Theorists

Genre Theory

Steve Neale

Belief that genre is in constant flux, changing and evolving

Five main stages in film genre:

- the form finding itself (psycho)

- the classic (Halloween)

- stretching the genre boundaries (nightmare on elm street)

- parody (scary movie)

- homage (scream)

Andre Baslin

Introduced the idea of genre theory in films looking at westerns in the 1950s

He was the first to look at the significant advantages of genre from the point of view of the institutional perspective e.g. reuse of sets, props etc. and as more than simply arbitrary: these originated at production level

Robert Stam

Genre is hard to define, doesn’t really exist and is a concept made up by theorists and critics

He argues the 4 main problems:

Extension- the breadth or narrowness of labels

Normativism- having pre-conceived ideas of criteria for genre membership, does horror look the same to others as it does to me

Monolithic- definitions (as if an item belonged to only one genre) a film should fit in one genre

Biologism-  a kind of essentialism in which genres are seen as evolving through a standardized life cycle

Rick Altman

Semantic- e.g. how to film is portrayed signs like knives, blood, dark colours show the audience that it’s a horror film, easy for the audience to recognise and identify.

But you cant have fun without the other. Need to have the marriage of the two to properly display a genre

Syntactic- themes and plot, what the film is about e.g. fear, revenge, rage

Bordwell

‘one could…argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film goers would find acceptable’ there’s no checklist for every genre

no one way to classify genre effectively e.g. mother movie

Audience Theory

Richard Dyer

Audiences want media products that offer them utopian solutions (perfect world) to their problems happy ending(1992). They want to be offered diversions and escapism.

Blumber and Katz

Uses and Gratification: Helps us understand why and how people seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs.

Audience centred approach about mass communication. Diverging from other media effect theories that question what does media do to people? It focuses on what do media do with media?

Gives the consumer power to discern what media they consume, with the assumption that the consumer has a clear intent and use

Moves consumers on from being the victims of mass media, forcefully fed what production companies pick, to seeing them as an audience to whom the media must appeal, competing with other diversions for their attention.

Makes the consumer active and not passive.

1. the audience is conceived as active

2. in the mass communication process, most initiative in linking gratification and media choice lies with the audience member. You have more control.

3. the media compete with other sources of satisfaction (dinner, park etc.)

4. methodologically speaking, many of the goals of mass media use can be derived from data supplied by individual audience members themselves. E.g. when watching on Netflix – you may also like... about who you are, people are supplying information about yourself to media companies

5. value judgements about the cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience orientations are explored on their own terms.

Media use can be grouped in 5 uses.

1. be informed or educated

2. identify with characters of the situation in the media environment

3. simple entertainment

4. enhance social interaction

5. escape from the stresses of everyday life

Hypodermic needle

Suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver

However, it is based on assumptions about human nature, rather than empirical findings and is discounted by some

People are not simply empty vessels waiting to be influenced by the media

Stuart Hall

(1970s)

Encoding- the creation of texts

Decoding- the interpretation of texts

Cant predict how something will be decoded

Just because you have an idea doesn’t mean that is what your audience is going to see and believe

Theoretical approach of how media message re produced, disseminated, and interpreted

Interpreted in different ways depending on individuals cultural background, economic standings, and personal experiences

Culture was not something to simply appreciate or study, but a ‘critical site of social action and intervention, where power relations are both established and potentially unsettled’.

Audience members can play an active role in decoding messages as they rely on their own social contexts, and might be capable of changing messages themselves through collective action.

Representation Theory

Levi Strauss 

binary opposites

Laura Mulvey 

Male gaze woman are objectified and seen as sex objects

Virgin/whore dichotomy

Vladimir Prop 

usually hero are strong men, helpers black men, princess weak girl

Angela McRobie 

believes that media like to use conformed and stereotypical gender roles- men are leaders and in control, women are victims and carers

Felt it was damaging for people to only be displayed this way

Stanley Cohen 

certain groups get demonised through their negative representation, moral panic about this group

bell hooks 

wrote a book called ‘aint I a woman’ to talk about the problems of being a black female in America. Intersectionality- the convergence of sexuality and racism during slavery contributed to black women having the lowest status and worst conditions of any group in American society.

stereotypes refusing to die: devolution of black femininity and rape of black women. Black women are seen as dangerous and more sexually promiscuous seen as a threat to the patriarchy, contrast to non-gender conformity for white women. Thinks that the gaze doesn’t apply to black women.

