Genre analysis of Synopsis

Analysis of my synopsis through theories of genre

All films fit into a genre category, within this, they may also fit into sub-genres. For example, my film belongs to the Horror genre, of which it belongs to the sub-genre ‘slasher’. There are different ways in which the genres can be interpreted.

The first is descriptive, this is a term used to explain how we view film as belonging to a certain category or a mixture of categories. Most films share attributes with other films that are categorised similarly and thus analysed accordingly. Descriptively, our film belongs to the slasher genre as it portrays the typical group of teenagers being killed one by one by an antagonist who seems to have no plausible reason to be killing. It also fits many other codes and conventions of the slasher genre. Other films that also fit this description are ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’.

Slasher films are formulaic. Generally they are very similar in that they incorporate a group of friends. In our film ‘Eve’ the group of friends consist of the typical ‘final girl’ Nora. She seems to be the quieter one of the group and her clothes reflect her slightly boring nature. On the other hand Crystal who is the typical sexually active girl of the group is dressed revealingly and wears black which symbolises death. They can be seen as binary opposites within the film.

Also as a convention of slasher films we have a benefactor this is mentioned in Propps narrative theory, a tired looking man in trampy clothing who warns the teenagers about the danger in the woods. In other films such as Halloween the benefactor is used as a red herring to keep the audience in suspense.

However our film does break conventions in the way our antagonist or ‘monster’ is a little girl as opposed to the usual masked villain we see in films such as ‘Texas chainsaw massacre’ and ‘Halloween.

Functional viewing refers to the way in which people see film in relation to contemporary life. “Collective expressions of contemporary life that strike a particular resonant chord with audiences” (Experience and meaning in genre films B.K Grant) essentially, what is the audience gaining from the experience of watching genre films. This begs the social questioning we see in particular genre films. For example, ‘what frightens us?’ which is the question associated with horror and slasher films. In our synopsis the villain or ‘evil force’ is a nine year old girl. This is important as it differs from the usual masked large man we see in other slasher films such as ‘The Texas chainsaw Massacre’. Women and young girls in particular are often seen as weak and submissive in the media, as a reflection of our undeniable patriarchal society. Yet in our film ‘Eve’ proves to be even more powerful than the alpha male of the group. This makes the audience feel uncomfortable with the fact someone who they’d expect to be innocent and harmless is in fact a ruthless killer. This begs the question-who really is safe? This seems to go against the norms of the patriarchal ideology however the male audience may relate to her as she doesn’t show any overt femininity.

Eve reflects the monstrous feminine in our film and it could be argued that she represents the innocence of childhood being lost as a reflection of the teenagers transitioning into the time of their sexual awakening. As the teens begin the point in life where they explore their sexuality, Eve is a harsh reminder of what happens when innocence is lost. Like other films such as Halloween where the killer kills a women who has been sexually active and the innocent girl lives, our film is subliminally sending the message ‘do not have sex’ as it has resulted in the killings of the teenagers. Eve represents a shattering of innocence. There are other examples of this in film such as, ‘Hard Candy.

As a producer, genre films are often a safe bet as the audience for them already exist. Audiences are familiar with particular categories and so chose them according to what they expect from them. We already know there is a fan base for horror/slasher films as there are many websites and magazines in appreciation for the genre e.g. Fangoria. This means we know there will be sales for our movie and we already have a rounded image of our target demographic. To do this with my film I must look at similar films to mine and take account of their sales and audience reviews.

Orphan, which also features a little girl who is not as innocent as she seems claimed:

Opening Weekend:

$12,871,483 (USA) (26 July 2009) (2750 Screens)

Gross:

$41,573,740 (USA) (4 October 2009)

Considering my budget will be much lower, I cannot rely on these statistics however it shows us the possibility of making a profit high and there is an audience who enjoys this sort of narrative.

Within my film intertexual references must be made in order to attract an audience satisfaction or sense of nostalgia. The first girl to die has been named ‘Crystal Lake’ this is also the name of a setting in ‘Friday the 13^th’ which was also a box office success.

According to Frank McConnell, since films reflect society, they will always involve these kinds of typical events.

The King- Establishing the state ‘the epic’

The Knight- Consolidating the state ‘the adventure romance’

The Pawn- Trapped in the institutionalised state ‘the melodrama ‘

The Fool- Responding to the madness of the state ‘the satire’

Apocalypse- The collapse of the state which leads to a new beginning (there is no single hero)

The film Eve includes aspects of ‘the pawn’ category as the teens feel as if they are trapped in this living nightmare. They cannot seem to escape her wrath throughout the film. However when read into deeper we see that our film may also reflect aspects of the fool genre as the madness of Crystal being sexually active, which is seen as negative in our patriarchal society is somewhat ‘fixed’ by Eves killing of the teenagers. She is essentially restoring the society to a patriarchal ideal.