First written assignment on Genre

Hot Fuzz-
In the trailer for ‘Hut Fuzz’ there are a lot of genre signifies to signify it’s an action film such as explosions, guns, people screaming in terror, and car chases, these conventions all suggest it is an action film, however there are also scenes such as when one of the police officer falls through a fence, and when they have to find a swan, these all connote it is also a comedy. This links to Rick Altman’s theory, the semantics of Hot Fuzz of the guns, explosions suggest it’s an action however the syntactic such as the dialogue of the characters portray a comedy. Although, the props of the film and a few scenes suggest it’s an action film, the lay out of the trailer, signify it’s a parody of an action film which is part of Steve Neale’s theory of the cycle. Robert Stam might support the idea that this film overlaps genre boundaries creating this film a hybrid genre. This could have been done to create a wider target audience but not too big as everyone would not feel engaged enough. Therefore it would get more publicity as people who enjoy action and people who enjoy comedy would go to see it. I think both of these genres have remained popular as with comedy you can use different jokes, different ways to make people laugh, ensuring people to feel like its constantly new material to keep them laughing and engaged in the comedy genre. The action genre has also stayed popular as its repetition and keeps them on edge of what stunt is going to happen next. Such as in hot fuzz, there’s a massive explosion of a house, this then could happen at the start of the film, there is always a new plot and new, more creative stunts performed but it also sticks within the genre boundaries of a classic action film, giving action film lovers exactly what they want keeping them entertained and willing to go see a new action film.

Die Hard-
Rick Altman would argue that the semantics of the trailer Die Hard such as explosions, guns, fights, police sirens, all signify it is a an action film. The genre is also constructed through the syntactic elements which could also suggest it contains a hint of romance, at the beginning of the trailer there is a voice over about him having to save his wife’s life portraying the emotion of love. On the other hand there is syntactic elements of the dialogue being about fighting and killing against connoting violence and stunts being an action film. According to the theorist Steve Neale, Die hard would fit in his cycle in the stage of it pushes the boundaries of an action film, it performs a lot of stunts and changed expectations, orientations of a classic action film, by putting in a plot about love. When examining the film Steve Neale’s theory of how the audience gain pleasure from genre would also link to this trailer as it also does repeat a few expectations of an action film, meaning the audience would get what they want from coming to see the film as it is an action film with performed stunts, explosions, keeping them on edge at all times. I think die hard’s primary audience would be action film lovers as it is in a way a classic action film but it could have a secondary audience of women as it does have a few scenes of love and romance, this might have been done to keep to the target audience but maybe to push the boundaries a little to get more people interested in the film, targeting a wider audience but still keep everyone engaged. I think this genre has remained popular over time as it sticks to classic films, it gives the audience what they wish to see and what they know they enjoy seeing. It doesn’t surprise them, it lets them see explosions and fights, with different people and with different stunts but still repeating the conventions of an action film keeping the audience satisfied and wanting to see the next classic action film as they know they will enjoy it.