Genre Seminar

In this seminar we learnt about genre in animation and how we classify genre in animation. We also talked about how useful the idea of categorising animation and film into genre is. To me it is very useful because it helps viewers understand what they want to watch. There are so many movies out there and it can become confusing.

The idea of genre is to basically put all these films into set groups, for example, sci-fi, comedy, fantasy and horror to name a few. Then with genre we can go even more specific and start categorising films into sub-genres. This idea is often very useful because although the idea of categorising film into genre makes it easier to find certain films, not all films fit into one category. For example, an animated movie like Paranorman could be categorised as a comedy film. But to call it a comedy is unreliable because it might frighten younger viewers as there are elements of the horror genre throughout the film. Therefore, Paranorman cannot fit into one category alone and has to be placed into the sub-genre of horror-comedy.

I feel the genre system is very useful, especially in animation because for example it helps parents decide if an animation is appropriate to show to their children.

So, when we're watching a film, how do we know which genre it is placed into? Well often it wont be obvious but there are certain traits that appear in certain types of films. As P. Wells states after listing examples of movies and the genres they fit into; 'The films identified here all share common characteristics with established generic conventions. For example, the Western films include the iconography of the cowboy and/or Indian, saloon settings, gunfights, implied aspects of frontier history and so on.'

To elaborate, if we see a cowboy on screen, chances are we're watching a western. But this rule does not always apply, I believe the genre system is often very useful, and far more worth having than not. But categorising films into genres, even sub-genres to me doesn't always work. There are some films that are comedy-horror films, but these films may also have aspects of sci-fi in them for example, so to just categorise them under comedy-horror might be unreliable. But then doesn't categorising films under multiple genres begin to become confusing? Either way to me it's a useful system, but it is not a perfect way of categorising films.