Is there such a thing as Genre?

Question: With refrence to the films you have studied, explore the controversial idea that genre is dead.

The term genre defines the type of film and audience will be influence to go and watch. They will be loured to watch a film depending on the genre as each genre has its own codes and conventions, for example an audience will go and watch a horror film to get the feeling of being scared and un safe. Within the different genres there are sub genres such as within horror there is slasher, gothic horror, sci-fi horror, gorno and many more. However there is an argument that many people believe that the whole idea of genre is dead. In this essay I will be looking into these films and discussing if there is such a thing as genre. The films I looked at are Hostel part 2 (Dir Eli Roth (2007)), Halloween (Dir John Carpenter (1978)), Scream (Dir Wes Craven (1996)) and Ringu (Dir Hideo Nakata (1998)).

According to Thomas Schatz he believes that genre is evolutionary and goes through phases, but these phases go around in a circular motion and will always goes back to the beginning of the cycle and so on. Schatz believes there is four phases, these phases start with when a genre begins and the framework is established where the audience with then on have expectations n conventions are made. This first phase is also known as the innovation phase. An example of this to many is Halloween as the Director John Carpenter made almost the first evolutionary horror film by setting up codes and conventions and also audience expectations.

The next stage is the peak where repetition happens which is also known as the classical phase. I personally believe that at this present time we are in this stage as I think it is harder in today’s society to be scared as such even though cinema has moved on a little I think it still has the same codes and conventions in it such as dramatic music, the last girl and the typical ‘monster’ .The audience get pleasure from watching these types of films, as they know when to expect and be prepared for such as when the music gets dramatic or stops the audience can expect a jumpy part.

The third stage is repetition and difference, which is also known as the parody phase. This would be an example of something such as Hostel part two. I think this is a good example as it has the normal codes and conventions of a typical gory horror film, however it has difference, as there are women killers, women bidding to slaughter someone but also women high up in the chain of the business and generally powerful women. This is different as women are normally shown to be the weaker sex who needs to be protected as they are seen as vulnerable.

The fourth stage is known as the deconstruction phase, where the films self reflect and the audience can notice that there are self referential parts within the film, such as other films being referenced within a new film. An example of this would be that within Scream she picked up a big knife in the kitchen and it was shot similarly to Halloween and Scream was made in 1996 and Halloween was made in 1978.

Thomas Schatz use these four phases in defining the different types of film genres rather than putting them into exact genres and sub genres.

Overall I believe that genre as a single word is dead such as just horror, however I believe that genre is not dead as people will be influenced to see a film according to their likes.