Post 4: Genre as a Media Concept

Post 4: Genre as a Media Concept:

In class we discussed Genre as a Media concept and looked at some of the issues that are highlighted when discussing genre. We then compared our thoughts and views to our opening sequences that we made for our A-S projects.

We first looked at Robert Altman's views on what he believed is genre. His views are that genre's are easily recognised and are predictable to audiences. For example a recent film called The Expendables features actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. From this you expect this film to be full of high action showing big explosions and a fast paced storyline. This is what the audience expects and gets when witnessing the film. He also argues that genres are ideological, this could mean that producers and audiences have the power to decide what a genre consists of and how they want the film to be portrayed. Comparing Altman's views to my opening sequence I believed my sequence "Thug Britain" can compare to some of Altman's views as the name of our film is basically what goes on in the film with two drug dealers trying to get through life.

We then looked at whether genre would be classified as a verb or an adjective. We had a group discussion about what we thought you would class genre as and each of us gave our opinoins and views about it. As a group we came to a conclusion that genre would be classed as an adjective.

After we classified genre we was asked a philosophical question. The question we was asked was:

Where Would You Find Tomato Pure In A Supermarket?

We discussed this question in a class debate and each said where we would expect to find tomato pure. Some of the places where my fellow class mates would expect to find tomato pure in the supermarket is next to the tomato's, with the pizzas, with the packet sauces and above the freezer section. The actual place you would find tomato pure is at the freezer section. This all links to genre because if the tomato pure was stored in a different place would the item be any different. This is similar with genre as would a comedy and romantic comedy be different?

Finally we looked at Neale's and Hartley's opinions on genre. Neale says that genre is dictated by industries, media texts and audiences and believes all three have the ability to decide what a genre consists of. Hartley believes that a contract between the audience and producers discipline choices and reduces desires. I agree with these statements as I feel us as an audience can dictace what we want to see.