5 Paragraph Essay | Genre Theorists

In this essay, I will be discussing how the following genre theorists: Christian Metz, Rick Altman, Nicholas Abercrombie, Steve Neale & Daniel Chandler, are used in last year’s horror trailers. The trailer I will be talking about is The Collector, by the production group Jumpscare.

Christian Metz, theorist for genre characteristics. He claims there are four stages to the genre of film: Experimental stage, classic stage, parody stage & deconstruction. The experimental stage is where the genre is being identified. Then it’s the classic stage, once the all the conventions have been set in the ground and have been identified as the genre.  After the classical stage, it’s the parody stage, this is where they start taking the genre and making it comedic, and, they tend to re-enact scenes from the classical stage. The deconstruction stage is the stage where they start implanting completely new conventions into the genre, they usually team with other sub-genres. Based on the trailer I watched, I would say that it is in the classical stage. I could clearly see the conventions of horror used. I’m guessing it is the genre of slasher, based on the props and costumes.

Rick Altman, theorist who says each genre of film gives a set of pleasures to the audience. This can be through visceral, emotional or intellectual feelings.  If the audience has any of these pleasures they will most likely go and see the sequel to the film. Visceral pleasure is the feeling in your gut, a physical feeling. Whereas intellectual will make you think about what you just saw. Emotional, plays with your feelings, like if it makes you happy or sad. Intellectual pleasure is usually used in thrillers & mystery’s. Many horror films have the visceral pleasures, like being on a roller coaster, also called kinetic speed. The trailer I watched, didn’t give me any visceral pleasures, but it did make me feel a bit uneasy, especially when it was very quiet.  And it makes you think, when there are cuts to black.

Nicholas Abercrombie, talks about genre is dismantling, the boundaries are becoming more permeable. Meaning that multiple genres are coming together and mixing with others. With horror, this keeps it exciting for the audience, as there are new things coming. Abercrombie says that genres are using other conventions not in their genre. In the trailer, I won’t say that there was dismantling of the genre.

Steve Neale, talks about repetition and differences in genre. He says film and genre is defined by how much it links to its conventions and how much it subverts them. And overtime the horror conventions will evolve, people have become desensitized to the same conventions repeatedly. Which is why horror films are subverting the conventions slightly.

Daniel Chandler, he says that there are conventions in the genre. But they aren’t always followed. But these conventions are familiar. People recognise the type of conventions and characteristics of the genre. The way the conventions are varied is key. The conventions of slasher were slightly followed, but not completely, as I was expecting more conventions from the genre of slasher, like a weapon like a knife or some sort of a blade.