How do films tell their stories? What types of narratives and modes of storytelling belong to different genres? How have filmmakers used genre to offer audiences certain pleasures or disrupt our expectations? How is ideology embedded in genre filmmaking - and how have films conformed to or resisted these ideological impulses? We explore these issues by examining different genres in cinema. We consider key films from a range of genres to examine the ways in which different generic and narrative traditions create meaning. We study the history of individual genres such as horror, science fiction and romantic comedies to identify their recurring patterns, styles, and iconographies, and investigate whether and how these genres generate ideological meanings and audience expectation. We will also consider modes of filmmaking that challenge genre categories, such as experimental and art house cinema, to consider alternative ways of classifying modes of filmmaking, narrative, storytelling and aesthetics.
- Module Supervisor: Sarah Smyth