Transcript Slide 1

Lost and Genre
Angela
Ndalianis. “Lost
in Genre:
Chasing the
White Rabbit to
Find a White
Polar Bear.”
Reading Lost
Marc Dolan, “Lost.” Essential Cult TV
Reader (forthcoming U P Kentucky,
2009). Ed. David Lavery.
Dictionary
genre |ˈ zh änrə|
Noun
a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature,
characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject
matter.
ORIGIN early 19th cent.: French, literally ‘a kind’ (see
gender ).
Thesaurus
Noun
historical fiction is my favorite genre of literature
category, class, classification, group, set, list; type, sort,
kind, breed, variety, style, model, school, stamp, cast, ilk.
Megagenre: A large, all encompassing,
umbrella genre, having no distinct subject
matter or style or iconography or
formulae. The megagenres of the movies
might be thought of as non-fiction
(documentary) film, fiction film, animated
film, and experimental / underground film.
Major Movie Genres
(according to Tim Dirks [filmsite.org])
•Action
•Adventure
•Epics/Historica
l
•Comedy
•Musicals
•Crime/Gangster
•Science Fiction
•Drama
•War
•Westerns
Major Movie Sub-Genres
(according to Tim Dirks [filmsite.org])
•Biopics
•Melodrama
•Chick Flicks
•Road Films
•Detective/Mystery
•Romance
•Disaster
•Sports
•Fantasy
•Supernatural
•Film Noir
•Thrillers/Suspense
•Guy Films
Minor Movie Sub-Genres
(according to Tim Dirks [filmsite.org])
•Aviation
•Jungle
•Political
•Buddy
•Legal
•Prison
•Caper
•Martial Arts
•Chase
•Medical
•Slasher
•Espionage
•Parody
•Swashbucklers
•Fallen Woman
•Police
•Religious
Movie Genres/Subgenres
Action Adventure—Jungle | Martial Arts | Mountain | Spy | Swashbuckler
Art—Any genre or subgenre may be an "art" film
Comedy—Buddy | Black Comedy | Mocumentary | Parody | Road | Romantic
Comedy | Satire | Screwball Comedy | Slacker
Crime—Blaxploitation | Caper | Film Noir | Gangster | Hardboiled Detective |
Police Procedural | Prison | Private-Eye | Trial Films
Cult—Any genre or subgenre may be a "cult" film
Drama—Domestic | Education | Historical | Political
Epic--Biblical | Greek Myth
Gender—Gay and Lesbian | Rape-Revenge | Women’s Pictures
Horror—Demonic Possession | Haunted House | Monster | Serial Killer | Slasher |
Vampire
Life Story—Autobiography | Biopic | Diary Film
Melodrama—Disease/Disability | Ethnic Family Saga | Weepie | Yuppie
Redemption
Music—Concert Films | Musicals | Rocumentary
Science Fiction and Fantasy—Cyber Punk | Disaster | Dystopia | Fantasy | PostApocalypse | Prehistorical | Space Opera | Supermen and Other Mutants | Time
Travel
Sports—Auto Racing | Baseball | Basketball | Boxing | Football | Horse Racing |
Track | Wrestling
Teen Films—Pre-Teen Comedy | Teen Sex Comedy | Coming of Age
War—Aerial Combat | Civil War | Korean | Prisoner of War | Submarine | Viet Nam
| World War I | World War II
Western—Cattle Drive | Indian War | Gunfighter
Creeber’s Classification of Television Genres
Action
Animation
Children’s
Programs
Cop Shows
Costume Drama
Documentary
Drama
Educational
Programming
Hospital
Infotainment
Lifeys
Miniseries
Music
News
Quick Show
The Single Play
Soap Operas
Sports
Talk Shows
Teen Shows
Telenovelas
Western
“The classification of texts is not just the
province of academic specialists, it is a
fundamental aspect of the way texts of all
kinds are understood.” (Neale in Creeber
p. 1)
“In many cases, of course, it is likely that audiences
will have some idea in advance of the kind of film (or
play or programme) they are going to watch. They will
have made an active choice either to watch or, if their
preferences dictate, to avoid it. They will have done
so on the basis of information supplied by advertising,
by reviews, and previews, perhaps by a title (such as
Singin’ in the Rain) or by the presence of particular
performers. They are therefore likely to bring with
them a set of expectations, and to anticipate that
these expectations will be met in one way or another.”
