringe' (2008) follows storylines that could be considered as supernatural or fantasy, but these storylines are always backed up by theoretical scientific explanations. 

Van Dine (1928) stated, “The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.”

After reading Van Dine's article, I found it almost impossible to ignore the glaringly obvious attempts of the writers to ‘spoon feed’ the clues of the story to the viewers.  However, this chance for the viewer to work out the answers before the lead character seems to be one of the many reasons that this style is so popular.  Unlike many TV shows and films, detective stories actually give the viewer the rare opportunity to actually be the detective and work alongside the protagonist, receiving the clues at the same moments.  

In addition to this, many detective shows contain some elements of comedy. However, this seems more for the purposes of lightening the mood slightly as opposed to a main feature of the show.  Of course films such as Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz (2007) are an exception to this, basing a comedy film within a police detective setting.  However, these could be considered as parodies of the original genres, therefore following the rules of the comedy genre rather than the investigative/detective. 

More than anything, this exercise has lead me to look further into the amount of ‘genre blending’ that happens on modern TV shows.  Perhaps in an effort to reinvent the wheel or break the traditional rules, many newer shows seem to be finding new and exciting ways to blend together many genres.  For instance Russell T Davies’ 'Doctor Who' (2005) has always been associated with the sci-fi genre, but when I looked deeper in the reinvention of the show from 2005 onwards, I found a huge number of strands of other genres creeping in.  For example, accurate historic facts make quite a regular, but often fleeting appearance and elements of comedy, romance and mystery are seen in every episode. 

It seems that as society and technology are evolving, viewers expect a more varied an unpredictable outcome to the storylines.  I wonder whether the traditional sense of ‘what belongs in which genre’ is rapidly becoming a redundant notion? 

Exercise 2: Worlds & Genres

When first faced with this exercise I must admit I found it very intimidating.   Despite watching a large number of plays, movies and shows, trying to instantly ‘pick out’ the various genres, and in turn, subgenres was a very complex task!

However, when I began thinking deeper I came up with the following basic ideas and a few examples of each subgenre.

Comedy Genres

·      Chick-lit/Romance (My Best Friend’s Wedding, Bridget Jones’ Diary)

·      Satire (Borat, Four Lions)

·      Parody (Scary Movie, Blazing Saddles)

·      Dark Comedy (American Beauty, Fight Club)

·      Slapstick (Airplane!)

·      Screwball (Raising Arizona, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)

Westerns (High Noon, Tombstone)

·      Spaghetti Westerns (A Fistful of Dollars)

Crime

·      Serial Killers (Seven, I am Sam)

·      Police Detective (The Bone Collector, An Inspector Calls)

·      Gangsters (West Side Story, The Godfather)

·      Forensic/Scientific/Technology (Murder by Numbers, The Net)

·      Mystery ‘whodunnit’. (The Mouse Trap, Gosford Park)

Horror

·      Murderers/Serial Killers/Crime (Saw, Halloween, Psycho)

·      Paranormal & Occult (The Exorcist, Woman in Black, The Shining)

·      Gory Horror (Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes)

·      Dark Comedy (Edward Scissorhands, Dog Soldiers)

Drama

·      Catastrophe (2012, War of the Worlds, Armageddon)

·      Realistic (Little Miss Sunshine, Perks of Being a Wallflower)

·      Historical (Schindler’s List, Elizabeth)

·      Biographical (Ray, The Iron Lady)

·      Military/War (Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now)

Fantasy/Sci-Fi

·      Folklore/Fairies/Elves/Magic (Labyrinth, Harry Potter, The Seven Worlds)

·      Ghosts/Paranormal (Casper The Friendly Ghost, Constantine, Finding Neverland)

·      Aliens/Space (Alien, Starship Troopers, ET)

·      Catastrophe (Avatar)

·      Fairy Tales (Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Riding Hood)

·      Epics (The Lord of the Rings, 300)

Animation

·      Children’s/Family (Toy Story, Paranorman)

·      Graphic Novels (Sin City)

