GENRE ESSAY
Genre is a tool that helps study audiences and audience responses by dividing them into different categories based on common elements that they share. In this essay, I will be identifying and analysing the way the concept of genre is presented in a trailer by previous media students from the production team, Jawsplitter, called The Enthrallment.
In this trailer, the genre is revealed to me from the establishing shot of the stain glassed windows with Jesus depicted on them. Jesus is a major symbol of religion, specifically Christianity, and having that image there suggests the genre of the film is a psychological horror because common conventions in that sub-genre is to have a religious symbol present in the film to presumably fight off or repel the evil. Chandler, established the meaning of genre, as explained in the introduction, and in The Enthrallment, they’ve evidently exhibited common elements.
Neale argues that “genres are processes” that can evolve and change overtime which may have led to the creation of sub-genres. The development of sub genres may have happened to fulfill the audience’s tastes and to give them more choice. For example, horror films that shared the same conventions, typical mise-en-scene, stock characters etc. are easier to categorise into their own divisions. In slasher films, the typical theme is gender patriarchy and teen punishment and they have stock characters that appear in each film which became a convention for this genre thus leading it to be categorised. In the past, this trailer may just have been solely viewed as a ‘horror film’ because of the typical eerie music and low key lighting for the shots however the familiar elements, such as religion, have made it become easily identified as a psychological horror film.
Mittell argues that genres are essential for the audience and producers because it allows the producers to decide what to create and appeal to audiences by giving them more choice. The producers of The Enthrallment use accustomed conventions of a psychological horror such as having a soundtrack of holy, church music playing throughout and the clips of the priest helped the audience decide if it’s what they’d be interested in to watch.
Altman explains that genre gives the audience pleasure in three forms; emotional, visceral and intellectual. The Enthrallment displays mainly visceral and intellectual pleasure. Firstly, the editing and the sound effects such as the heartbeat, which increases as gradually, create tension and feelings of fear because of the initial slow pace and then the fast pace montage. Furthermore, sounds of the doors banging gives the audience emotional pleasure by causing them to feel frightened as they are so sudden and abrupt which leads to the visceral pleasure of“roller coaster ride” feeling allowing them to be even more frightened. I believe the trailer conveys these pleasures very effectively due to the use of editing and transitions that will provoke jump scares in the viewer and psychologically coerce them into going to see the film. The intellectual pleasure comes from the lack of dialogue from characters and minimal text, thus leaving the audience to ask themselves who are the characters that appear in the trailer, what is their relevance and this mystery that is created makes them want to watch and unravel the plot.
Abercrombie suggests that the line between genres is “becoming more permeable” meaning the horror genre and its subgenres are blending with each other as well as other genres like romance, comedy and action. For example, in The Enthrallment a figure in a black cloak holding a knife is shown in the reflection of a mirror; in horror mirrors are a conventional prop that symbolise other characters' inner self or reflection of who they are. In this case, the reflection of the antagonist and protagonist appearing in the mirror simultaneously reveals that she may have a hidden and violent personality. Knives are commonly associated with the slasher genre as a phallic weapon used against female characters in the slasher subgenre therefore this slightly challenges the conventions of a psychological horror film.
Neale argues that “genres are processes” that can evolve and change overtime which may have led to the creation of sub-genres. The development of sub genres may have happened to fulfill the audience’s tastes and to give them more choice. For example, horror films that shared the same conventions, typical mise-en-scene, stock characters etc. are easier to categorise into their own divisions. In slasher films, the typical theme is gender patriarchy and teen punishment and they have stock characters that appear in each film which became a convention for this genre thus leading it to be categorised. In the past, this trailer may just have been solely viewed as a ‘horror film’ because of the typical eerie music and low key lighting for the shots however the familiar elements, such as religion, have made it become easily identified as a psychological horror film.
Mittell argues that genres are essential for the audience and producers because it allows the producers to decide what to create and appeal to audiences by giving them more choice. The producers of The Enthrallment use accustomed conventions of a psychological horror such as having a soundtrack of holy, church music playing throughout and the clips of the priest helped the audience decide if it’s what they’d be interested in to watch.
Altman explains that genre gives the audience pleasure in three forms; emotional, visceral and intellectual. The Enthrallment displays mainly visceral and intellectual pleasure. Firstly, the editing and the sound effects such as the heartbeat, which increases as gradually, create tension and feelings of fear because of the initial slow pace and then the fast pace montage. Furthermore, sounds of the doors banging gives the audience emotional pleasure by causing them to feel frightened as they are so sudden and abrupt which leads to the visceral pleasure of“roller coaster ride” feeling allowing them to be even more frightened. I believe the trailer conveys these pleasures very effectively due to the use of editing and transitions that will provoke jump scares in the viewer and psychologically coerce them into going to see the film. The intellectual pleasure comes from the lack of dialogue from characters and minimal text, thus leaving the audience to ask themselves who are the characters that appear in the trailer, what is their relevance and this mystery that is created makes them want to watch and unravel the plot.
Abercrombie suggests that the line between genres is “becoming more permeable” meaning the horror genre and its subgenres are blending with each other as well as other genres like romance, comedy and action. For example, in The Enthrallment a figure in a black cloak holding a knife is shown in the reflection of a mirror; in horror mirrors are a conventional prop that symbolise other characters' inner self or reflection of who they are. In this case, the reflection of the antagonist and protagonist appearing in the mirror simultaneously reveals that she may have a hidden and violent personality. Knives are commonly associated with the slasher genre as a phallic weapon used against female characters in the slasher subgenre therefore this slightly challenges the conventions of a psychological horror film.
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ReplyDelete"Neale argues that “genres are processes” that can evolve and change overtime which may have led to the creation of sub-genres." - why might this have happened and what evidence of how they have developed (conventions developing,,,)
"Furthermore, sounds soft the doors banging also make the audience feel frightened as they are so sudden thus giving them that “roller coaster ride” feeling. " - use this to make apparent the difference between visceral pleasure and emotional - how successfully does the trailer do this and why is this crucial for the success of a horror film in meeting expectations/pleasure?
"For example, in The Enthrallment a figure in a black cloak holding a knife is shown in the reflection of a mirror" - why are mirrors a Horror film convention?