(Neale in Creeber 1)
Relevant Terms for Genre from Hans Robert Jauss,
German Reception Theorist/Reader-Response Critic
“generic audience”
“generic frustration”
“generic tension”
“In English-speaking countries, the term
‘genre’ came to be applied to literary works
during the nineteenth century, at a point in
history at which art of all kinds began to be
industrialized, mass-produced for a popular
public (Cohen, 1986, 120).”--Neale in
Creeber 2)
The “repertoire of elements” that identify
genres (Lacey [2000], cited by Neale in
Creeber 3):
•Character Types
•Setting
•Iconography
•Narrative
•Style
Institutional Aspects of Genre:
•Scheduling
•Modes of Production
•Demands of Advertisers
•Demands of Audiences
•Developments in Adjacent
Entertainment Institutions/Media (Neale
in Creeber 4)
Zapping/grazing/channel surfing feeds
genre recognition (Feuer, 1992, p. 158-cited by Neale in Creeber 4).
Umberto Eco speaks of the “instinctive
semioticians” who use RCDs.
“For those who study television, genre is a
means of managing TV’s notorious
extensiveness as a cultural form by
breaking it up into more discrete or
comprehensible segments” (Turner in
Creeber 5).
Complaints Against Genre Criticism:
1) Circularity--critics dismiss texts for
failing to meet criteria they have
themselves established.
2) Prescriptiveness--critics dismiss genre
shows/series for departing from Platonic
“ideal” versions. (Turner in Creeber 6)
Hybridity: The now common tendency to
“splice” together different genres.
Todd Gitlin (Inside Prime Time
[1985]) uses a genetics
metaphor when he speaks of
the rise of “recombinant
programming” in the 1980s.
“Genres came to be identified with
impersonal, formulaic, commercial forms
and distinguished from individualized art.
Ironically, this represented a reversal of
previous characterizations, which saw ‘high
art’ as rule-bound and ordered (as evident
in genres lke the sonnet and tragedy) and
‘low art’ as unconstrained by the rules of
decorum (Cohen, 1986, 120).”--Neale in
Creeber 2
Formulaic
Dictionary
|ˌfôrmyəˈlāik| Adjective-constituting or containing a
verbal formula or set form of
words : a formulaic greeting.･
produced in accordance with
a slavishly followed rule or
style; predictable : much
romantic fiction is stylized,
formulaic, and unrealistic.
Thesaurus
Adjective--the homes here
are not the products of a
formulaic design
conventional, stock,
unoriginal, stereotypical,
uninspired, cliched, paintby-number.
“Some important new critical theories have
challenged the primacy of genre as a basic
critical concept. The next important task of
genre theory is to examine these objections
in order to discover to what extent they
require revision of the theory of popular
genres and to what extent they may require
us to go ‘beyond genre’” (John Cawelti,
“The Question of Popular Genres Revisited”
[1997]).
Thomas Schatz's life history of a genre (from
Hollywood Genres) :
“an experimental stage, during which its conventions are
isolated and established, a classic stage, in which the
conventions reach their ‘equilibrium’ and are mutually
understood by artist and audience, an age of refinement,
during which certain formal and stylistic details embellish
the form, and finally a baroque (or ‘mannerist,’ or ‘selfreflexive’) stage, when the form and its establishments are
accented to the point where they ‘themselves become the
“substance” or “content” of the work.’” (37-38)
Genre films essentially ask the audience, "Do you
still want to believe this?" Popularity is the
audience answering, "Yes." Change in genre
occurs when the audience says, "That's too
infantile a form of what we believe. Show us
something more complicated." And genres turn to
self-parody to say, "Well, at least if we make fun
of it for being infantile, it will show how far we've
come." Films and television have in this way
speeded up cultural history.