·      Anime (Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle)

By the time I had compiled the above list, more and more genres and subgenres began appearing and I could have continued for pages and pages!  However, what I found most interesting was that, as I began identifying subgenres, a number of ‘overlaps’ occur.  In today’s modern world of fiction, it seems that very few genres have been limited to their ‘traditions’ or ‘conventions’ but actually now make full use of integrating a number of less frequently used combinations of subgenres.  For example Doctor Who would be considered part of the Sci-Fi genre, but each episode contains different stories, which often revolve around tragedy, romance, comedy, etc.  This is of course true of a number of films and plays, which have been released within the last two years. 

Exercise 3: Analysing a Genre

 “Chick-lit”

Memmott (2006) makes the following statement about the essential elements of a ‘chick-lit’ movie: 

“The heroine is either looking for Mr. Right or getting over Mr. Wrong. She's in a dead-end job or is looking to climb the corporate latter. She often works in public relations, advertising or for a women's magazine. The tone is often light and funny. The story usually is told in the first person. By novel's end, the heroine usually has worked out all her problems and has learned important lessons about life.”

This seems to be a very accurate insight into the structure of this genre, but I wanted to spend some time recalling a number of these productions that I have seen in the past, to ascertain whether they follow the same basic structure.  I found, much like Memmott (2006), a very familiar and clichéd structure to all of the films I can recall.

The central character is often portrayed as ‘a mess’, needing something in life to complete them (this later turns out, usually, to be a male).  Mimicking the words of Memmott (2006), the heroin is often struggling in her job, family matters or a relationship break up.  There is usually a central or ‘best friend’ role who displays a zany and quirky character trait.  The main story arc can best be simplified as:

Main character, usually single, struggling with some elements of life.

__

Main character meets man of dreams, but is oblivious to the ‘connection’ and instantly dislikes him.

__

Man pursues the main character, but often in vain, usually culminating in a dramatic exit or a wedding to some else.

___

 

At the last moment the main character has a moment of clarity and makes a dramatic rush to tell the man that she cannot live without him.  Girl is usually ‘too late’ and cries somewhere quietly (or very dramatically!)

__

Man realises he has made a terrible mistake and tells the girl his true feelings and they live happily ever after.  The girl’s life is now 'complete’. 

Whilst thinking more deeply about the structure of these, and other films, plays and TV shows, I struggled to find another genre in which it is so unlikely to include and develop ideas with other subgenres.  I struggled to think of a single film with didn’t in some way, follow the strict and very traditional conventions of this genre. 

Chick-lit films, plays and TV shows have been described a ‘post feminist’ literature by many, but I cannot help but think that there are more important issues that women face on a daily basis than ‘meeting Mr Right’.  The phrase Chick-lit suggests literature based around the life and issues of a woman, but in order for us to see more gritty and real issues, we must turn to the Drama genre.  As a matter of semantics I would suggest that the phrase ‘Rom-Com’ is better suited to a modern re-branding of ‘Chick-Lit’.  However, despite its name, I feel that the entire genre is beginning to seem very ‘twee’ and is rapidly becoming redundant as more and more independent women are taking the lead in the writing, directing and producing shows, plays and movies. 

However, my point is argued here by Radner (2011:44), who writes: 

‘A defining characteristic of the girly narrative is, thus, its ability to mock itself while at the same time, paradoxically, sustaining and reproducing the objects of its derision.” 

Despite my cynicism for ‘finding meaning in anything’, I can understand the point that Radner is making here.  But I question whether the neo-feminist movement has given consideration to how women are perceived by men in these movies.  As I said earlier, the lead character is often a heroine ‘requiring completion’ from ‘Mr Right’. 

Throughout this course I plan to keep a very keen eye out for productions that may change my ideas about this subgenre. 

Horror

Although this genre encompasses a huge number of themes and ideas, for the purposes of this analysis, I will be looking at the more clichéd horror film, such as Wes Craven’s 'Scream' (1996) and John Carpenter’s 'Halloween' (1978).

