LewisBrownYear 13

YEAR 13 RESEARCH INVESTIGATION

HORROR GENRE

GENRE…

genre |ˈZHänrə|nouna category of artistic composition characterized by

similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Genre can be seen in many forms of art or entertainment, including books (e.g romantic or fantasy novels) and music (e.g rock and pop). Genre is used to classify people’s tastes into specifi c categories.

FOR EXAMPLE: There are several genres of fi lm including, Fantasy, Thriller, Romance and Comedy.

GENRE

Genre is particularly important in the Film Industry so audiences can form expectations of certain fi lms based on their genre. For example, a person may anticipate and enjoy going to see comedy fi lms as they assume it will be fi lled with jokes and humor.

GENRE- FILM

Daniel Chandler states that genres are “based on the idea that they share particular convention of content e.g themes or setting”

Robert Stam also gives other examples of categorizing fi lms into genres, for example story content, budget, racial identity or sexual orientation.

These theories can be applied to the Horror genre, as all Horror fi lms tend to have common conventions. For example, horror usually contains horrifi c or violent themes, spooky settings, are usually low budget (as opposed to sci-fi fi lms which spend great amounts of money on special eff ects) and have low lighting and dark colours throughout.

GENRE- THEORY

NARRATIVE…

A narrative is any story of events that are connected which is presented through fi lm or spoken words.

When referring to fi lm, narrative is the actual storyline or way that the story is structured or portrayed to the audience.

NARRATIVE

According to Vladimir Propp, who analysed 100 russian fairytales, there are several types of characters that were common in the narratives:

The villain (struggles against the hero) · The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some

magical object) · The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest) · The princess (person the hero marries, often sought

for during the narrative) · The false hero (perceived as good character in

beginning but emerges as evil) · The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known

and sends the hero off ) · The hero or victim/seeker hero, reacts to the donor,

weds the princess

NARRATIVE THEORY

Propps theory can be applied to horror fi lms, for example, there is usually a hero and a villain, with great emphasis on the villain (e.g Freddy Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street) and the princess, who is usually in the form of an attractive young woman who the villain targets.

However, some horror fi lms do not fi t the character types perfectly, for example in the fi lm “I Spit on Your Grave” (2010), the female protagonist begins as a princess, damsel in distress type character, but turns into a villain as she gets revenge. However It could be argued that she is a Hero as she is getting revenge for being sexually abused.

NARRATIVE THEORY

Noel Carrol narrative theory on Horror

NARRATIVE- HORROR GENRE

Historical: set in an imagined past without suggestion of supernaturalNatural: events appear to be supernatural, but eventually are given a rational explanationEquivocal: the presence of the supernatural is ambiguous, and often given a psychological explanation; this is the origin of modern-day “uncanny” or “fantastic” fictionsSupernatural: unnatural forces are clearly asserted; this is the origin of modern-day horror fictions

Here are some examples of horror narrative sub-types proposed by Carrol…

Todorov’s theory… This is a theory on narrative which can be applied to

several horror fi lms and states that a story begins in equilibrium, is then disrupted and then aims to become back to ‘normal’.

For example, in the fi lm “The Orphan”, a normal family wants to adopt a daughter (the equilibrium) who turns out to be murderous and aims to break up the family (the disruption of the equilibrium), the adopted daughter is then killed at the climax of the fi lm (return to equilibrium)

NARRATIVE THEORY

REPRESENTATION…

Representation is simply the nature of how something or someone is portrayed in a media product.

Many diff erent social groups and sub-cultures can be represented in diff erent ways in the fi lm industry, including ethnic minorities and the diff erent socio-economic classes. For example, in comedies, homosexual men are usually portrayed as flamboyant and eff eminate. Representations in fi lms can lead to negative stereotypes.

REPRESENTATION

One theory that can be applied to the horror genre in particular is Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory. This theory states that because “heterosexual men were in control of the camera”, the audience of the fi lm is therefore put in the perspective a a heterosexual man. This can be applied to the horror genre because women are normally portrayed as weak and in need of help which is a common view for sexist men and may even attract them to the fi lm. Horror fi lms may also view women as sex objects as it is common for women to be sparsely dressed when running from the villain, this connotes vulnerability.

REPRESENTATION THEORY

AUDIENCE…

An audience is the person or people viewing, listening to or engaging in a particular media product.

The following slides show some theories related to audiences of horror fi lms.

AUDIENCE THEORY

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY- THE UNCANNY

This was developed by Sigmund Freud, founder of Psychodynamic theory (unconscious drives, internal conflicts from childhood etc.)

His theory of the Uncanny can help explain why some people are so attracted to the horror genre

The theory states that cognitive dissonance occurs when something is familiar and foreign at the same time.

For example, people are attracted to paranormal fi lms because Ghosts are similar to the human form, yet look frightening. This would be perceived as being uncomfortably unfamiliar

FEMINIST THEORY- SADISTIC VOYEURISM

This was developed by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey (the male gaze etc.)

Her theory of sadistic voyeurism can also explain why some people are attracted to the horror genre.

This is when a weaker female character is performing a daily, personal or intimate task (e.g getting changed or having sex) where a strong male character abuses her privacy in a sadistic way (think the shower scene in the film, Psycho)

SOCIAL/RELATIONSHIP THEORY- SNUGGLE THEORY

This suggests that people watch horror films to resort back to their traditional gender roles when a male watches the film with the female.

When a frightening scene occurs the male takes on the traditional and cultural role of a male who is supportive and protective over the scared female.

This can result in a stronger bond between the couple.