When watching films there many things that will be apparent to you and one of these things is the genre of the film. The study of genre has been about for a very long time and first came about when studying literary genre. Genre theory can be used to study literary studies, film studies and many other cultural and social studies. The Genre study of a film is the way the film is put together and how the story is told, in other words genre theory is used in the study of films in order to forward the categorization of films. The iconography within the film informs the audience on which genre the film is, for example, in Die Hard and Terminator, you automatically know the genre is Action, This is apparent due to the big explosions and the general chaos of the production.
Genre theory is mainly used in a film to display the type of movie the audience will be watching, most of the time this can be observed by watching the trailer, this is good because the audience can then see whether or not they enjoy that genre of film before they decide to go and watch it. There are some key advantages of Genre Theory. Firstly it informs the audience the type of film they are going to be watching and this can easily categorize the film and this in turn lets the audience know if they will be interested in watching it. For example a teenage girl will be attracted to a Rom-Com than an middle aged man would be. Secondly the grouping of films through Genre can help bring my viewers to the film and the production company will know exactly who to target due to the genre of the film. Thirdly the genre of the film helps the audience understand the storyline of the film and helps the audience enjoy it more and appreciate it more. There’s a few quote from Film theorists that back up this point. Steve Neale (1980) He argues that pleasure is derived from ‘repetition and difference’. “There would be no pleasure without difference; we may derive pleasure from observing how the conventions of the genre are manipulated.” Deborah Knight notes that “Satisfaction is guaranteed with genre; the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation.” Knight (1994). These theorists clearly show how we get pleasure and gratification through our knowledge of genre and this in turn makes it easier for us to follow the plot.
There are also a few disadvantages to genre theory, firstly some films can be too predictable, so the audience may get bored of the same thing being produced, for example there are so many romance films compared to the amount of comedy films around. This may be explained through Tom Ryall (1978) theory that “genre provides the framework of structuring rules in the shape of patterns/forms/styles/structures which act like a form of supervision for the production and film makers.” This would show why so many of the same films are being mass produced if we got rid of genre boundaries and rules we might get a new wave of cinema. Another disadvantage of genre theory can lead the audience into categorizing the director, and they might not want to go and see a specific film if it’s by the same director, as they will think it would be too similar to past films by this director.
Moving on to Auteur theory, the directors and producers of film play a very important part in the whole movie, even though this isn’t portrayed in every single film, there are a lot of directors that ‘auteur theory’ can be related to. Auteur theory, originated from France, is the concept that a director and producers portray their own individual personality and interests throughout a movie; this is why it might be used so the directors become more popular than the film itself. It is not possible for the directors to do this all on their own, the writers, cinematographers, actors etc. are needed but the auteur is in control of everything and everyone while the film is in production. In film critics, auteur theory holds and reflects the director’s personal creative vision, as if they were the primary author. The theory has influenced film critics since 1954, when it was advocated by film director Francois Truffaut. A really good director that portrays auteur theory well is Alfred Hitchcock, he does this well Auteur theory has many advantages. One of the advantages Auteur theory portrays the writer’s vision, this will help them gain a lot more credit for the film, not just the film and characters alone.
Another advantage of Auteur theory helps us gain a symbolic insight into films and this can help us understand deeper meaning and underlying tones which most people don’t pick up by watching just one film/piece of work from a certain auteur. For example if you binge on Tim Burton films you will certainly start to notice the quirky characters and dark under tones in his films, where as if you just watched the one Tim Burton film you would not realise this.
There is also a massive disadvantage to Auteur theory, who decides who is an Auteur and who is not and another disadvantage is Auteur theory can sometimes be ignored because the public watch one film from a director and then not the next, so the audience can judge the director on one film when his other could be a lot better and portray himself a lot more.
Throughout my research I found two directors that obviously portray auteur theory throughout their films. Tim burton is one of these, he has used the same character, Johnny Depp, in several of his films and he plays an alienated peculiar character. This is the main thing that people notice when they watch a Tim Burton movie because it is very popular.
Another director that portrays auteur theory is Alfred Hitchcock, a British film producer. Throughout the majority of his 53 films, they are all mainly horror and thriller genre based, the significant features he uses to emphasise his personality are things such as birds. His obsession with birds was presented within his art, and most people know a Hitchcock film when they see a small part because of this.
