Genre comes from the French word for ‘kind’ or ‘class’ (Chandler, 1), but the history of genre begins about the fifth century with Homer, father of Rhetoric, and therefore, genre (Fowler, 215). Some of the first genres were the Epic, similar to present day Action/Adventure films, and Satire, present day slapstick comedies (Fowler, 215). From Epic evolved Greek tragedy, a form much like present day opera (Fowler, 215). With the rise of Christianity, Medieval Christian genres, romance, sermon, and carol, completely separated with previous classical styles (Fowler, 215).
Christian genres focused on telling the stories of the Bible for illiterate parishioners. The Second Shepherd’s Play infuses parables with modern day events, called allegories. It tells the tale of the birth of Jesus while teaching against the sin of thievery and lying.
Two phases followed which revived the lost classical style: The Renaissance and the Augustan period (Fowler, 215). Critics of this time believed in a strict adherence to the classical styles, and condemned anyone who did not (Fowler, 215). However, the genres did change. In the Medieval period, tragedies that were once like operas were turned more into narrative structures and violence appeared on the stage (Fowler, 215). We are all familiar with Shakespeare’s plays, which are known for their raunchy humor and graphic violence.
In the late sixteenth century, genre mixing was attempted, but it was not until the nineteenth century, that genre mixing hit an all-time high (Fowler, 215). Writers experimented with Greek, neogothic, and exotic forms, like romance and Eastern tales (Fowler, 215). The melodrama genre was formed out of this mixing, also creating the idealic hero and sinful female character, such as The Lady of the Camellias.
Genres were thought of things in the past, but there are thousands used today (Fowler, 216). Studios brought genres into the film world, because they needed a way to standardize films in order to market them to the appropriate audience (Cook, 58).
Genre is a classification of non-mutually exclusive types, whose patterns, themes, structures, and styles are describable in terms of codes. These codes evolve according to historical events that stimulate an audience in an emotional and rational way, because they have learned them over time through recognition and repetition. A studio’s knowledge of repeated codes allow them to market to specific audiences. David Bordwell, author of Film Art: An Introduction, supports this definition in his glossary by stating that genres are "various types of films in which audiences and filmmakers recognize by their familiar narrative conventions." He continues that for one to "identify a genre is to recognize how audiences and filmmakers at different historical periods and places, have intuitively distinguished one sort of movie from another" (p. 52-53).
Both Alastair Fowler and Bernadette Casey agree that genre is closely tied to the historical atmosphere surrounding the film and its audience. Fowler states that "in the course of history works gradually change their generic affiliations in such a way as to preserve their interest for each new generation. Yet the genre’s tradition embodies a compensating continuity that may keep readers in touch with older meanings and values" (p. 216). Casey continues this thought with the idea that as genres change, they evolve, creating hybrids and subgenres.
All agree that it is through the constant repetition, recognition, and reception of a genre’s conventions that audiences learn the distinctions in types of films. Bordwell gives three main elements for how an audience defines a genre:
- Through the films subject matter and theme.
- Through the presentation (i.e. song and dance for musicals or tommy guns for gangster movies.)
- And, through the films emotional effect.(p. 52)
Deborah Knight agrees with Bordwell, when she states, "plot action is a main focus of generic fictions" (Knight, 2). She continues that when one asks about a movie a response about what happens in the film is given. It is through the action of a movie’s plot that theme and subject matter are revealed.
Knight adds to Bordwell’s three main categories by noting that genres also have "highly conventionalized characters;" which are more for functional reasons than psychological, meaning the characters are there more to keep the plot moving than to make a statement about life. Despite her belief, she cites Frank Kermode, who remarked that "generic fictions encourage underreading" and are based on the audiences’ ‘cultural knowledge’ (Knight, 2). Despite the work of the audience in analyzing the film, she maintains that generic fictions are ‘easy access’ (Knight, 2). The underreading of the audience is focused on narrative development instead of the artistic elements of the film, such as creative dialogue or cinematography (Knight, 2). Also, knowing the genre allows the audience to separate what are necessary plot elements from those that are not (Chandler, 4). However, Bordwell continues to show that themes can cross generic lines.
