Genre Blog Tasks

Task 1: Genre factsheets

Read Media Factsheet 03 - Genre: Categorising texts and answer the following questions:

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

Newspaper genres and TV/Film westerns.

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?

In a soap opera it would not be unusual to see one of the story-lines follow a family having to deal with a domestic situation such as a member of the 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.

3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?

Where the action hero is isolated from other people, the disaster movie usually often places the heroic role within a group of people. Often they all have particular strengths which play a part in solving the problem through the collaboration of a group who works together.

4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell?

- Period or Country, e.g. US films of the 1930s

- Director / Star, e.g. Ben Stiller Films

- Technical Process, e.g. Animation

- Style, e.g. German Expressionism;

- Series, e.g. Bond;

- Audience, e.g. Family Films

5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.

- Using their prior knowledge of a genre to anticipate whether or not they will like a text.

- Comparing a text through its shared characteristics with another.

- Using knowledge of genre to reject a text.

6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.

- Using the genre as a paradigm or template to follow when creating a new text

- Attracting an audience

- Marketing texts

7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?

The gangster genre, which focuses on groups of criminals, often romanticises the gangster

lifestyle; the texts within this genre are violent and deal with conflict between the police and the criminals.

Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.

- Avengers Assemble (2013)

- Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) 

- Chronicle (2012) 

- Super (2010) 

- Spider-Man (2002)

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?

- In the 1940s, Superman was shown needing to battle European bad-guys who threatened the peace and security of Metropolis. Even though he only wanted to live a quiet life, he was forced into conflict for the greater good. (reflecting American attitudes of WW2 from 1939) 

-  Superman battles against Lex Luther who is a wealthy businessman and media magnate. This character appears first in the 1930s and then again in the 1978 film. It is also significant that Superman was raised in the rural community of Smallville. This sets him up in conflict with greedy, city values. (reflecting periods of economic depression) 

3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?

Innovation: Established via comic books and early superhero shorts of the 1940s

Classical: By the 1950's superhero conventions were being replicated in films and TV programmes of the time

Parody: Batman (1966) was intentionally funny and camp and wouldn’t let its audience take the superhero too seriously. After Batman, the classical and parodic versions of the genre were in children’s animation, from Spider-Man whose animated adventures were on TV from the late 1960s, to the less than serious versions of the genre in Mighty Mouse (made in the 1940s), Atom Ant (from the late 60s) and Captain Caveman (from the late 70s).

 

Deconstruction: Superman (1978) started a new cycle in the superhero genre with technology leading the innovation with special effects creating more realistic visual ‘miracles’.

The Cycle Continues:  The next stage of the genre’s development was the rise of Marvel Studios with The X Men (2000) and Spider-Man in 2002 and DC’s return with Batman Begins in 2005 and Superman Returns in 2006. These series have themselves been deconstructed once again.

Task 2: Genre analysis case study

Carry out your own genre analysis using the model provided by media theorist Daniel Chandler. Choose a film or TV text and answer the following questions - brief answers/bullet point responses are fine:

Chosen text: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

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

While there are many movies I have a deep passion for, I decided to analyse Into The Spider-Verse (ITSV) because of how it both reaffirms the need for and subverts expectations of the superhero origin story. Spider-Man is such a prominent character with a story that the past 2 generations have heard multiple times, so the Spider-Verse films stand out as a great example of genre deconstruction as compared to the MCU Spider-Man films (which only exist to frustrate me.) 

2) In what context did you encounter it?

I had heard about this film around 3 years ago with the main discussion around it being its fresh use of animation as a medium of storytelling, I had never really been enthusiastic about Spider-Man aside from the Raimi films when I was very young before this.

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

Knowing the original Spider-Man story to some extent definitely made me appreciate the way Miles is used to reinvent the concept of Spider-Man. I also am aware that as somebody who loves and appreciates art and animation, this movie would hold more importance to me than somebody who generally wouldn't care for animated movies. 

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

ITSV is still fundamentally a superhero film. 

5) What is your experience of this genre?