Such films usually contain a number of similarities, namely the lead character is almost always female, and has usually experienced some kind of trauma, such as the loss of Sydney’s mother in 'Scream'.  These characters usually begin by being portrayed as weak or pathetic, but as the story develops, she usually finds strength to fight back.

Despite the theme of murder and the occult, Horror films seem to follow very strict moral rules.  Situated around the main character are often a number of ‘friend’ characters.  Throughout the film, these characters usually display some form of immoral behaviour, ensuring that they are the next targets of the murderer.  The lead character, in contrast, is often seen as ‘the sensible one’ and opts for hard work and morality over all else. 

The murderer or spirit has usually experienced some form of traumatic incident that has caused their inclination to kill.  There is always a link between the murderer and the main character, in 'Scream' the murderers were friends of Sydney, but in 'Halloween', Michael Meyers was the previous occupant of the main character's hometown.

The pinnacle moment of these films seems to be the end scenes and the ‘show down’ between the evil character and the lead.  Once again, the lead character begins the fight by displaying a great deal of terror and making bad decisions, such as running upstairs or hiding in a confined space.  These moments seem to be the crescendo of tension of the entire screenplay and are filled with ‘jumps’ and tense musical scores. 

Following a (usually) very long fight, the lead character either defends the evil character, or there is the introduction or re-introduction of a heroic character.  In 'Scream' this takes the form of the police Deputy who was previously thought dead, but this can be as simple as the police arriving at the scene, just at the perfect moment.  It is at this stage that these films are often left open for sequels as the murderer’s body disappears, or there is an implication that the murders will continue. 

Being a fan of the horror genre I am very grateful for the more recent influences of world cinema, namely Japanese horror such as Takashi Shimizu’s 'Ju:on The Grudge' (2002) or Hiroshi Takahashi’s 'The Ring' (1998), as they seem to have encouraged American cinema to move on from the very rigid conventions of horror.  It seems to me that the intention of horror is to shock and disturb the viewer, but the conventions mentioned above are far less effective in today's generation, calling for more realistic ,and in some ways sadistic, forms of horror such as James Wan’s 'Saw' (2004) and Quentin Tarantino’s 'Hostel' (2005).

Exercise 4: Choose Your World

As I have been thinking about the concept for a while I chose to use my idea of creating a satirical piece based on the following idea:

‘A bright young student is given the opportunity to become one of a new generation of world leaders and is given a place on a board of individuals holding ultimate power over the world’s future.”

I have decided to set this piece in the year 3113 based on planet Earth.  At this stage, all the continents of the world have drifted back together to create one landmass called Yonisha.

Yonisha is further broken down into four lands; Creov, Myinopis, Brasnok & Klyd.  The North and South Poles have remained in their original location and form the Governmental Palaces and Prison camps respectively.  Each land contains only one city, surrounded by wasteland, which I have loosely based on major cities around the world, namely New York, London and Toyko. 

This piece is supposed to be based on the idea of young people's ideas causing the world’s systems to crumble, creating a harsh regime ruled by crime and gangs.  Due to a series of failed experiments, the moon has been partially destroyed, causing an eighteen-hour day, with only four hours of darkness each day, provided by a ‘fake moon’. 

Of course, with the setting being the year 3113, transport, health and education systems would have greatly modernised, but names such as the International Health Service and FacePage would make a stark reference to current, perhaps more controversial, public and private services. 

Although I want this piece to reflect ideas and possibilities of the future, including the concept of ‘memory banking’ and the development of more experimental sciences, I want the world to be easily comparable to the one we currently live in.  As a satirical piece, I would strive to include current issues such as gang culture and the overuse of social networking to give the audience the chance reflect on their current beliefs and practices, but without being ‘too obvious’.  In order to do this I would want this world to reflect elements of daily life and scenarios which would enable the viewer to empathise and immerse themselves within the world without it becoming too fantastical or unbelievable.   I think one of the main things to avoid would be going too far with the development of future technology and systems.  This world must be both possible and plausible to give the audience a further sense of reality.