This post is also a super-useful refresher for A-level media students too!
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| Ex Machina's subversive utilisation of genre conventions forces the audience to confront and negotiate a range of complex representations |
Genre
A type, category or style of film, for example coming of age, horror, and thriller. Genre is used by producers to allow films to target specific audiences. Genres comprise of a number of conventions. If a film uses genre conventions in a conventional way, it is conventional. However, if it subverts them, it is unconventional. For example, Get Out is both completely conventional and unconventional. Steve Neale argues that genres are fluid and change over time. But he also argues that genre in predicated on a system of repetition and difference. The familiar aspect appeals to pre-sold audiences, while the different aspect appeals to new audiences, and can engage genre fans. For example, Ex Machina is in many ways a straightforward AI narrative, that also has elements of a psychosexual thriller. This allows this narrative to appeal to new and diver
Ask yourself: how does your film use genre? Does it use it conventionally or un-conventionally? Does it blend genres and create a hybrid? What audiences are positioned by your film?
Representation
The re-presenting of a group of people, an issue, or an event, by the director. Every film is a re-presentation of reality. However, representation is to show again, and can therefore be seen as an adaptation of reality. Therefore, every film reflects the ideology of the producer. Since the ideology of the director is inseparable from the film, we are left with something problematic . Stuart Hall argued that stereotypes are an effective way for directors to create meaning, as they are a cultural shortcut, that helps audiences make sense of a narrative. However, stereotypes can cause complications, because they always reflect hierarchies of power
Ask yourself: What/who is being represented in your film? Are these representations stereotypical? What hierarchies of power exist ion your film? How have you avoided stereotypical representations?
Narrative
The way in which a story is told. Narrative is always shaped by ideology. For example, the classic Fieldsian three act structure assumes a basic ‘first second third act’ structure, based on resolutions, issues, climax, and rising conflict (but not in this order). Although this doesn’t apply to all films, it still suggests that many films are formulaic and based on certain ideological precepts, principally that audiences enjoy seeing characters suffer. Additionally, Todorov argues that an equilibrium or state of balance is constantly being disrupted and reformed, which suggests that conflict, opposition and strife are intrinsic to making films.