--Leo Braudy, The World in a Frame
Lavery, David. “The
Island’s Greatest
Mystery: Is Lost
Science Fiction?”
The Essential
Science Fiction TV
Reader. Edited by J.
P. Telotte.
Lexington: U P of
Kentucky, 2008:
283-298.
Lost and Genre
Cult Television
The Essential Cult Television Reader
Edited by David Lavery
University Press of Kentucky
Introduction: How Cult TV Became Mainstream—David Lavery
1. 24 (US, 2001- )—Steven Peacock
2. Absolutely Fabulous (UK, 1992-1996, 2001-2005)—Angelina I. Karpovich
3. Adventures of Brisco County, The, Jr. (US, 1993-1994)—Bartley Porter and
Lynnette Porter
4. Alias (US, 2001-2005)—Henrik Örnebring
5. Angel (US, 1999-2004)—Joyce Millman
6. Avengers, The (UK, 1961-1969)—Angelina I. Karpovich
7. Battlestar Galactica (US, 2005-2008)—Ian Maull and David Lavery
8. Blake’s 7 (UK, 1978-1981)—Steve Duckworth
9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (US, 1997-2003)—Milly Williamson
10. The Comeback (US, 2005)—Joanne Morreale
11. Daily Show, The (1996- ) and The Colbert Report (2005- ) (US)—Sam Ford
12. Dark Shadows (US, 1966-1971, 1991)—Jonathan Lampley
The Essential Cult Television Reader
Edited by David Lavery
University Press of Kentucky
13. Dexter (US, 2006- )—Michele Byers
14. Doctor Who (UK, 1963-1989; 1996; 2005- )—Matt Hills
15. Farscape (Australia/US, 1999-2003)—Jes Battis
16. Firefly (US, 2002)—J. P. Telotte
17. Freaks and Geeks (US, 1999-2000)—Jonathan Gray
18. Heroes (US, 2006- )—Nikki Stafford
19. League of Gentlemen (UK, 1999-2002)—Leon Hunt
20. Life on Mars (UK, 1996-1997)—Robin Nelson
21. Lost (US, 2004-2010)—Marc Dolan
22. Miami Vice (US, 1984-1989)—Jon Stratton
23. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (UK, 1969-1974)—Marcia Landy
24. My So-Called Life (US, 1994-1995)—Michele Byers
25. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (US, 1989-1999)—Robert Holtzclaw
26. The Prisoner (UK, 1967-1968)—Douglas L. Howard
The Essential Cult Television Reader
Edited by David Lavery
University Press of Kentucky
27. Quantum Leap (US, 1989-1993)—Lynnette Porter
28. Red Dwarf (UK, 1988-1999)—De Amy-Chinn
29. Roswell (US, 1999-2002)—Stan Beeler
30. The Simpsons (US, 1989- )—Jonathan Gray
31. South Park (US, 1997- )—Jason Jacobs
32. The Star Trek Franchise (US, 1966-1969)—Rhonda Wilcox
33. Stargate SG-1 (US, 1997-2007)—Angela Ndalianis
34. Supernatural (US, 2005- )—Alison Peirse
35. This Life (UK, 1996-1997)—Stephen Lacey
36. Torchwood (UK, 2007- )—Matt Hills
37. Twilight Zone (US, 1959-1964)—Jonathan Lampley
38. Twin Peaks (US, 1990-1991)—David Bianculli
39. Ultraviolet (UK, 1998)—Stacey Abbott
40. Veronica Mars (US, 2004-2007)—Sue Turnbull
41. Wonderfalls (US, 2004)—Stan Beeler
42. The X-Files (US, 1993-2002)—Mikel J. Koven
43. Xena: Warrior Princess (US/New Zealand, 1995-2001)—Carolyn
Skelton
The Essential Cult Television Reader
Edited by David Lavery
University Press of Kentucky
Lost and Genre
“Cult television’s imaginary universes support an inexhaustible range
of narrative possibilities, inviting, supporting and rewarding close
textual analysis, interpretation, and inventive reformulations.”--Jones
and Pearson
Cult Television
Lost and Genre
That: cult tv has evolved into “a meta-genre that caters to intense,
interpretive audience practices,” affording “fans enormous scope for
further interpretation, speculation and invention.”--Jones and Pearson
Cult Television
Lost and Genre
We should focus on “analyzing and defining cult TV
as a part of broader of broader patterns within
changing TV industries” (Matt Hills, “Defining Cult
TV” 522).
