Role-play.
You are the TV talk show host. You have invited Mr. Lamb to take part in your show, interview him and encourage your audience to ask him questions as well.
Text 7. Film Genres
Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that are recurring and have similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, filmic techniques or conventions - that include one or more of the following: settings (and props), content and subject matter, themes, period, plot, narrative events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, icons (e.g., six-guns and ten-gallon hats in Westerns), characters (or characterizations), and stars.
For example horror films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.
Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman.
Horror films, when done well and with less reliance on horrifying special effects, can be extremely potent film forms, tapping into our dream states and the horror of the irrational and unknown, and the horror within man himself. The best horror films only imply or suggest the horror in subtle ways, rather than blatantly displaying it. In horror films, the irrational forces of chaos or horror invariably need to be defeated, and often these films end with a return to normalcy and victory over the monstrous.
Of necessity, the earliest horror films were Gothic in style - meaning that they were usually set in spooky old mansions, castles, or fog-shrouded, dark and shadowy locales. Their main characters have included “unknown”, human, supernatural or grotesque creatures, ranging from vampires, demented madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, “Frankensteins”, “Jekyll / Hyde” dualities, demons, zombies, evil spirits, arch fiends, Satanic villains, the “possessed”, werewolves and freaks to even the unseen, diabolical presence of evil.
Horror films developed out of a number of sources: folktales with devil characters, witchcraft, fables, myths, ghost stories, and Gothic or Victorian novels from Europe by way of Mary Shelley or Irish writer Bram Stoker. In many ways, the expressionistic German silent cinema led the world in films of horror and the supernatural, and established its cinematic vocabulary and style.
Exercises and Tasks
1. Below you can find some major film genres. Match them with their descriptions.
Film Genres |
Description of Genre |
thriller-suspense films |
usually include high energy, stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous heroes - all designed for pure audience escapism. |
crime & gangster films |
usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales |
war (anti-war) films |
light-hearted, designed to amuse and provoke laughter by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, and characters. |
comedy films |
developed around the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters, particularly bank robbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. |
western films |
serious presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories. |
science fiction films |
are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale |
drama films |
films, characterized by a plot to appeal to the emotions of the audience. Often, film studies criticism used this term pejoratively to connote an unrealistic, pathos-filled tales of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical characters that would directly appeal to feminine audiences |
horror films |
films that are centered on combinations of music, dance, song or choreography. |
melodrama films |
complete with heroes, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary monsters ('things or creatures from space'), either created by mad scientists or by nuclear havoc. |
musicals (dance) films |
types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. |
action films |
films acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. |
adventure films |
the major defining genre of the American film industry - a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. |
Choose a few film genres and for each of the genres draw a spider diagram. Then write down the different “elements” you expect to find in films of this genre.
e.g.
darkness
blood
sleepy village
2. Story lines.
There are typical story lines for each genre. Although every film is different, film makers tend to include elements that the audience expects so the audience is not let down by the film. Write down what you expect to happen in different film genres. Let your film knowledge come out, don’t worry about getting the answer right , just have fun thinking about what might happen in these films. Try to get several story lines for each film types.
e.g. Horror: Teenagers go to isolated house.
Science Fiction: Another world is destroyed by evil aliens.
Romance: Ugly girl transformed into a beauty by taking off her glasses!!!
Children’s: Orphan child is sad and longs to find somewhere to belong.
Comedy: Bags get swapped and vicar finds something embarrassing in his bag.
3. Here are some generic titles used to characterize film genres:
melodramas, horror films, adventure films, comedies, crime films, epics
The words in the lists below are all synonyms of, or closely related to, which of these genres?
war films, weepies, chillers, period pictures, macabre, swashbucklers, tearjerkers, slapstick, romcom, scary movies, lampoon, costume dramas, take-off, thriller, disaster films, suspense, spookfests, film-noir, slasher, spoof, detective-mystery films, historical dramas, caper, chick flicks, medieval romps, screwball, heist flick, sitcom