Growing up with the MCU will make you tired of superhero clichés. When I was young, I had watched the Raimi Spider-Man films and The Amazing Spider-Man series and other superhero movies (X-Men, Fantastic Four, anything before Marvel movies became a proper franchise) which were great and classical in terms of the genre cycle. However, movies such as Avengers Assemble and Avengers: Civil War had put me off of the superhero genre for a long time because of their overuse of comedic clichés and the way they watered down why superheroes existed as characters and the reasons for their importance to audiences.

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

Into The Spider-Verse is the story of Miles Morales, a 14 year old Afro-Latino kid from Brooklyn, who after witnessing the death of his universe's Peter Parker, has to step up to the expectations of both his new school and the role of Spider-Man, with a supporting cast of various spider-people from the multiverse. The film deals with themes of growing up, having elements of a coming-of-age story, and it also has the concept of family as a core part of its story, as well as courage and ideas of justice.

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

It has all the key conventions of a superhero movie put together in a story where they are refreshing and meaningful again.

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

To be bored. After this film I started giving the superhero genre as a whole a little more grace; a lot of this stuff is very good, cinema is just horrible right now. 

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

ITSV has been described as an action adventure movie and a science fiction comedy (IMDB)

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

Superhero movie, animated cartoon, children's film

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

- Dramatic origin story (Miles witnesses Earth-1610's Peter Parker die the same week he is bitten by a radioactive spider, his mentor ends up being a Spider-Man from another dimension that has failed at every superhero expectation, and then his uncle is the Prowler and is shot in front of him. Mentally strongest 14 year old in all of comics)

- Urban metropolis setting (Brooklyn, NY)

- Secret identity causing rifts in personal relationships (His family, notably his father who is a police officer that disapproves of Spider-Man's vigilante methods)

- Supervillain/nemesis (Kingpin) 

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

ITSV is delightfully self-aware about its place in the superhero genre and uses this awareness to its advantage to reinvigorate key superhero conventions. Animation is used as a medium to convey this, with comic-book panelling and effects being used throughout the film in a referential way, going back to the source of classic superhero characters in a era of MCU storytelling that disregards those origins. 

The choice to have Miles be a young mixed Black Spider-Man is also notable, yet instead of simply being a detail in the text to broaden the target demographic (Historically, the casts of most stories around Spider-Man have been overwhelmingly white) but is part of the film's overall message that anybody can be Spider-Man. There are also two aspects of the film's story that don't necessarily fall under the superhero genre - the story of Miles' adjustment to teenage life and the "great expectations" that come with it told alongside his journey of Spider-Man and the science fiction aspects that for once felt a little grounded in reality. Who misses when a superhero movie made you feel human emotion? I do!

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

- ITSV was the first superhero movie to utilise the concept of the multiverse, cementing it as a success in cinema that was then replicated in the Marvel franchise. Having multiple Spider-Men and Spider-Women brings home the point of being able to make the textbook superhero identity (the expectations forced upon you) into your own, which is the basis of Miles' entire character arc.

- Miles' superpowers such as his invisibility are much more dependent on his emotions than most superheroes, for example, the original Peter Parker, emphasising his confusion and vulnerability as a young person in the world. 

- Compared to other superhero focused media it is self-aware of the expectations of Spider-Man as a character and deconstructs those to a concept, an idea of somebody who doesn't give up despite the punches life throws at them. Instead of having the goal to move a franchise forward it intentionally wants the audience to feel seen by it.

- Gwen Stacy (Spider-Gwen) is only hinted at being a romantic interest to Miles, with the film ending with a declaration of their friendship instead. I really appreciated this because it allows Gwen's character to actually exist as a full person instead of a vessel for romance for the male hero, which in turn makes me more open to them having any potential relationship in the next Spider-Verse films. 

- Finally, not sure if it counts but having an entire superhero film being animated and that animation style being used as a form of artistic storytelling instead of a prop for photo-realism irrevocably changed the superhero genre and the entire animation industry for years after it was released.

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

One of the main settings of the film is Brooklyn Visions Academy, the high school Miles attends. This setting is where all of his teenage anxieties about socialising with his peers and keeping up with his classes are represented; the more grounded sense of expectations that weigh down on him. In this sense ITSV takes notes from the coming-of-age genre to tell the story of its notably young protagonist.

15) What familiar motifs or images are used?