Cult Television
Lost and Genre
“hyperdiegesis”: ”the creation of a vast and
detailed narrative space, only a fraction of which is
ever directly seen or encountered within the text . .
.” (Matt Hills, Fan Cultures 137)
Cult Television
Lost and Genre
Cult television is most readily identifiable by “[t]he fervency of
a program’s audience support, the degree to which its
‘language’ and catchphrases enter its audience’s vocabulary,
fans’ determination to amass collectibles and memorabilia,
and conventions at which likeminded souls can congregate
and share their passion” (Robert Holtzclaw, recapitulating TV
Guide, in his essay on Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Cult Television
Lost and Genre
Is it possible that a dip in a show’s quality may actually
enhance its cult appeal? (we’re looking at you 24).
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
What obligation do the makers of cult series have to answer
the clamor of fans for more involvement?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Does the presence of a star with cult street cred or a cult of
personality guarantee cult status?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
What is the relationship of camp and cult-ivation? Of
badness—what Steven Duckworth calls “the sheer
crappiness of the series and the crappiness it attributes to
the universe” in his essay on Blake's 7—and cult tv?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
What are the specific relations between genre hybridity/genre
bending and cult status?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Does “brilliant but cancelled” status (the name of a website on
the subject) actually enhance cul thood?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Why is the fantastic, “left of real” (J. J. Abrams’ term), such a
fertile ground for television cult shows?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
How does the strategic use of the cameo amp the possibilities
of cult?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Is it possible for a television show to gain cult status largely
through nostalgia?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Would the current conversation about cult television have
transpired without the validation of TV on DVD?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Would the current conversation about cult television have
transpired without the validation of TV on DVD?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Are “B.Y.O subtext” shows (Joss Whedon’s phrase) ipso facto
cult shows? What role do intertextuality, metaxtextuality,
and seriality play in the growth of cult television?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Is cult tv always counter-cultural? (Is the reverse true?)
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Has SHOWTIME consciously positioned itself (against its “not
TV” rival HBO) as a cult TV venue?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Does cult television exhibit a unique approach to character
investment?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Is it still true that your standard issue television cult work, in
keeping with the tradition, “represents a disruptive rather
than a conservative force” (Kawin)?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
How does cult television differ—in subject matter, audience,
marketing, narrative—from cult film?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Do cult shows by their very nature record seismic shifts in the
evolution of television programming?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
How will the emergence of multiple platforms for television
programming change the nature of cult television?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Are there narrative forms unique to cult television, and if they
exist, how have they influenced all of series television?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Are there narrative forms unique to cult television, and if they
exist, how have they influenced all of series television?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Are there narrative forms unique to cult television, and if they
exist, how have they influenced all of series television?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
What is the place of the “conspiracy theory” in
fostering/sustaining cult TV?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
Are the traditional youth demographics of cult television
changing?
Cult Television
Questions
Lost and Genre
To what degree has cult television created “transnational”
languages and viewing practices and furthered
globalization?
Cult Television
Questions