A powerpoint using Wordl to explain different genre theories

1. { Hannah Penhall

2. Auteurism
In English, Auteur means ‘Author’ which is why Auterism is the theory that a
film has an author, whether that be the Director, writer, producer, actors or
cinematographer. In order to qualify as an ‘Auteur’ the person must
demonstrate a consistency of technical excellence, style and theme.

3. Genre
Genre refers to the method based on similarities in narrative elements from which
films are constructed. It is also believed that genres can branch out into
subgenres. There are, however, some arguments that genre doesn’t truly
exist, and example of this is John Hancock’s argument that in Hollywood there is
no ‘pure genre’ as most of the films base the plot around the romantic love-
orientated genre whilst blending in other genres.

4. Christian Metz
Metz is a French film theorist. He applied Sigmund Freud’s pyschology and Jaques
Lacan’s ‘Mirror theory’ which led him to the idea that the reason why films are a
popular art is because it allows both an imperfect reflection of reality and a method to
delve into an unconscious dream state.

5. Andre Bazin
Bazin was a French film critic and theorist. He played a major part in the study of
Post WWII films and afterwards published a book named ‘What is Film?’. His
main ideas were centralized around the argument for films with ‘objective reality’
such as documentaries, and ‘invisible’ directors. He believed that ‘true continuity’
could be mastered through the use of mise-en-scene and thought that a film
should reflect the directors personal vision (personalism). Bazin also argued that
all films should be interpreted by the spectator which would allow constructive

6. Genre Hybrids
Also known as cross-genre. It describes the method of blending the
themes and elements from two or more different genres to create a new
genre (genre hybrid) such as a romantic comedy or a supernatural drama.

7. High Concept of Film
High concept narratives are mostly characterized as films which encourage the question
‘what if’ to be used as a catalyst for following events. This is what most Hollywood films
are seen to do . It can also be used to describe a film which has implicit subtext. Another
argument is that the high concept of film relates to films which develop upon a simple
premise rather than a character, for example – Cowboys and Aliens. This is considered to
sell to a wide audience as the concept is easy to grasp.

8. Intertexuality
Otherwise known as ‘influences’. It is when ideas from other texts are
used to develop a text. This contrasts to Authorship as it may be seen
that there is a lack of indivuality in this process. Some structuralists
believe that language can determine the subjectivity of a text, and
therefore can influence other texts.

9. Richard Dyer
Dyer wrote the book ‘Stars’ (1979) which alluded to the idea that the
viewers perception of a film is heavily influenced by the perception of
its stars. In this book he also stated that the publicity and reviews of a
film will determine the audiences experience when watching it.

10. Zeitgeist
How texts reflect society in a specific era. The idea was first though up
by Johann Herder and a few other theorist in the Romantic era. It is
associated with the general ambiance and mood of an era.

11. Codes and Conventions
Conventions are certain things used in genres to make them
‘typical’, for example having a final girl in a slasher film. Using
conventions is said to produce meaning in a text and are associated
with the culture of the time and place. The three codes for films are
technical, symbolic and written and audio which are used in most films
in order to keep to the typical conventions of that genre.

12. Mark Reid
Mark Reid asked the question ‘do we read genre as a noun or adjective?’. He uses
the example of tomato puree in a supermarket (2001) – what would we do if it was
shelved in a different part of the shop, and would the thing itself be any different?
This relates to genre as he is saying that films in specific genres are all very
similar, no matter whether or not they use the same conventions etc. Reid also
states that something is categorized by determining who makes it, for
whom, where and when.