Seminar: Animation and Genre

Genre is the categorisation of a film, be it a Romantic comedy or a western, genre’s mark the plot line into a classification and pigeon hole them. It is useful to deduce how particular narrative structure work with in certain genres, and how they define them to that genre. This applies to film as well as animation.

A question posed is whether or not animation allows for stronger violence?

In my opinion yes it can do because often it can be so disconnected from real life, and therefor characters can be more violent as they aren’t real. For example it’s harder to relate to a potato man than say bruce willis in an action film. At the same time the responsible woman who wants to be a mother in me says no, because often the people who are more likely to watch animations have bigger imaginations and often are more impressionable, therefore I want to say its not acceptable, because theres already too much violence in the world. We need a time of peace and prosperity.

Often boundaries can be crossed angst genre’s and it can be contradictory to categorised genres. Take old cartoon’s such as Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry etc they are very violent kids comedies.

Plots can be summarised under generic topics, most animation plots fall under one of these categories;

Maturation, Coming of age.

Redemption, Transition of the Main Character from Bad to Good.

Punitive, where the Main character is good and behaves badly and is punished.

Testing, Will power vs temptation.

Education, main character moves from having a negative viewpoint to a positive viewpoint of the world.

Disillusionment, where the main character moves from have a positive viewpoint to a negative viewpoint of the world.

Discrete categories or types of film defined by visual, technical, thematic or subject orientated consistencies.

A set of codes and conventions which determine particular expectation and 

New Word!! 

Pastiche, like a parody. (double check)

Absented, to stay or go away.

Where the Wind Belows, Polticalised, nuclear water.

Outcomes in the narrative,

A term based upon the recognition of particular kinds of visual and oral iconography which serve as key signifiers in an implied common language.

Paul Wells 7 Genres

1. Formal: A conditional premised to its narrative/thematic concerns.
2. Deconstructive, reveals the premises of it’s own construction for comic or critical affect.
3. Political, aspires to use the medium to make a moral, ethical/politcal statement.
4. Abstract, explicitly explores new technologies and approaches non objective/ non linear works, they resist traditional conventions.
5. Re-Narration, uses specific and distinctive vocabulary to reconfigure the narrative
6. Paradigmatic, often taken from graphic and literary sources
7. Primal, depicts/defines a specific emotion, feeling or state of consciousness.