John Corner says that knowing the elements of various genres allows audience members to direct their choices and set their expectations (Chandler, 4). Dudley Andrew poses the question of the sameness of genres, because they are all movies (p. 111). "After all," he says. "The theater owner has no qualms substituting a musical for a gangster film; doubtlessly he has played them together on double bills" (p.111). He defines genres as "specific networks of formulas which deliver a certified product to the waiting customer" (p.110). He continues:
They ensure the production of meaning by regulating the viewer’s relation to the images and narratives constructed for him or her. In fact, genres construct the proper spectator for their own consumption. They build the desire and then represent the satisfaction of what they have triggered. As a specific production practice in the industry…and as a site of the spectatorial pleasure…, genres equilibrate spectators and that vast technical, signifying, and ideological machine of the cinema. (p. 110-111)
However, the elements listed above are only the beginning to redefining a genre. Closer examination must be paid to individual genres and their role in the mainstream. One must also take into account the ‘auteur’ theory, where a film’s subject matter and theme are similar to a more general and less complex film, but the director’s, or the artist’s, style makes the film seem distinct and creative. Dudley Andrew, author of Concepts in Film Theory, says that:
What humanists of the past termed ‘creativity’ materialist theorists now insist on seeing as simply one more ingredient in the general recipe, with that ingredient (the catalyst) necessary to ensure a modicum of change within the overall structure of repetition….After all,…the value of each film depends largely on its perceived distinctiveness. Invention, creativity, auteur—these terms locate the apparent dynamism without which the genre would be nothing more than a corpus. (p. 117)
He continues, "the appearance of a new film is now most often seen as a formal permutation in the system of the genre itself" (p. 117). But, what would cause the invention and long-term popularity of the Western genre or the Farce? The genre’s ability to change? It’s as Andrew said, each new film is a new "ingredient in the general recipe."
As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, the genres Comedy, Horror, Science-Fiction, Action, Fantasy, and Family will be examined using our now established knowledge of genres. Similar to knowing how genre evolved, one must look at how the specific genres have changed through the history of film in order to determine if the film’s of Tim Burton are a new genre.
Comedy is first on the list, because most of Burton’s work generally falls into this category. Today’s version of comedy began it’s evolution at the end of the 1950s (Gagne, 1). Over the years, comedy fluctuated between slapstick and a comedy/drama hybrid. The comedic films of the 1980s began with the teen angst films of John Hughes, such as, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club (Gagne, 5). Comedy matured into a more adult-oriented genre in the late 1980s, for example, Roxanne, Parenthood, and Throw Mama From the Train, around the time that Tim Burton’s films became popular.
A contemporary of Beetlejuice is the film High Spirits directed by Neil Jordan and starring Steve Gutenberg, Daryl Hannah, and Peter O’Toole. Both films make use of the afterlife theme, but Jordan, possibly because of studio pressure, used more conventional methods than Burton. The comedy in High Spirits is based on the situations the characters find themselves, such as, the repeated murder of Hannah’s character played out in front of Gutenberg, as well as, the hijinks of the ghosts who want to expel the tourists from their castle. Despite the unrealistic plot of the film, the setting is very ordinary, a dank, drafty Irish castle. The costumes fit the time period and the make-up is reminiscent of Bela Lugosi’s style.
The next genre Burton is regularly categorized as is Horror. This genre is typified by bone-chilling monsters and suspense-driven plots. Horror films began in the early 1900s, when George Melies experimented with short fantasy films and trick photography. Through the years the films became more gruesome and gory, reaching new heights in the late 1980s and 1990s, with the advent of computer graphics and better special effects. An example of this genre is The Predator, directed by John McTiernan and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer.
In this film, Dutch is hunted by an Alien for personal pleasure. McTiernan uses all the special effects available to him in creating the transparent Alien who sees the heat index of his surroundings and prey. The conventional elements of the film are the evil monster, the monsters inability to be stopped, the death of Dutch’s squad who are killed one at a time to increase suspense, the grotesque skinned bodies, the over scaled fight scenes, and the sole survivor who finally stops the attacker.
