Wow! With just one reading and one class down, I can already see the world of genre exploding in my mind. This weeks reading was an intriguing piece, as it was a discussion between famed authors Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro. Fantasy and Sci-fi have to be my favourite genres, as I read them constantly, and watch  them just as consistently. I was intrigued by the idea of genre creating boundaries, which they discussed quite heavily. Genre boundaries are the borders created by separating films based on type.

Is it possible that what we think of as genre boundaries are things that have been invented fairly recently by the publishing industry? There are certain patterns in films, and you can divide up stories according to these patterns. That is genre. Kazu Ishiguro gets worried when readers and writers take these boundaries too seriously, specifically worried that they think ‘something strange happens when you cross them, and that you should think very carefully before doing so’.

Neil Gaiman believes that there are things people who like a genre are looking for in their fiction: ‘the things that titillate, the things that satisfy’ . Having genre is a way to separate work based on it’s patterns and recurring themes. Do these create boundaries and problems when themes and events don’t go as their genre’s normally would? Genre’s are built to satisfy people who enjoy them… each one specifically.

I have recently watched a few westerns, specifically spaghetti westerns such as Once Upon a Time in The West(1968, Sergio Leone) and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly(1966, Sergio Leone). These have a very specific set of genre styles and expectations. I was able to see how upsetting it may be if some of these films went beyond their supposed ‘borders’ and didn’t meet their expectations. I also saw how constricting can be to have genres. Is it better to ignore genres and just make whatever you want without restrictions?

To finish things off, I have found a nice quote from the reading which relates to my spaghetti western viewings.

 “If it was a cowboy novel, we’d need the fight in the saloon; we’d need the bad guy to come riding into town and the good guy to be waiting for him. A novel that happens to be set in the Old West doesn’t actually need to deliver any of those things – though it would leave readers of genre cowboy action feeling peculiarly disappointed, because they have not got the moments of special satisfaction” – Neil Gaiman(Gaiman and Ishiguro, 2015)

 

 

References:

  • Gaiman, Neil, & Ishiguro, Kazuo. Let’s talk about genre. New Statesman , 4 June 2015