Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
F/TVD041.
Course Title (CB02)
Film Genres
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This course provides an analysis of specific film genres such as comedy, film noir, gangster, horror, musical, science fiction, thriller, war, or Western, within global, historical, social, cultural, industrial, and aesthetic contexts. The genre studied changes each quarter (see subtitle in the quarterly schedule of classes).
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is a CSU and UC transferable course and belongs on the Film/TV: Production degree program. The course provides students with essential foundations in genre study.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Film screenings and facilitated group discussions

In-class essays

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Discussion of assigned reading

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Assignments

  1. Assigned reading
    1. Required text
    2. Film periodicals, journals and scholarly articles on Internet sites
    3. Class pdfs
  2. Writing
    1. Film analysis, including written portions of the midterm and final exam, requiring students to identify and employ various and appropriate rhetorical forms and strategies and to demonstrate some achievement of course objectives.
    2. Research paper requiring students to evaluate and synthesize facts, opinions, and presentations about genre from various sources and presented in a standard research format of documentary-note or parenthetical citation style and bibliography; or film analysis paper applying a genre-theory critical methodology.
  3. Viewing films and other forms of the moving image

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Midterm and final examination using a combination of objective, short answer and essay questions to evaluate the student's grasp of the terminology, theories, core concepts, and methods of analysis that comprise the course content. The essay component will require critical thinking and analysis.
  2. Written research or critical analysis paper demonstrating the student's abilities to examine a significant issue or problem of film genre study. The assignment will involve summary, synthesis, and critical analysis of theoretical perspectives pertaining to film genre and applied to selected films and artists within a specific genre cycle.
  3. Participation in classroom discussions, including analyses of in-class screenings in the context of theoretical perspectives pertaining to experimental works and artists.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • Lecture room with 16mm film projection equipment in the control booth, DVD/Blu-ray deck and 1/2-inch VHS tape deck

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Friedman, Lester, et al. "An Introduction to Film Genres." W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Grant, Barry Keith, ed. "Film Genre Reader IV." 4th ed. U of Texas P, 2012.
Neale, Steve. "Genre and Hollywood." Routledge, 2000.
Schatz, Thomas. "Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System." McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Binns, Daniel. "The Hollywood War Film: Critical Observations from World War I to Iraq." Intellect Ltd, 2017.
Browne, Nick, ed. "Refiguring American Film Genres: History and Theory." Berkeley: U of California P, 1998.
Cawelti, John G. "The Six-Gun Mystique Sequel." Popular, 1999.
Clover, Carol J. "Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film." Updated ed. Princeton UP, 2015.
Cohan, Steven, ed. "Hollywood Musicals, The Film Reader." Routledge, 2002.
Derry, Charles. "Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century." McFarland & Company, 2009.
Derry, Charles. "The Suspense Thriller: Films in the Shadow of Alfred Hitchcock." McFarland & Company, 2001.
Dowd, Garin, et al. "Genre Matters: Essays in Theory and Criticism." Intellect Ltd, 2006.
Fenin, George N., and William K. Everson. "The Western: From Silents to Cinerama." Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007.
Fowkes, Katherine A. "The Fantasy Film." Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Gledhill, Christine, and Linda Williams, eds. "Reinventing Film Studies." Oxford UP, 2000.
Grant, Barry Keith, ed. "The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film." 2nd ed. U of Texas P, 2015.
Grant, Barry Keith. "The Hollywood Film Musical." Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Johnston, Keith M. "Science Fiction Film: A Critical Introduction." Bloomsbury Academic, 2011.
Marx, Nick, and Matt Sienkiewicz, eds. "The Comedy Studies Reader." U of Texas P, 2018.
Prince, Stephen. "The Horror Film." Rutgers UP, 2004.
Rickman, Gregg, ed. "The Film Comedy Reader." Limelight Editions, 2004.
Schatz, Thomas. "The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era." U of Minnesota P, 2010.
Silver, Alain. "Film Noir Compendium: Key Selections from the Film Noir Reader Series." Limelight, 2016.
Shadoian, Jack. "Dreams & Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film." 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 2003.
Smith, Thomas Brent, and Mary-Dailey Desmarais, eds. "Once Upon a Time . . . The Western: A New Frontier in Art and Film." 5 Continents Editions, 2019.
Spicer, Andrew, and Helen Hanson. "A Companion to Film Noir." Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Walker, Janet, ed. "Westerns: Films through History." Routledge, 2001.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Examine approaches to genre study in the cinematic arts.
  • Analyze the appearance of a specific film genre, its dominant narrative forms, narrative and visual conventions and other source material drawn from literary, graphic, theater and film arts, its relationship to global, historical, social, cultural, industrial and aesthetic contexts, and its evolution and cycles in media history.
  • Examine the conventions of subject matter, plot, character, setting, modes of narrative system, iconography and style of a particular film genre, and interpret its thematic and philosophical preoccupations.
  • Discuss and analyze the major works of cinematic arts, studios and artists contributing to the development of a specific film genre.
  • Appraise the extent to which film genres condition audiences and reflect the social attitudes and political issues of the cultures and time periods in which they were produced.
  • Analyze the representation of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and socio-economic class issues in the genre films screened.
  • Evaluate the contribution of the film artist and genre film to the evolution of narrative form and cinematic vocabulary, placing that contribution within the context of national and global film history.
  • Examine extrafilmic elements such as marketing, mass media, and reception issues.