The next genre is Fantasy, which predates film by reaching back to the folk tales of Europe and America. Filled with trick photography and mystical characters, fantasy films tend to blend with the family genre. Most films during Burton’s time were aimed at children. Adults could not connect with the characters. One example of this hybrid is the Disney film, Aladdin. Released in 1992, Aladdin fits into the historical period of Burton’s most popular fantasy/family film, Edward Scissorhands. The common codes in Aladdin, besides being a Disney film, are Aladdin’s sidekicks the Genie and monkey. He must also rid the kingdom of the evil sorcerer and save the princess. To do all this he uses the magic of the Genie and his three wishes.
Science-fiction is a combination of fantasy and horror genres. This genre was bred out of the fear spawned by nuclear testing and the Cold War. It combined the trick photography elements of fantasy with the scary monsters of horror along with novelty scientific inventions. Science-fiction is the top grossing genre of the 1980s and 1990s. James Cameron directed The Abyss, a film that combines the codes of science-fiction with codes of action. In The Abyss, Bud, played by Ed Harris, is trapped by vigilante Navy Seals with an atomic bomb, a mysterious being in the ocean, and a hurricane top-side. This film starts out as a subtle science-fiction and could easily be confused with action. The codes that set it apart are the aliens who save the day and the technological toys the characters play with.
Action films begin their history with swashbuckler films starring Errol Flynn, and have not changed much since then. Through out the history of the action genre, the protagonist, typically a man, is put up against impossible odds as he battles the forces of evil and greed without the help of sidekicks. If there are sidekicks, they are usually older men or young boys, who help prepare the hero for battle. Action heroes, too, have fancy gadgets that help them save the day, but there is more heart-pumping action rather than the suspense found in science fiction.
A mainstream action film of the early 1990s was The Rocketeer, based off the 1930s comic strip. In this film, one could easily see the evil character in search of money, who tries to steal the hero’s girl. The hero is put in impossible situations, such as, fighting a man twice his size and exiting an exploding Zeppelin.
Audiences of the late 1980s and early 1990s recognize these set codes as defined genres, but as seen genres can easily cross lines and create hybrids, or sub-genres.
Jane Feuer states that "a genre is ultimately an abstract conception rather than something that exists empirically in world" (Chandler, 2). "One theorist’s genre may be another’s sub-genre or even super-genre" (Chandler, 2). It’s simple to look at a film and note the differences and frequencies in themes, motifs, etc., but Andrew Tudor describes the "empiricist dilemma":
To take a genre such as a ‘western,’ analyze it, and list its principal characteristics, is to beg the question that we must first isolate the body of films which are ‘westerns’. But they can only be isolated on the basis of the ‘principal characteristics’ which can only be discovered from the films themselves after they have been isolated (Chandler, 3).
Genres are loose and are boundless. "Particular features which are characteristic of a genre are not normally unique to it; it is their relative prominence, combination and functions which are distinctive" (Chandler, 3). Their features can move easily between the various genres (i.e. The Pink Panther, comedy-mystery). Tzvetan Todorov argues that "any instance of a genre will be necessarily different" (Chandler, 3). The changes come from many outside influences.
For instance, narratives have to change to continue to draw an audience. A shift in plot means addition of new elements, possible borrowed elements from other genres; this borrowing and shifting creates hybrid genres. Also, the wide-spread reach of the media changes how the audience views the world, thus, new ideas are formed. Nicholas Abercrombie thinks that the "flow of television programs, all different generic conventions, means that it is more difficult to sustain the purity of the genre in the viewing experience" (Chandler, 3). Especially today with the free flow of information on the internet, ideas are spread more quickly. This could allow for conventions to be changed and experimented with, such as a science-fiction western, like the just released to video Wild, Wild, West. To clarify where the lines are drawn in film, the science of Semiotics may help.