MIGRAIN: Genre

 Task 1: Genre factsheets

Read Media Factsheet 03 - Genre: Categorising texts and answer the following questions:

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

Visual iconographies are important as they can connote many meanings and they have no language barriers as they are shown visually, although some 

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?

Western films and TV as they include a lot of things that can be identified, the western genre can be easily identified due to its popularity, culture and iconographies that are seen within them.

3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?

In action movies, there is a character that always has some sort of power over the protagonist and then the hero goes and trains and then gets more powerful than the antagonist.

In disaster movies the most powerful force in nature or the disaster that is happening, the characters are usually helpless just barely scraping through the hardships of the current situation. In the end, the disaster usually dies down.

4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell? 

They can be identified by the period/country, director/star, technical process, style, series and audience

5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.
They use their prior knowledge of the genre/subject, and they also compare the genre to any other different genres they also use their current knowledge to judge the current media being shown to them.

6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.
Genre can be used as a template by the producer, it also allows the attraction of an audience of that specific genre, they also use marketing texts which clearly define the genre of the film

7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?
The gangster genre is one that is mentioned and overtime it has displayed vast changes, the commonly used iconographies of the Tommy gun is vastly used amongst the gangster genre as it has become an icon to the genre.

Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.
-X Men

-Avengers/Marvel

-Spiderman

-Guardians of the galaxy

-Agents of shield

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?
An example would be the early stages of Batman as initially, it started out as an ironic comedy show but over the years the show has developed into movies that have a lot darker tone, such as the noir genre, they have also included more violence over the years to meet up with the audience's standards.

3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?
Shatz's "Genre of order" can be applied to the superhero genre as it usually includes action si-fi and other genres as such. The hero is usually a strong male who will save the city or person which is a structure used many times in many superhero genres.

Task 2: Genre analysis case study

Carry out your own genre analysis using the model provided by media theorist Daniel Chandler. Choose a film or TV text and answer the following questions - brief answers/bullet point responses are fine:


Chosen TV show: Breaking Bad

General

1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?
It was a show that I watched and have enjoyed

2) In what context did you encounter it?
I found the show on the top shows on Netflix

3) What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text?
I thought the show, as the name suggests, that the main character is going to "break bad" and the main title uses chemistry elements which suggest something to do with some sort of drugs or chemical weapons

4) To what genre did you initially assign the text?

Initially, I thought it was an action/thriller genre.

5) What is your experience of this genre?
I really enjoyed this show and how it presented the genre

6) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?
Drugs, crime, dark humour and some sense of family

7) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?
I think that Breaking Bad specifically executes the genre in a different way that 

8) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?

I thought that this text in specific would have 

9) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where)?
Thriller and drama would be the two generic labels as written on the genre tab of Netflix.

10) What generic labels have others given the same text?
The same thriller and drama labels would also be given by others.

11) Which conventions of the genre do you recognise in the text?

Todorov's narrative structure and Propp's character theory and Shatz's genre cycle. 

12) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?
I do not think that this text stretches the conventions listed as they are within line and follow the theory.

13) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?
The text does not depart from the conventions as it is followed throughout the entire show.

14) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s))?
Perhaps the character theory as it would seem more appropriate for some sort of action movies as all characters are usually used and are also used frequently.

15) What familiar motifs or images are used?
The use of drugs specifically the iconic blue methamphetamine is made by the main characters. 

Mode of address

1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?
An audience that likes crime thrillers and drama

2) How does the text address you?
The show included crime which I take an interest in, the show also included a lot of suspense which really stood out.

3) What sort of person does it assume you are?
A person who enjoys crime and the dangers and suspense that are created by it.

4) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?
Middle-working class, from ages 18-25 perhaps, mostly male and perhaps all ethnicities

5) What interests does it assume you have?
An interest in drugs/crime

Relationship to other texts

1) What intertextual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)? Intertextuality is when a media product references another media text of some kind.

There has been some intertextuality from other shows in which the main character of breaking bad is an actor in other shows in which he mocks the show as some sort of dream.

There have also been some spin-offs of the show which are pretty successful as the current show.

2) In terms of genre, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?

Crime and thriller are the main genres shown.

3) What key features are shared by these texts?
The use of drugs and the authorities not being able to find the person who keeps making these products and the tension created as the main character is the one doing all this but he keeps getting away with it despite being close to the authorities.

4) What major differences do you notice between them?

In this case, there does not seem to be much difference as they both link together as if they depended on one another or as if the other were to exist then the other must also be with it.