CSLOs

  • Identify and describe the evolution of the genre in motion pictures and its role in national and international film history.

  • Apply an analytical approach learned in class to examine the dominant narrative, visual and aural conventions of films within a specific genre.

  • Analyze generic representations of class, race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, demonstrating an understanding of the politics of representation learned in class.

Outline

  1. Examine approaches to genre study in the cinematic arts.
    1. The concept of genre in the cinematic arts
      1. Categories of types with familiar conventions such as comedy, film noir, gangster, horror, musical, science fiction, thriller, war film or Western
      2. Intertextual hybrids such as "Blade Runner" (1982), "(500) Days of Summer" (2009) and "Inglourious Basterds" (2009)
      3. Cultural and psychological origins: ritual and repetition
      4. Popular culture: mass production and uniformity
      5. Entertainment industry: similarity and repetitive cycles
      6. Cross-platform and new media: genre and intertextual hybrids on television, video games and the Internet
    2. The origins and appearance of a specific genre
      1. Literary
      2. Graphic arts
      3. Film arts
      4. Historical context
      5. The evolution and cycles of a genre in film history: primitive, classical, post-classical, revisionist, ritual
    3. The major works of the cinematic arts and artists within a specific genre cycle
      1. Primitive phase
      2. Classical phase
      3. Post-classical phase
      4. Revisionist phase
      5. Ritual phase
  2. Analyze the appearance of a specific film genre, its dominant narrative forms, narrative and visual conventions and other source material drawn from literary, graphic, theater and film arts, its relationship to global, historical, social, cultural, industrial and aesthetic contexts, and its evolution and cycles in media history.
    1. Dominant narrative forms
      1. Three-Act Dramatic Structure
      2. "I" and 3rd person point of view
      3. Classic/Realist Narrative System
    2. Narrative and visual conventions and other source material drawn from literary, graphic, theater and film arts
      1. Literary/theatrical intertextuality: novels, plays, vaudeville, revue, operetta
      2. Graphic arts intertextuality: drawing and advertising, and the influence of impressionism, expressionism, futurism, constructivism, cubism, surrealism, and other movements
      3. Film arts intertextuality: allusions to other films and stylistic influences
    3. Relationship to global, historical, social, cultural, industrial and aesthetic contexts
      1. Genre theory from Aristotle to Wittgenstein to contemporary international theorists such as Rick Altman, Steve Neale and Christine Gledhill
      2. Historical, social, and cultural framework of films within a specific genre
      3. Industrial mechanism, including studio modes of production and "legacy" media
      4. Aesthetic practices, including shifts due to the impact of sound technology, widescreen formats and digital technology
    4. The ways in which a specific genre develops and changes
  3. Examine the conventions of subject matter, plot, character, setting, modes of narrative system, iconography and style of a particular film genre, and interpret its thematic and philosophical preoccupations.
    1. Subject matter such as a new society transforming the natural wilderness/desert/savagery into a settlement/garden/civilization in the Western
    2. Plot, including causality and structure
    3. Character types such as the identifiable monster in classic horror film or the faceless, barely human killer in the contemporary slasher film
    4. Setting, including time and place such as the 1865-1890 frontier in the Western
    5. Modes of narrative system, particularly the Classic/Realist Narrative System with its emphasis on three-act structure and continuity editing in the thriller
    6. Iconography such as guns, shootouts, and civilizing rituals (weddings, funerals) in the Western
