Huge Easter-Break catch-up on blogging necessary and I’m leaving it to the Monday night with work tomorrow and another job interview on Wednesday. Shoooooooot.

 

In week five of the “Another World” studio; we discussed – as a group – the concept of ‘genre’ in worlds – how ‘genre’ can influence the audiences interaction with worlds, and vice versa.

Our class brought some interesting ideas of genre to the table – as each of us have a different experience with what constitutes as a ‘genre’. My understanding came from introductory studies in film – where it was theorized by the author of the prescribed textbook, David Bordwell, that there are four major genres from which cinema genre stems.

The difficulty with applying genre is that my interpretation is that it should be conducted by assessing the elements of a film, rather than attempting put it into a cookie-cutter formula as was attempted by Dancyger and Rush in the reading for the week. I feel by making a definitive list, one does not allow for new elements to permeate the genre and begin to bridge the gaps into new subgenres of film. For example – without the inclusion of science fiction, the adventure film would never have spun off into the space opera sub-genre.

I also raised an argument in the studio – the “comedy” genre is merely a subset of elements into films of another genre – that upon further reflection I moved back on.

The reason for raising such an argument was my belief that explaining a film is a “comedy” suggests there is humour in it for all audiences – yet this is not the case; our sense of humour is not homogenous. Instead, comedy / humour is something added to another film — any subgenre is merely due to an emerging trend of conventions (for example, humourous romance films create the sub-genre of “romantic comedy”).

However, on a coffee break, I began considering “frat pack” comedies – such as those staring Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, and so on. At first, I had considered Ferrell’s The Campaign to be a political comedy – a sub genre of the political drama genre. However, when it came to considering another one of Ferrell’s films – Stepbrothers – I realised that the situation was far too unconventional of a drama genre – between two divorced people marrying and moving in together, bringing with them their two adult sons who begin behaving like bickering children.

I reconsidered The Campaign and realised that Ferrell’s (and co-star Zach Galifinakis’) antics through the film suggest it is a comedy — just a comedy taking place in a political setting (and hence satirizing of political campaigns).

 

While a mostly minor footnote in my greater explorations of world, a better acceptance (and subsequent appreciation) of comedy as a genre is definitely a step towards being a better creator of content. However – it does lead me to some more questions.
In the classification of subgenres, to which genre should the subgenre be accredited? For example, in the case of the “romantic comedy” genre – is it a subset of the romance film with comedic elements, or is it a comedy while drawing on the emotions involved in a romance film? Or does this differ from film to film? For example, is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as much of a romantic comedy as Love Actually? Or does its filmmaker’s style, target audience (US v UK) and delivery affect these films placement within genre? These are questions worth further consideration.