CIN105Y1 Study Guide - Final Guide: Film Genre, Antihero
Genre 1 “What is a Genre”, “The Westerner”, “Genre and the Genre Film”
• Hollywood Genres: Schatz
Film genre is both static and dynamic
Genre continually reexamines the same basic cultural conflict:
The taming of the frontier
The hero’s rugged individualism
The hero’s conflicts with the frontier community
Changes in cultural attitude, new influential genre films, and the
economics of the industry can affect that
Ex. The evolution of the Western hero from an agent of law and
order to a renegade outlaw (antihero)
Schatz compares genre to game:
No two games are alike, yet they are played in the same arena
(with an infinite number of variations)
The ultimate goal is to discern a film’s quality, social and aesthetic
value
We tend to over-isolate genres from one another
We view Hollywood genres as individual narrative systems (the Western,
the gangster film, the musical, etc.)
They are easy to analyze and sort by focusing on setting, plot and
character (this reaffirms the audiences values and attitudes)
Generic conflict and resolution involves opposing systems of values and
beliefs, and both are deemed significant by American culture
• The Westerner: Warshow
Most popular American film creations are the Western and Gangster films
(i.e. men with guns)
Not only guns in their physical use, but what they connote and represent
(as they are the VISUAL and EMOTIONAL center of both these types
of films)
Reflects the importance of guns in the fantasy life of Americans
The gangster operates outside the field of unity
He is without culture, without manners
He is crude, but not inarticulate
Lonely and melancholy, but projects wisdom
Adolescents relate to this loneliness and impatience with the
world, also appealing to those of us who refuse to be “normal”
The Western hero’s temperament and loneliness is organic, not
self imposed by his mental state
In Western movies, men are wise and woman are children
To the gangster, women are part of their winnings (often
containing prostitutes, and in their independence they possess a
quasi-manliness)
Despite being sexually objectified, they have more agency
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Document Summary
Genre 1 what is a genre , the westerner , genre and the genre film : hollywood genres: schatz. Film genre is both static and dynamic. Genre continually reexamines the same basic cultural conflict: The hero"s conflicts with the frontier community. Changes in cultural attitude, new influential genre films, and the economics of the industry can affect that. The evolution of the western hero from an agent of law and order to a renegade outlaw (antihero) No two games are alike, yet they are played in the same arena (with an infinite number of variations) The ultimate goal is to discern a film"s quality, social and aesthetic value. We tend to over-isolate genres from one another. We view hollywood genres as individual narrative systems (the western, the gangster film, the musical, etc. ) They are easy to analyze and sort by focusing on setting, plot and character (this reaffirms the audiences values and attitudes)
