Post 4: Genre as a Media Concept

For our exam preparation and pre-production work we had to analyse Robert Altman’s views on genre theory and the variety of points he considered. When doing so we had a class discussion and took down notes on each slide presented to us. With relation to the notes, I have specifically linked them directly to my opening sequence made last year, as well as ideas regarding the short film we are planning on making.


 First Slide. KLS Media Department

Throughout the opening slide, point was made referring to films that could be seen through a variety of genres. Altman quoted “that texts belong clearly to a particular genre in each case” With this in mind; the majority disagreed with the fact that every film is just one particular genre. It is virtually impossible for a film to be one specific genre, this was highlighted throughout the use of the example film of Little Miss Sunshine. The film uses a  hybrid of genres; this gives them a chance to bring in more than one selected audience encouraging a wider spread of their films and ultimately making more money in the long run. Similarly, the first point Altman made was “That genres are defined by producers and are easily recognised by audiences”. Whilst noticing that the majority of films were simple to define, there did how ever appear to be the occasional film which left audiences in confusion. In relation to our short film produced last year, their appeared to be a variety of feedback regarding the genre specified. As producers we had a set genre in mind, but portraying this to audiences appeared to be more difficult than anticipated. Criticism told us that our films genre was “hard to understand” or “not obvious enough”. With thus in mind, when developing upon our short film we plan to make we need to ensure our genre is specific enough for audiences to relate to and acknowledge. 


Thirdly, Altman said “That genres develop in predictable ways” this does in fact refer to the specific genre we chose to establish when making our opening sequence last year. As a group we followed the codes and conventions of a romantic comedy. It did fulfil the genres potential and show implications of a fairy tale stereotypical “happy ending” but still to some became unrecognisable as to what precise genre it was. Although, this is not the case for all films, some films effectively make audiences shocked or include a twist of events that occur when you are least expecting them to do so. With this in mind, it depends initially on the plot of the film rather than the genre when referring to it developing in predictable ways.


Following the previous point, Altman said “That texts in a genre share key characteristics” this implies that what Altman calls “characteristics”, we know better as the name conventions. Whilst making our opening sequence of a film with a specific genre, we had to be cautious that we followed the codes and conventions of that specific genre carefully. If we followed this successfully it would ultimately lead to a more positive response from audiences.


Slide Two. KLS Media Department
Next is a comment from J McDougallregarding a division of films into set genres and subgenres. Due to this, he developed upon the point that as the audience we do have a habit of putting films into logical natural patterns. With this in mind, it is clear that films of a psychological comedy, wouldn’t match so this wouldn’t appeal to audiences nor be popular.



Finally, the last quotation from R Altman reinforces a lot of questioning about the word ‘genre’ itself. Seeing genre as a noun is possible as it is a quality a film has, the actions that take place reinforce the quality which appears to be the genre. This also can be looked at from the contrasting side: a genre would normally be judged as an adjective. “Genre” is a word that expresses an attribute of something. Whilst doing and being both, it also will be an object or quality, not to the extreme that a genre is an object like a table, but it does have object like qualities. Concluding, defining genre is more difficult than expected and with regards to media texts there is no specific answer.

Third Slide. KLS Media Department

This slide related to tomato puree created a lot of questions with regards where you do in fact place different genres. This idea was demonstrated with a variety of questions with regards to thinking about the location of tomato pure. This left us to compare its existence with the genre theory. It is not always as easy as it seems! Some suggested that tomato pure would belong in the tinned food section, or with pizza’s or pasta.. Just like genre’s, some may suggest that James Bond is action and adventure, but others might see it from the romantic side of James Bond’s love affairs. Not every question is as easy as it seems and this became very clear by the end. Applying this to a variety of films was popular and made us question the basic genres in today’s society. The packaging of the tomato pure does determine where it is sectioned; this similarly links to the packaging of a media text. The target audiences can depend on what you highlight to be the most vital point of your advertisement.

Fourth Slide. KLS Media Department

On the final slide I chose to elaborate upon J McDougall commented about when considering the genre it is not about how the genre works, but why the genre works in the way it does. With this is mind, and after making an allowance for all the points made it is understandable that the expectations of films raises along side the popularity. For example, when Star Wars first began, the special effects were amazing, but now they appear to be basic in comparison to what the ability of special effects have developed to within time. Movies running with special effects today have a much higher expectation that they need to meet to please their demanding and ever growing audience