Thoughts on Genre

Dear Blog, sorry I've neglected you recently. Various factors have prevented me from finding the time to finish a post. However, I have a selection of half-finished blogs that I will finish over the coming weeks. Hopefully this will make up for the weeks I missed last term. I started the following blog post on the 17th of November, but I only just finished it. I promise to take care of you from now on, and to remember that a blog is for life, not just for Christmas. Yours, Gavin

---

Genre is the French word for category or type. It's also the Mayan word for the end of the world*. So this post is about the two, as I delve deeply into a rather shallow pool of destruction, presented in the shape of Roland Emmerich's new film, 2012.

We've had classes on genre in many different modules, and they each bring something new to the table. Andy's recent class on genre gave a very good overview of the "Repertoire of Elements" we expect; Characters, Narrative, Iconography, Style, Setting. It was fun after this class to think about writing in genres that I haven't previously. However, we recently had a class with Richard, in which we also spoke about genre extensively. We looked at the structures of different genres, and audience expectations. After this class I was a little more cynical. The audience expectations (which are made as soon as they know the genre) have to be met, or you risk angering or upsetting the audience - and that wouldn't make Mr Hollywood very happy. It's a little upsetting to think that creativity and originality come second, and your storytelling really can become "painting-by-numbers".

Some genres are more generic than others. Fantasy, sci-fi and social dramas are all quite free to do as they please, in my opinion - but action, romcoms, and horrors are bound by tight rules. Romcoms are particularly bad, and you'll be pleased to know that I'm incidentally working on a romcom for Richard. Arguably it's a romcom with a twist, and that twist thankfully allows me to escape the apparent tight restrictions of the genre, and perhaps give the audience something they don't quite expect. Plus, I can poke fun at the genre a little.

Another generic genre (or "genreic" for short) is the disaster film. I saw 2012 the day after Richard's genre class, and so genre structure was still floating around in my head. I already knew that 2012 was going to be similar to Emmerich's previous disaster film The Day After Tomorrow, but I didn't quite realise just how similar they would be. Allow me, if you will, to present the formula for a Roland Emmerich "the world's going to end, but not before I make them a happy-family again" film.

A black British scientist is in India doing some research about a geological anomaly. The scientist (or someone who works with him) tries to convince the US Government that their findings point to disaster on a global scale. The US Government have a good "lol" at the silly idea that the world could be ending. Only when the President gets involved do they accept the idea to be serious. Meanwhile, the main character is having family problems, which are just as important - if not more important - than preventing the imminent extinction of the human race. Finally the supposed end of the world comes, yet our protagonists somehow all manage to survive. This generally involves lots of near misses with massive tidal waves, fire falling from the sky, and absolute-zero temperatures... Oh - and the death of the President! There's then at least an hour's worth of boring stuff, since they've spent the entire effects-budget on the destructiony bit. During this part of the film, the main character has to travel a great distance by impossibly silly means, and then learns a great lesson, which somehow enables him to bring his family back together (even if that means having to let his ex-wife's new boyfriend perish). It ends showing that, despite all of the destruction, there is some hope for humanity. Frankly, this sort of storytelling makes me believe the opposite.

Ignoring the similarities, I did kind of enjoy 2012. I was in one of those "brainless movie" moods. Though I hope it's the last of it's kind. If I want to see this sort of story again, I'll just rewatch The Day After Tomorrow. At least the family-reunion in that wasn't appallingly sickening and completely unrelated to the events of the story.

Also, as a sidenote - it's actually a myth that the Mayans predict the end of the world on the 21st December 2012. Their calendar cycle ends on this date, but they in fact celebrate this, and start the cycle again. For a crazy amount of information on this whole thing, check out this link. It's a pretty useful read, particularly because I'm sure that we'll have to battle against stupidity and pseudoscience for the whole of 2012.


*Not really.

---

There ya go, Bloggy. Much better!