Film Genre And The Genre Film- Thomas Schatz

So far, this was my favorite article to read and increased my knowledge about a concept I thought I knew all about. In Film Genre and the Genre Film, Thomas Schatz does a great job at explaining those two concepts and providing examples to make them more comprehensible. In describing the connection between the two terms Schatz says, “…changes in cultural attitudes, new influential genre films, the economics of the industry, and so forth, continually refine and film genre.” (pg. 691) This shows that film genre is used to describe a broad subject in which one could group together genre films… which are films following the rules of any defined film genre.  To further explain the concept, Schatz uses the analogy of English Grammar and refers back to this analogy throughout the article to reinforce his ideas.  “Our shared knowledge of the rules of any film genre enables us to understand and evaluate individual genre films, just as our shared knowledge of English Grammar enables me to write this sentence and you to interpret it.” (pg. 693) This is a very interesting idea and suggests that in the same way we all have basic knowledge of the English language and can there for communicate with one another, we also all have shared knowledge of what makes a film genre the specific genre it is; allowing us to share a basic interpretation of any given genre film.

Much of the article discusses the importance in understanding that genres are based on its cultural context. Schatz suggests a hypothesis; “the determining identifying feature of a film genre is its cultural context, its community of interrelated character types whose attitudes, values, and actions flesh out dramatic conflicts inherent within that community.” (ph. 695)  He then discusses Hollywood’s ability to orchestrate such genres and says  “a genre, then, represents a range of expression for filmmakers and a range of experience for the viewers.” (pg. 695) Along with cultural context comes the generic characters that make up the different communities. Schatz describes these characters as “the physical embodiment of an attitude, a style, a world view, of a predetermined and essentially cultural posture.” (pg. 696) He uses many examples such as cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, guy or doll and so on. Each character represents basic cultural values that viewers can all understand.

Generic Characters to embody certain cultural values and norms allow us all to identify with the genre and have a shared basic understanding for the context. “…the genre film celebrates our collective sensibilities” (pg. 699) When walking into a genre film such as a western, a comedy, a romance ect… all of the viewers are entering the film with a shared knowledge of what cultural context will be portrayed, we all enter with subconscious understanding before knowing what it is even about. This could be brought back to the grammar example in that we all approach reading an article with the same basic understanding of English grammar which allows us all to read it the same way yet perhaps interpret it uniquely. In the end, Schatz discusses the use of a generic hero in films and the ways in which they are used to mask solving an unsolvable conflict to leave the viewers satisfied.  Schatz did a wonderful job at providing examples to explain what makes up film genre and genre film and how the two concepts are both static and yet open to changes over time.