B4- Expectations and subversions of Genre

Learning Outcomes

Expectations and subversion of genre

The construction of media texts using established codes and conventions:

• audience expectations of genre

• subversion of expectation and its impact

• generic codes – content, theme, setting, characterisation

• subgenres, hybrids and subversions of genre.

genre

Introduction

Genre, which comes from the French word for 'type', is important for both consumers and media producers. Consumers can make choices about media texts they wish to consume and media producers can create a media text for a specific audience.

If a media producer wants to gain an audience for a particular genre, then they have to understand the genre codes and conventions - and include them in the media text they are creating.

For example, a producer of a TV crime drama will likely feature police characters, crime scenes, suspects, victims and violence. Audiences will also expect certain audio codes such as tense, dramatic music.

Take a look at this trailer for the BBC crime drama Luther.

Watch and listen as it plays and note the different codes and conventions: crime scenes, moody detective, driving music, ominous voiceover, weapons, threat, mystery and investigation. These all combine to firmly establish the genre for a prospective audience.

sub genres

All genres contain subgenres which further define and categorise the media text. Here are some examples:

hybrid genre

Some media texts are hybrid genres, which means they share the conventions of more than one genre. For example Dr. Who is a sci-fi action-adventure drama and Strictly Come Dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show.

The Twilight films are a hybrid genre, combining horror, fantasy, teen and romance.

genre subversion

Sherlock subverts genre conventions by using on screen graphics

Sherlock is a good example – a television drama, its subgenre being a detective crime drama. In addition, it is considered to be a hybrid genre because it is a modern day adaptation of an original 19th Century story.

Some media texts follow the typical genre format but subvert it in some way. Sherlock subverts convention by using technical codes, such as the addition of on screen graphics which illustrate his thinking process when solving the case.

Genre codes and conventions

Different media texts have codes and conventions that define their genre and set up audience expectations.

The main genre codes and conventions are:

Narrative

This is how the story is told in a film or television programme through plot devices, situations, characters and actors associated with specific genres.

The narrative in magazines and newspapers includes the cover design and all the content, including regular features, horoscopes, readers' letters and advertising.

Websites also have a narrative that grows and builds as the user is navigated from page to page within the website.

On a news site, this could be a breaking news item which is linked through to more in-depth analysis and archive footage. On a magazine-style website, the narrative may build to encourage the user to watch related videos hosted by the same site.

Settings and iconography

The mise-en-scène is everything included in a scene and how it is staged or arranged. This includes the setting, the props, the costumes, the lighting and the people or characters.

The mise-en-scène plays a big part in determining genre, whether in a hospital drama, a gardening programme or a horror movie. For example:

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