- Superhero costumes 

- The use of a grand theme for its main superhero protagonist

- A supporting cast comprised of mentor/father figures, a (potential) romantic interest, an antagonist that ends up being a loved one

- Supervillain whose goals will destroy the world of the protagonist if they don't stop them 

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)?

Obviously ITSV was more aimed towards a younger demographic, relating to teenage struggles of identity and the pressure of growing up, but it was also targeted at more enthusiastic fans of Spider-Man and the superhero genre that would appreciate this film's meta quality a lot more than somebody who didn't care as much (like 13 year-old me when I first watched it!). This is typical of the genre, however, what wasn't typical was a more diverse choice of characters that didn't limit the potential audience to only white people, refreshing for any type of superhero media in 2018. 

2) How does the text address you?

ITSV's intro directly addresses the audience with an assumption that you have heard the classic story of Spider-Man too many times to count, and directly addresses the audience again at the end as part of its cyclical structure with Miles telling the viewer that "you can wear the mask". Indirectly it encourages the audience to question what Spider-Man as a concept even is. 

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

It assumes that the viewer is somebody with an interest in superhero comics, but is still pretty inviting to people who have no clue why Spider-Man is such a popular character. Other than that it makes the conscious choice to not impose assumptions of its audience as part of its wider message. 

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

ITSV addresses a relatively young audience that have grown up with an oversaturated genre of superhero movies, but other than that there's a deliberate effort to keep its target audience as open as possible.

5) What interests does it assume you have?

An interest in comics, and in Spider-Man! 

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.

ITSV references its own genre and set of characters so many times that it becomes almost postmodern in nature. There is a recurring pattern of characters introducing themselves and their world using an comic book style origin story template ("Alright, let's do this one last time") that had been established by E-1610 Peter in the intro, Gwen's entire basis for her character is having to bear the knowledge of being the only Gwen Stacy alive as a reference to the meta of Spider-Man, Peter B. Parker exists as a direct opposition to the intro of the film as a kind of commentary on how Spider-Man's humble and tragic origins have been so far removed from present interpretations of the character. (Tiny note, but as part of this, Peter B. Parker is the only recent iteration of Peter Parker that directly references his Jewish origin.) 

The most clever and insightful intertextual reference in ITSV is also its most overlooked one. The first frame of each of the Spider-Verse films is the Comics Code Authority stamp of approval. The CCA was formed in 1959 as a way to regulate and police the content inside comic books as part of a moral panic during the time about how they were distorting the morality of children, similar to concerns about video games and violence today. In practice, this ended up forcing writers to exclude any type of murder or violence, but also prohibiting them from portraying criminals in any sympathetic light or having police officers be antagonists. The CCA stamp of approval wasn't taken seriously after the 80s, when the popular issue "The Amazing Spider-Man #97" released in 1971 was not approved by the CCA for featuring Harry Osborn's struggle with a drug addiction, and Marvel Comics stopped submitting their works to it entirely in 2001. The choice to display this stamp at the start of these films is then an almost hilarious moment of irony, with the Spider-Verse films acknowledging that its contents and use of the superhero genre is still today disliked by a group of people that want to control the ways these characters are used as part of social commentary, completely rejecting the message of the CCA.

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

This film obviously resembles Spider-Man (2002) dir. Sam Raimi the most, with almost identical character arcs for Peter and Miles.

3) What key features are shared by these texts?

The key conventions of the superhero genre is intact in both of them, but they still subvert the genre in some ways for the times they were released. Peter and Miles are both young people forced into shoes bigger than they can handle, having to learn the importance of responsibility and facing internal conflict due to their secret identities. Both of them also have somebody close to them revealed to be an antagonist later on.

4) What major differences do you notice between them?

- Spider-Man (2002) sets out to be a faithful adaptation of the original story of Peter Parker from the comics whereas the Spider-Verse films use this original story metacontextually.  

- The use of the multiverse is an element of sci-fi not present in Spider-Man (2002) and creates a vast difference between Peter and Miles' stories: in ITSV the event with the super collider is how he ends up having a mentor figure and supporting cast in the first place, whereas Peter is left to learn the new direction of his life the hard way.