Before the first class this week I didn’t think about how genre can affect my reaction to media. I didn’t consider it something you gave much thought; it was simply a tool for categorising films and nothing else.

I disagree with the idea that genre doesn’t exist, even if it was created by studios in order to sell films, they still very much exist and are there analyse. The reading from Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro (2015) showed me how much more genre affects the film industry than I expected. Something interesting about the reading was how they discussed boundaries, and the relationship between boundaries and plot, ‘I get worried when readers and writers take these boundaries too seriously, and think that something strange happens when you cross them, and that you should think very carefully before doing so’ (2015). I don’t like the idea of genre as a set of limitations. I prefer to think of it as a guide to help you choose movies you like.  

Gaiman raises the idea that not ticking the boxes of a certain genre leaves the audience ‘feeling peculiarly disappointed, because they have not got the moments of specific satisfaction’ (2015). I understand this notion but I think that films are becoming more and more a ‘remixed’ genre. Genre’s are becoming cultural touchstones an new films are drawing aspects from different genres instead of rigidly sticking to one set genre.

References:

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