Burton’s Genre Theory

Graeme Burton (1997) - When you look at particular genres it is with particular items that you describe for genre

GenreKey Elements

Themes

Expectation

Variations/Differences Repetition

Codes and Conventions

Elements of Surprise

• Genre can be defined as category or type. Genre is used in so many different media texts and it gives the text a specific "type" of context to work with. Eg. Horror is a genre.

• Genres also have sub-genres (a genre within a genre). This is usually used in media to be more adventurous with the media products, but mainly to appeal to a bigger audience. Eg Romantic -Horror.

Genre and Audiences

• Genre helps both audiences and institutions to make decisions about what they want to see and what the want to make to supply that demand. The institutions need to engage their target audience so that they can be successful. It is a balanced concept because the audience needs to be interested in the genre so they go watch the film at the cinema and get entertainment out of it.

Genre and Audiences

• Genre allows the audience to know what to expect when watching the film. They like to spot the traditional/common conventions. For example in Horror, they enjoy knowing that the killer will come out of the shadows, out of know where to surprise the victim.

How is Genre relevant?

• Genre is the most significant aspect in creating a successful film. Genre is used to identify the film and to help audiences see if they are going to enjoy it and also to help institutions aim at a specific audience. The way they represent genre is through lighting, costumes and props. For the horror genre, they use low-key lighting, the weapon of choice is an everyday object such as a kitchen knife and the costumes of the antagonist (killer) is usually black to help signify death.

Burton defines the Key Elements of Genre with this formula...

• KE = P+St Ch+Pl(St Si)+I+Ba(De)+Th = Genre

Key Elements =Protagonist + Stock Characters + Plots and Stocks Situation + Icons + Background Decor + Themes = Genre

Key Elements

• All different genres have key elements which are mixed together to make the genre spectacular. However not all films will use all the key elements making it more difficult for the audience to identify its genre and it will make the institutions fail at delivering a specific genre film.

Protagonists • The protagonist is the hero or leader in the

film. They are also one of the last characters to survive in a horror film. The character can be male or female but they have similar characteristics. They would both be attractive, and have a role in rescuing a more hopeless character, most likely to be another lead character.

Stock Characters

• Stock Characters are all the characters in a film, apart from the killer.

Plot and Stock Situations

• Plots and Stock situation are parts of the story which are known to be predictable. For example “Killer chasing the victim.”

• These are the sort of situations that audience will be expecting because they are common in most horror films.

Icons

• Some horror icons that are commonly used are;

• Kitchen Knives • Axes • Masks

Background and Décor • The background in a horror is most likely to

have low-key lighting. Horror films background tend to be houses, a domestic area. It becomes more scary because the audience can relate living in a house or flat ect. The horror makes it seem that the situations happening can happen to them in “real life”.

Themes

• Themes in films are used to help the audience recognise the genre of the film and also try to send a message to the audience. In most genre’s ; the message being portrayed shows conflict between the right and the wrong.

• To prove Burtons theory, I have looked at the key words associated with three horror films to see if they have Burtons Key Elements and if they share them. I colour coded each element to see if the three films had them, this help prove Burton’s theory.

Does his theory work?

• The information I gained from my research, shows that Burton’s theory does work. This is because my research shows that films use the key elements of Burton’s theory. From the horror genre, there are similarities I have come across. For example most victims get attacked in their houses and killers use everyday objects as weapons.