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Chapter 2: genre and narrative (genre (dynamism and exhaustion (genre…
Chapter 2: genre and narrative
genre
French: kind, category, type
a term used for classification of particular types of media forms and content within each media group
signifying system, which relies on sets of codes and conventions shared by both producers and readers of texts within a certain medium
difficulty in defining genre: media texts need to be both similar and different from one another
genre definitions are circuitous: we define genres based on what we've seen or heard of media texts already, in anticipation of others that we might see or hear
genre is a recognizable grouping, subset or type of media form comprising the paradigmatic elements (stories, rhetoric, signification) that are drawn upon in the creation of individual syntagmatic texts
dynamism and exhaustion
genre provides a 'horizon of expectations'
although they consist of recognizable elements, genres are dynamic
they draw upon specific elements in the repertoire of a genre
dynamic and hybrid genres
hybridization to attract new audiences
texts like Shaun of the Dead and the Office are innovative because they stretch, play with and mix the codes and conventions of genres. We find them interesting because they signify codes and conventions of familiar genres while undermining them
much generic innovation and repetition can be attributed to the increased competition in broadcasting, in particular the brutal economic fight for audience share and revenue in the digital age-> can happen across cultural and linguistic boundaries
'formulaic programming' has often been criticized
some genres attract particularly devoted fans
genres offer us particular ways of seeing the world, while excluding others; in this way they can be considered to be 'ideological' in nature->genres as "agents of ideological closure": they treat this as the natural order of things
unique art (auteur theory) vs. generic mass-culture
we can think of genre in 3 distinct ways
a way for producers of media texts to organize audiences (its economic dimension)
a way for audiences to find types of media texts that appeal to them as a means of meeting and satisfying the 'horizon of expectations' (its consumer dimension)
sets of codes and conventions concerning content, story, signification and thematic treatment (its aesthetic, stylistic dimension)
Narrative
refers to the organisation of textual elements into a pattern in terms of space, time and perspective. It is the narrative that encourages us to read specific parts of the text as 'events' which are ordered through time (temporal structure) and which we conceive as the cause of other events (causation)
familiar narratives that are specific to certain genres, but some cross over many genres
understanding of narrative structures as a result of temporal awareness and the stories we are told as children
Vladimir Propp
conceptualized stories as structures that were analogous to language systems (through morphemes-> narratemes)
common structural features
functions of character
narrative units descriptive of particular action
Wright's analysis Proppean analysis of western claims that any changes in narrative structure from those he found can be attributed to wider changes in the American society
stability-disruption-enigma-resolution
the formation of a coherent narrative is possible because of a hidden presumption about the narratives we all share
Todorov: we infer the existence of a stable world, which pre-exists the story that is about to be recounted to us
we are introduced in media res (into the middle of things) with protagonists who are going about their business
the coherent internal story of a film: the diegesis
voice-over and the soundtrack: non- or extra-diegetic
the disruption usually comes in the form of an enigma
the enigma may be the entry of a disruptive force into a particular milieu
film-makers in a variety of institutional settings established a set of conventions for the telling of fictional film stories that lead to commonalities in the majority of American and European films
plot and story
fabula/ story: a pattern that the film spectators create through assumptions and inferences: we do not see the fabula on the screen or hear it on the soundtrack
fabula is built upon:
prototype schemata: identifiable types of persons, actions, locales etc.
template schemata: principally the 'canonic' story
procedural schemata: a search for appropriate motivations and relations of causality, time and space
we can think of our schemata as a framework for perceiving the world and these apply in all areas of the media-> preconceptions
syuzhet/ plot: the actual arrangement and presentation of the fabula in the film. The syuzhet is a system because it arranges elements- the story events- according to specific principles
three important principles that relate the plot to the story:
time
as with narrative logic, the organization of time by the syuzhet can be used to assist or block our fabula construction
flashbacks (analepsis) & flashforwards (prolepsis)
slow-motion
space
sometimes space can be intentionally vaguely delineated or abstract
narrative 'logic'
the plot can assist sense making by implying that events are causal and linear, or maybe do the opposite
the syuzhet of a film is often far more complex than the fabula we construct as spectators
POV, perspective and closure
more often than not, the question of who or what is telling the story in a film is not obviously suggested, as most films do not use the device of a spoken narration