Liesbet van zoonen 

feels that women’s and men’s bodies are represented in different ways. The internet is not a feminist utopia nbased on collaboration because this view is too simple, ignores the dich diversity of how gender is articulated on the internet. Gender is performative- we construct out ideas about masculinity and feminity form ‘what we do’ rather than ‘what we are’. We are judged in how successful we are for being a women or a male

Narrative Theory

Tzvetan Todorov

suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.

These are the steps for all traditional stories:1. Equilibrium (everything is as it should be)
2. Disruption (by an event) 
3. Recognition of disruption
4. Attempts to repair disruption
5. Return to equilibrium

In the movie 'Would you rather' an example of equilibrium is that the main character and her brother have been left in debt because their parents have died. The brother need medical help but they cannot afford it. The main character is offered a chance to win some money and get a donor for her brother. In order to do this she has to join the games with the other patients. Before the games begins the characters realize that there is something wrong because one of the players is shot just because they want to leave the games. The first game was electrifying each other. All the characters begin to realize that they will be torturing each other. The characters try to work together to find a way to escape the games. However this did not work and they are brought back into the games.

Allen Cameron

4 types of narrative

1. Anachronic

modular narratives involve the use of flashbacks and/or flashforwards, with no clear dominance between any of the narrative threads. These narratives also often repeat scenes directly or via a different perspective. Examples of these in films would be 'Vantage Point', 'Click' and '50 First Dates'.

2. Forking Paths

Forking-path narratives juxtapose alternative versions of a story, showing the possible outcomes that might result from small changes in a single event or group of events. The forking-path narrative introduces a number of plot lines that usually contradict one another. Examples of these include 'Mr Nobody', 'Source Code' and 'Groundhog Day'

3. Episodic

Episodic narratives are organised as an abstract series or narrative anthology. Abstract series type of modular narrative is characterized by the operation of a non- narrative formal system which appears to dictate (or at least overlay) the organization of narrative elements such as a sequence of numbers or the alphabet. Anthology consists of a series of shorter tales which are apparently disconnected but share a random similarity, such as all ‘episodes’ being survivors of a shipwreck. Examples of these would be 'Heroes', 'Lost' or 'Game of Thrones'.

4. Split Screens

Split screen narratives are different from the other types of modular narrative discussed here, because their modularity is articulated along spatial rather than temporal lines. These films divide the screen into two or more frames, juxtaposing events within the same visual field, in a sustained fashion. An example of this would be 500 Days of Summer:

Levi Strauss

states that we see the world, people and places by forming Binary Oppositions. His theory states that all narratives are arranged around the conflict between the opposites. Binary opposites help to thicken the plot and further the narrative; and introduce contrast.

e.g. superhero film Good Vs Evil

Men Vs Women

Light Vs Dark

Technology Vs Nature                                        

War Vs Peace

Age Vs Youth

Strong Vs Weak

Democracy Vs Dictatorship

Vladimir Prop

He noticed that often many Folk tales were similar in a variety areas. He identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions. According the Vladimir Propp, characters have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.

The typical characters he found were:

The Hero – a character that seeks something.

The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest.

The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties.

The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.

The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims.

The Helper – who aids the hero.

The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots.

Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort.

In a struggle scene Vladimir Propp suggested this theory: There is a struggle between the hero and the villain. The hero is branded. The villain is overcome. The state of disorder is settled. And the recognition scene: At this stage in the film the hero is recognised. (an action film, like superman) Or the false hero or villain is unmasked. (a horror film scene) As well as the false hero could be punished in this scene. (a cops and robbers scene)Or the hero attains the reward (princess/ kingdom).. and they live happily ever after. (a fairytale)

The unknown theorist:

Unrestricted narration- e.g. the audience has seen someone die, but a character is still trying to save them. (dramatic irony)

Restricted narration- you are not given full information, do not know what is happening e.g. frozen: only at the end you find out prince hans just wants the throne not Ana.