1. Genre Film
*follows familiar or established narrative structures, uses familiar characters types, and communicates through familiar images or icons
*shares its subject matter, thematic concerns, plot formulas and settings, etc. with other films

3. Genre as Ritual
1. rituals have meaning because they are cumulative Example: the more horror films you see, the more you understand about horror films

4. Genre as Ritual
2. genres are also like rituals in that they are symbolic -they make use of objects or signs to evoke complex associations

5. Genre as Ritual
3. rituals are predictable -the reason we attend certain genre films is because we know what will happen at the end

6. The final episode of The Sopranos was not predictable, making some fans angry.

7. Genre as Ritual 4. Finally, ritual is functional
-rituals provide us with temporary psychological, emotional or social ease AND
-gives us sense of belonging to a group with the same goals or feelings

8. rituals provide us with temporary psychological, emotional or social ease

9. Binary oppositions are the basic conflicts found in genre films:
The Western: CIVILIZATION VS SAVAGERY

10. Binary oppositions are the basic conflicts found in genre films:
The Gangster Film:
Society vs Individual

11. The Horror Film: Self vs Other
Binary oppositions are the basic conflicts found in genre films:
The Horror Film: Self vs Other

12. Self vs Other Normality vs. Monstrosity Faith vs Reason
REMEMBER: these terms only take on meaning when opposed with another term
Self vs Other Normality vs. Monstrosity Faith vs Reason

13. Genres are Problem Solving Operations
All film genres deal with a certain basic conflict which because of its complex nature remains unresolved in life, but can be easily resolved on screen
the sustained popularity of any genre indicates the essentially unresolvable nature of the conflicts it addresses

14. Genre as Myth
Genre films are the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves: Westerns: the story of settling America Gangster films: the story of American industry Horror films: the story of what we fear

15. Classic Horror Films of 1930s/40s: The Monster is an External Threat

16. 1960/70s: The Monster is human, the family, inside us

17. Late 90s/2000s: the Monster is in technology, the internet

18. Now: the Monster is our destruction of the environment

19. PARTS OF A GENRE FILM
(PLOT) FORMULA CONVENTION ICONOGRAPHY/ICONS

20. Wood believes genres represent “different strategies for dealing w ith the same ideological tensions”
BASIC REPRESSION: “DON’T MURDER PEOPLE!” SURPLUS REPRESSION: “DON’T LET PEOPLE KNOW I AM DIFFERENT FROM THEM!”

21. “the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses or oppresses: its re-emergence dramatized, as in our nightmares, as an object of horror, a matter for terror, and the 'happy ending' (when it exists) typically signifying the restoration of repression”

22. Robin Wood’s Concept of the Other
1. OTHER PEOPLE Any zombie film 2. WOMEN Alien 3. WORKING CLASS OR POOR PEOPLE Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4. OTHER CULTURES The Mummy 5. ETHNIC GROUPS WITHIN OUR CULTURE Candyman 6. ALTERNATIVE IDEOLOGIES AND POLITICAL BELIEFS 50s scifi and monster films are allegories about communism 7. ALTERNATIVE SEXUALITIES Bride of Frankenstein 8. CHILDREN Rosemary’s Baby, Exorcist

23. Horror Iconography

24. Genre changes the meaning of images

25. Setting

26. Setting

27. Western:
Who is the “lady” and who is the prostitute?

28. URBAN LEGEND/CONTEMPORARY LEGEND

29. Via Daily Dot: “Slender Man can be viewed as a manifestation of what scares us most in the digital age. In his presentation as a pseudo-realistic, heavily documented figure, he underscores how unreliable online information is, how detached we’ve become from reality, and how much the Internet and the tangible world have begun to overlap.”

31. Slenderman

32. Slenderman Fan Art

33. http://www. youtube. com/watch. v=F18-WFYzOQ4 http://www. youtube

34. Horror
The Descent The Exorcist Harbinger Monster threatens normality Threat is determined Cabin in the Woods: Destruction: The Rules: