"The audience may know what to expect, but are still excited by genre texts." To what extent is this true?

Introduction

Focusing on the ‘slasher’ genre and films such as Halloween (1978), Friday 13th (1980), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1997) this essay will explore to what extent the audience are still excited by genre texts, even though they know what to expect.

Audiences enjoy repetition and are comfortable knowing what to expect within a media text. Genre plays an important role in choosing what media text- particularly film- the audience wishes to view. This is because they know they enjoy texts of the same genre and therefore would seek similar texts.

Repetitive elements within the ‘slasher’ genre include:
Final girl, as spoken about by Carol Clover (1992). As example of the final girl is Laurie in Halloween (1978). This reflects the zeitgeist of second wave feminism in the 1970s yet the final girl usually possesses typically ‘masculine’ qualities, such as Laurie’s name. The final girl is always virginal because…

Sex equals death in slasher films. Slasher films are highly moral and therefore discourage typical teenage activities such as drinking and having sex by having the perpetrators of such acts as victims of the…

Psychotic murderer, usually a male with the exception of ‘Halloween’ (1978) yet subsequent sequels featured the male killer Jason. The killer often creates a juxtaposition of sanity vs. insanity. This convention dates back to the murders of Ed Gein and these psychotic killers often put a human face to the murderer, in contrast to earlier horror which focused on monsters from Europeans tales such as the vampire and Frankenstein’s monster.

Recent developments in genre have included the emergence of parody, pastiche and hybrid forms. Show how such developments have influenced the nature of media texts.

Introduction

This essay will look at the fact that recent developments in genre have included the emergence of parody, pastiche and hybrid forms and how these developments have influenced the nature of media texts, with focus on the slasher genre and films such as Scream (1997) and Scary Movie (2000).

Scream is a postmodern text which incorporates elements of other genre texts, particularly in the opening where the Drew Barrymore character is asked questions about other slasher texts such as Halloween, and the scene where the conventions of the slasher genre are actually explained in front of the television. The phone call could be called a pastiche of ‘When a Stranger Calls’ (1979).

The scene also offers intellectual pleasures as the audience who has knowledge of other slasher films becomes the ‘insider’. It subverts the audiences expectations in several generic elements of slasher, such as not having one killer or one final girl. Scream marks the reinvigoration of the slasher genre, ‘genre is flexible’ (Maltby 1995) therefore it’s constantly changing.

Scary Movie is a parody which also incorporates elements from several other films. The film especially plays on Scream, featuring the iconic Scream mask on the incompetent killer.
Account for the popularity of one genre of your choice. Illustrate your answer with examples.

Introduction

This essay will account for the popularity of the slasher genre and will focus on slasher films such as Halloween (1978), Friday 13th (1980), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1997).

Each slasher film is reflective of the zeitgeist of the era in which it was made, thus making it relate to the audience. For example Halloween (1978) highlights the ‘white flight’ by making the suburban setting considerably less appealing and safe.

Scream (1997) which marked the reinvigoration of the slasher genre is able to relate to a modern audience due to its intelligent postmodernism. Also, the slasher films get progressively gory as audiences become increasingly desensitized to blood and guts. This is clear when comparing the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre to its modern remake counterpart.