Genre: Factsheets and genre study questions

 Genre Factsheets

1. "Sometimes, however, the iconographies work together to indicate the genre. Someone sitting behind a desk is not genre specific. However, add high key lighting, a modern mise en scene and a screen behind the character at the desk and the combination of media language choices creates an image we associate with a news broadcast."

2. "In a soap opera it wouldn't be unusual to see one of the story lines follow a family having trouble with their boss at work. This type of story may also appear in a sit com but the way the story develops and is dealt with will be different. In a soap opera, the situation may be shown in a serious way and the boss could be represented as a villain and act in a very abusive manner. Sit-coms tend to be episodic narratives whilst the soap opera convention is to use an open ended, multi strand narrative structure."

3. The action hero is often an individual who fights villain(s) that has equal or more advantages compared to them, however, disaster heroes are usually a collective who face challenges that are overly high in order to save victims of a disaster.

4. Style, Audience, Series, Director/Star, Technical Process and Period/Country

5. Audiences use their knowledge of genre in order to see whether they would like a piece of media or not. They can compare media made within that genre to other pieces of media in the same genre and use that knowledge to reject that media or to view it.

6. Producers can use previously created media to see the ideal things to implement into their work and the flaws they should avoid creating. They can produce media with a genre that has a large fan base in order to attract more people and can create trailers to define the genre of the media and display the conventions implemented.

7. The gangster genre focuses on a group of criminals (often mafia), are often viewed as violent and deal with conflict between other criminals or police.

Superhero Genre

1. Avengers Assemble, Agents of Shield, Super, Chronicle and Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

2. In Superman 1940, Superman is seen fighting European bad guys who threatened the peace of Metropolis, even though Superman wanted a peaceful life. This was created in order to reinforce America preparing for battle even if they didn't want to. Later on, Superman battled against Lex Luther who is a wealthy businessman and media magnate, he first appears in the 1930s and again in 1978; both time frames suffered economic depressions. Furthermore, in X-Men (2000), mutants are outsides who are seen as freaks by normal people. The first X Men film has quite progressive values and foregrounds tolerance, community and communication. The series is based on a collective rather than an individual so that will lead to dealing with problems differently. Also, the problems with the mutants' face are often seen as metaphors for the intolerance of racism or homophobia.

3. Innovation: TV and Films began using comic book characters such as Batman and Superman as moving images became more popular

Classical: The original superhero movies were classical and viewed as original live action remakes of the comics.

Parody: Batman was intentionally funny and would prevent the audience from taking the hero to seriously. It flagged the nature of the genre and let the audience make fun of it.

Deconstruction: The creators of the classical Batman and Superman movies treated the superhero genre seriously and used comedy in order to deconstruct and remake the genre in order to find a new audience.

Case Study Analysis - The Boys

General
1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?

I found it very interesting when I first saw it.

2) In what context did you encounter it?

My brother and all my friends were watching it#

3) What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text?

It had a positive influence on my interpretation of the text

4) To what genre did you initially assign the text?

Superhero, Action

5) What is your experience of this genre?

It's a positive experience

6) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?

Superheroes and Vigilantes

7) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?

It is atypical of the average superhero movie

8) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?

Comedic

9) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where)?

DC heroes

10) What generic labels have others given the same text?

None, this isn't a generic superhero series

11) Which conventions of the genre do you recognize in the text?

Action and drama

12) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?

To a very large extent

13) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?

It doesn't sugar-coat superheroes and actually shows the corruption that a superhero most likely would have if they were real people

14) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s))?

Brutal killings can be associated with horror or thriller

15) What familiar motifs or images are used?

Same motifs but twisted

Mode of address
1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?

Mature teenagers and adults

2) How does the text address you?

N/A

3) What sort of person does it assume you are?

Mature

4) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?

Heroes are treated better compared to the average person

5) What interests does it assume you have?

Realism

Relationship to other texts
1) What intertextual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)? Intertextuality is when a media product references another media text of some kind.

Strays away from what superheroes are assumed to be.

2) In terms of genre, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?

Invincible

3) What key features are shared by these texts?

Action, Betrayal, Drama, Sci-fi and realism

4) What major differences do you notice between them?

Invincible feels less realistic