Genre Analysis : The Movie ' Scream 1996 '

‘The word genre means ‘type’ or ‘category’’ (Teach yourself film studies) it is really important as an audience member to recognise genres as then things become categorised and easier for them to understand which is more comforting. Sometimes however genres are crossed and categories are broken for example sometimes we have ‘action thrillers’ or ‘sci-fi horrors’ this is known as a hybrid genre. This often intrigues the audience and draws them to the film as it changes their outlook as they have no expectations for the film as they have never been exposed to this genre before.

If somebody asked me what my favorite type of movie is I would probably say horror. I would say horror because it provides a thrill in me that no other type of movie sparks within me. When reading Stephen King’s article I realized there is more to a horror movie than just thrill, there is anticipation, and even suspense shown. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King uses a mysterious tone and pathos to successfully persuade his audience of kids and adults into watching mysterious horror movies that will let you re-establish your feelings.

A new movie just came out. Many people rushed to theatres to see the new movie “Split” be played on the big screen. To many people, this movie may just be considered a horror and they’re excited to see it just to jump out of their seat. Others may think the movie is a psychological thriller, and hope to be intrigued by the weird mind of the main character. These genres of the movie are what entice people to go see a movie like this. What most people don’t know is that there is much more to the to the definition of a genre than just some topic. Every piece of information contains multiple genres that can be explored. Genres are complex and always changing depending on the how the piece was made and how the viewer is seeing it too. Genres are

Everyone has their own movie preference. There are people who adore the hardcore action and there are some who prefer the slow paced drama. Many individuals may not like a movie because of the genre it is in. A genre is a categorization of certain types of movies based upon their style, form, or content. The genre is a vital component of a film since it characterizes which course the plot line will go and allows to prepare yourself for that film. Movie genre is the term used to differentiate between various number of films. There are around five fundamental groups that are big and prevalent i.e. Action, Horror, Comedy, Science fiction.

But why is a horror genre among the most popular? why do we keep loving these kinds of films if they scare us? and what makes them so intriguing? In a classification of films, the theme, the scenes and the main characters are essential to the story. In which the main characters, in this case, the villain or the monsters mostly differ from how intimidating and shocking their physical appearance, personality, or function in the film are. The director attempts to form his film the most shocking possible

Horror is a film genre which is made to trigger an emotional response to its audiences. This is done by playing on the audiences worst fears in society such as animals, ghosts, diseases etc. the scenes in horror films often scare or shock the audiences different events in the film such as supernatural. The horror genre sometimes can overlap the thriller genre. using the horror genre in films many can tell a story from the point of view of the monster, victim , revenge and survival.

Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen explore the principles of genre in their book Film Theory and Criticism. Braudy and Cohen write that the most common criticism is that, ”Genre art… can never reach the heights of greatness because its creators are too tied to artistic precedents and are therefore not ‘original’”(607). Restrictions of genre destroy the individual artist or what is known as the “auteur” in film. Creativity and uniqueness is sacrificed for conformity in narrative, production, and societal issues. According to this criticism, genre films cannot be considered works of art and directors are not artists, but mere pawns of the studio system.

Cinema is a full-fledged art form, and its expressive boundaries are defined solely by the talent and skill of creators. Genre, style and everything else are secondary to the creative mind. Just like with any other art form, I humbly learn with the best artisans without labeling their artistic fluidity.

The film genre has been created since silent movies era to separate and identify to tell the different if each film. “A genre can be simply defined as a large category of stories united by their particular settings, characters, themes, and narrative conflicts.”(Worland 2007, p.15). For advertisement and promotion of the movie, film genre is very useful. It can tell audiences more information about the film before they design to watch it. For example, If some of the audience have watched “Dracula (1931)” and like this kind of movie. They want to watch more similar movies of this film. They can find the director’s name or actors ' name, but all overcome they can find it more easily to separate these kinds of film to be one individual genre called “Horror film”. Then they can find that “Frankenstein (1931)” is the another movie that is similar to “Dracula (1931)” they have watched because they have same story type and themes in the movie.

Genre in film began as a sort of “commercial tool” which showed audiences recognizable film content in order to attract customers (Campbell and Swenson). As the film industry grew, this content began to be more specialized, allowing the audience to know exactly what to expect from the film they were seeing. For example, films within the same genre share the same myths, iconography, and conventions. This means they have similarities in aspects such as plot, characters, themes, moods, ways of doing things particular to that genre, and repeated visual and oral elements such as images and sounds. Often genre films are influenced by the social culture of the time in which they are produced, and the content in the film tend to propose a solution to the current problems within society. These resolutions are often portrayed by a main protagonists who is presented with a conflict; the film then concludes with the character reaching a solution to the problem that is not only logical, but moral as well. Within the romantic comedy genre specifically, the storyline usually follows a couple rather than a protagonist. The romantic comedy, or rom com, genre has often been ruled “a purely escapist and conservative genre, accused of unquestioningly presenting unrealistic romantic fantasies for passive audiences” (MacDowell). From its earliest days, romantic comedy films have mostly focused on finding romance and the idea that love is the key to a fulfilled and delighted life. However, this

Horror for years has put people on the edge of their seats, begging the audience for more, even while scared out of their minds. Horror is an intense emotion that shows disgust and fear. This feeling is something some people might seek out for entertainment purposes–movies for example. The most interesting horror movie genres are serial killer, demon/ghost, and alien films.

Movie genres are used to categorize movies depending on the similarity of characteristics in the story elements from which the viewers can create an emotional reaction or social construction about the movies. Other than the storyline, the genre classification takes into account the characters, the setting, the style and the mood of the movie. They can also be distinguished from one another by their narrative structures, themes, and the setting used during the making of the movies. The movie classifications can also be differentiated by considering the effect they have on the audience in terms of expectations and demand.In certain instances, the movie genres overlap to combine in a single movie in more than one genre. For instance, both comedy

Genre criticism, on the other hand, was emerged from a backlash against auteurism with the growing dissatisfaction in the mid-1960s and early 1970s (Gledhill 2007, 252). Whereas the romantic tendency of auteur theory which used to categorise the directors by “a canon of the good or great directors and the rest” (Hayward 2013, 30), genre “seemed to offer critics a far more inclusive and democratic method, one which was attuned to the industrial and commercial imperatives of Hollywood” (Watson 2012, 189). The main purpose of genre was an association of “the concerns of film industry with the desires of its audiences” in so doing, it functions as a financial security blanket for the industry; a set of precepts and expectations for audience; and a critical frame work for reviewers (189). Moreover, repetition is a necessary instance of process in genre because genres “establish a regulation of the variety of mainstream narrative across a series of individual texts, organising and systematising the

two genres from one another is the complexity and overall meaning behind the films. What really

the films genre. The genre is a way for the audience to distinguish types of