Film studies 7th March

Horror- Horror films are meant to

Frighten Panic Cause dread and alarm Invoke our hidden worst fears Allow a kind of catharsis (Greek idea which believed

that watching tragedy got rid of certain strong emotions)

They will often deal with our nightmares, vulnerability, terror of the unknown, fear of death, loss of identity

Horror must contain a monster of some kind-otherwise there is no horror!

The monster

Horror

British horror films need to deal with subject matter relevant to the British audience

This could be referred to as the zeitgeist (the spirit of the time/how people were feeling in society)

This could be achieved in several ways If this is not included, there is nothing

to be fearful of

Genre

Generic Characteristics across all texts sharesimilar elements of the below depending onthe medium...

• Typical Mise-en-scène/Visual style(iconography, props, set design, lighting,temporal and geographic location, costume,shot types, camera angles, special effects).• Typical types of Narrative (plots, historicalsetting, set pieces).• Generic Types, i.e. typical characters (dotypical male/female roles exist,archetypes?).

Key terms

Iconography –characteristic props, costumes, settings, sounds, character types that we expect to see in that genre

Visual style like dark colours- reds and blacks that have horror connotations

Lighting Props- knives, chainsaws etc Settings- woods, abandoned houses monsters

Narrative structure

Todorovs- 5 stages of narrative Syd fields- 3 stages Noel Carroll- three phases (the philosophy

of horror) 1.Onset phase- where disorder is created,

generally in the form of the monster 2. Discovery phase -the characters discover

the monster 3.Disruption phase-characters destroy the

source of the disorder and restore normality

Todorov

5 stages of any narrative Equilibrium Disruption of order Recognition of disruption Attempt to repair disruption Return to new equilibrium

Syd Fields three act plot structure

Plot points move the action forward. They are important points which impact the lives of characters and change their relationships with others

Set up- this is when the director must make the audience care for the hero/ want to keep watching the film

Confrontation- Longest act of the film/ confront their enemies/start to turn things around

Resolution-the hero will finally take control of the struggles and achieve their victory

Scream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFCStOMqpfk

Watch the opening scene of scream and consider narrative and genre conventions which are used

Key questions

How did you know that it was a horror film? What genre conventions revealed this? How does it play with Todorov’s narrative

structure? How does it subvert audiences expectations? How is the setting used? What binary oppositions are there? How is the female represented? How is iconography (characteristics of the

genre) used to indicated the genre to the audience?

Subverting expectations

The girl that we see at the start is not the final girl as we may expect.

She is killed and this can shake audiences as this is not what they thought would happen.

This is the genre playing with audience expectations and genre codes and conventions

This leaves the rest of the film oppen to an uncertainty that we are not expecting.

Nick Lacey

This would link into Nick Lacey who suggested:

Nick Lacey (film theorist) suggests that audiences usually simultaneously want something familiar (the genres repeated formula) and a small degree of novelty (the difference)

Lacey suggests that all audiences and producers must share the knowledge of the genres characteristics.

He does however show understanding that different audiences will have a different understanding of genres.

Genre is a very fluid concept.

Reasons for genre

Genres must provide repetition and reinforcement- the building blocks of genre, its elements, as well as the messages that genres communicate, depend on being repeated and continued so that the audience know and understand them

The final girl

Characteristics of the final girl- Clover 1992 Boyish attributes-dress, behaviour, maybe names Strong and independent- the final girl is the first to

realise that something is wrong, even when no one else believes her

Intelligent and resourceful-to kills the monster the final girl will over come the lack of physical strength that she has through rational thinking.

Brave- although she sees her friends die and is aware of what might happen, she pursues the monster anyway

Serious-not interested in the superficial things in life (with teenagers, not interested in sex, drinking and partying)

The final girl may well start out as Propps princess, changing throughout the text to become the hero.

The final girl may well allow us someone that we can support and want to survive

Perhaps there is comfort in the fact that she does survive!

The final girl can be said to become more and more masculine over the course of the film

Turns from hiding from the monster to confronting them.

He suggests that genre offers a set of expectations that create a clear idea for the audiences about what is possible in the films diegesis. (the films world)

The rules of the genre define the limits of that genres verisimilitude (believable and realistic world)

Audiences have to accept the rules and ideas of the film world as being true

The monster

The monster will act as a metaphor for particular threats and fears within society or within ourselves

We need to understand the context of the society at the time to understand the ‘fear’

The pleasures

So why do we enjoy the horror genre? 1. Anticipation, expectation and

predication There is a kind of pleasure gained from

being able to predict what will happen next

The play theory- audiences enjoy the adrenaline rush and the fear, within the safety and constructs that it is only a film

The iconography of the film, is also linked with these primal fears and allows us to be scared

The psychoanalytical account- this argues that horror films allow audiences to gratify expressed desires (especially violent and sexual ones)

The audience are allowed to express their desires before having to repress them again (maybe this is why violent films are becoming more popular?)

There is also a fascination with the body and the fragility of it

Fantasies of power- suggests we might enjoy the power of the monster and are attracted to the monsters violation of social conventions

Social-The genre conventions also allow us reassurance and pleasure as chaos is brought under control – society is able to control the monster

Pleasure of genre for audiences

• Theorist Rick Altman (1999) argues that genreoffers audiences ‘a set of pleasures’.

Emotional Pleasures: The emotional pleasures offered toaudiences of genre films are particularly significant when theygenerate a strong audience response.

Visceral Pleasures: Visceral pleasures (‘visceral’ refers tointernal organs) are ‘gut’ responses and are defined by how thefilm’s stylistic construction elicits a physical effect upon itsaudience. This can be a feeling of revulsion, kinetic speed, or a‘roller coaster ride’.

Intellectual Puzzles: Certain film genres such as the thriller orthe ‘whodunit’ offer the pleasure in trying to unravel a mysteryor a puzzle. Pleasure is derived from deciphering the plot andforecasting the end or the being surprised by the unexpected.

Reasons for genre