    7. Style, such as the use of long shots and long takes in the classic musical to showcase the dance performance
    8. Thematic and philosophical preoccupations, such as American dream mythology and quest "to be somebody" in the gangster film
  4. Discuss and analyze the major works of cinematic arts, studios and artists contributing to the development of a specific film genre.
    1. Major works of cinematic arts within genres such as comedy, film noir, gangster, horror, musical, science fiction, thriller, war film or the Western
    2. International studios such as UFA, Gaumont, MGM, Paramount, Disney, RKO, DreamWorks, Toho, Golden Harvest, Amazon Studios and Netflix
    3. Major artists such as John Ford and Westerns, Alfred Hitchcock and thrillers, Akira Kurosawa and jidai-geki films, and Ida Lupino and film noir
  5. Appraise the extent to which film genres condition audiences and reflect the social attitudes and political issues of the cultures and time periods in which they were produced.
    1. Examine how film genres condition audiences to recognize the themes and formats of genre films and how their patronage make them active participants in determining the evolution of genre production
      1. Process of expectation and fulfillment forms a social compact between filmmakers working within generic traditions and those viewing the films
      2. Familiarity with genre formulation permits unexpected and innovative variations on the traditions, deepening the viewing experience
      3. Analyze how popular genre films comprise a record of the aspirations, obsessions, and frustrations of those spending time and money making or viewing them
      4. Individual differences among viewers change their attitudes over time, an evolution that affects responses to a movie
    2. Examine how film genres preserve audiovisual information, functioning as a social and historical document
    3. Appraise how cinema mirrors and shapes a society
      1. Record the frequency with which various social types crop up in the genre films of a particular time and place
      2. Interpret the way groups are depicted and, therefore, valued
      3. Question how domestic and foreign-language genres become the mechanism for massive dissemination of significant cultural and ideological values
    4. Recognize how government policies, including funding and censorship, affect popular expression
    5. Debate issues of objectivity and interpretation
  6. Analyze the representation of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and socio-economic class issues in the genre films screened.
    1. Examine the filmic representations and cinematic histories of specific groups
    2. Identify and analyze stereotypical images, tracing the emergence of important issues about representation and difference, the power structure and labor practices of the industry, spectatorship and identification, and the relationship between genre films and culture
    3. Compare the relationship of stereotypes to broad historical and political processes
  7. Evaluate the contribution of the film artist and genre film to the evolution of narrative form and cinematic vocabulary, placing that contribution within the context of national and global film history.
    1. Assess how the film artist uses the language of film for expression within a specific genre
    2. Compare the themes, style, and modes of production among the work of film artists within a specific genre in the independent and mainstream film industry, within the respective national and international cinema, and within an aesthetic, economic, technological and historical context
  8. Examine extrafilmic elements such as marketing, mass media, and reception issues.
    1. Advertising campaigns, including budgets, publicity strategies, posters, and ancillary markets
    2. Press reviews, journal commentary, television, radio and Internet programs on cinema
    3. Distribution in domestic and foreign markets
    4. Viewer expectations and the impact of gender, class, race/ethnicity and cultural issues
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