Auteur theory and genre theory differ because they do not emphasise the same things, similar but not the same. Auteur theory depicts the person who actually made the film and most of the time thought of the story line as well, whereas genre theory focuses on the film and the iconography of it to see what type of story is being produced
Genre theory is mainly used in a film to display the type of movie the audience will be watching, most of the time this can be observed by watching the trailer, this is good because the audience can then see whether or not they enjoy that genre of film before they decide to go and watch it. There are some key advantages of Genre Theory. Firstly it informs the audience the type of film they are going to be watching and this can easily categorize the film and this in turn lets the audience know if they will be interested in watching it. For example a teenage girl will be attracted to a Rom-Com than an middle aged man would be. Secondly the grouping of films through Genre can help bring my viewers to the film and the production company will know exactly who to target due to the genre of the film. Thirdly the genre of the film helps the audience understand the storyline of the film and helps the audience enjoy it more and appreciate it more. There’s a few quote from Film theorists that back up this point. Steve Neale (1980) He argues that pleasure is derived from ‘repetition and difference’. “There would be no pleasure without difference; we may derive pleasure from observing how the conventions of the genre are manipulated.” Deborah Knight notes that “Satisfaction is guaranteed with genre; the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation.” Knight (1994). These theorists clearly show how we get pleasure and gratification through our knowledge of genre and this in turn makes it easier for us to follow the plot.
There are also a few disadvantages to genre theory, firstly some films can be too predictable, so the audience may get bored of the same thing being produced, for example there are so many romance films compared to the amount of comedy films around. This may be explained through Tom Ryall (1978) theory that “genre provides the framework of structuring rules in the shape of patterns/forms/styles/structures which act like a form of supervision for the production and film makers.” This would show why so many of the same films are being mass produced if we got rid of genre boundaries and rules we might get a new wave of cinema. Another disadvantage of genre theory can lead the audience into categorizing the director, and they might not want to go and see a specific film if it’s by the same director, as they will think it would be too similar to past films by this director.
Moving on to Auteur theory, the directors and producers of film play a very important part in the whole movie, even though this isn’t portrayed in every single film, there are a lot of directors that ‘auteur theory’ can be related to. Auteur theory, originated from France, is the concept that a director and producers portray their own individual personality and interests throughout a movie; this is why it might be used so the directors become more popular than the film itself. It is not possible for the directors to do this all on their own, the writers, cinematographers, actors etc. are needed but the auteur is in control of everything and everyone while the film is in production. In film critics, auteur theory holds and reflects the director’s personal creative vision, as if they were the primary author. The theory has influenced film critics since 1954, when it was advocated by film director Francois Truffaut. A really good director that portrays auteur theory well is Alfred Hitchcock, he does this well Auteur theory has many advantages. One of the advantages Auteur theory portrays the writer’s vision, this will help them gain a lot more credit for the film, not just the film and characters alone.
Another advantage of Auteur theory helps us gain a symbolic insight into films and this can help us understand deeper meaning and underlying tones which most people don’t pick up by watching just one film/piece of work from a certain auteur. For example if you binge on Tim Burton films you will certainly start to notice the quirky characters and dark under tones in his films, where as if you just watched the one Tim Burton film you would not realise this.
There is also a massive disadvantage to Auteur theory, who decides who is an Auteur and who is not and another disadvantage is Auteur theory can sometimes be ignored because the public watch one film from a director and then not the next, so the audience can judge the director on one film when his other could be a lot better and portray himself a lot more.
Throughout my research I found two directors that obviously portray auteur theory throughout their films. Tim burton is one of these, he has used the same character, Johnny Depp, in several of his films and he plays an alienated peculiar character. This is the main thing that people notice when they watch a Tim Burton movie because it is very popular.
Another director that portrays auteur theory is Alfred Hitchcock, a British film producer. Throughout the majority of his 53 films, they are all mainly horror and thriller genre based, the significant features he uses to emphasise his personality are things such as birds. His obsession with birds was presented within his art, and most people know a Hitchcock film when they see a small part because of this.
Auteur theory and genre theory differ because they do not emphasise the same things, similar but not the same. Auteur theory depicts the person who actually made the film and most of the time thought of the story line as well, whereas genre theory focuses on the film and the iconography of it to see what type of story is being produced