Genre Analysis of 'The Return'

Genre Analysis of ‘The Return’

Genre organises media content and text into helpful variants and categories which simplify the process of selecting media to enjoy. What defines a Genre is the codes and conventions that are consistently featured within the texts. These conventions characterise a genre to make identifying them simpler. Some genre are created within a certain time period in history such as Film Noir and German Expressionism have a socio-historic context as it mirrors the political and social issues endured within that time frame e.g. Film Noir had the convention of including a ‘Femme Fatale’ as a result of the rising Women’s civil rights movement. Genres may utilise other conventions from other Genres to create Cross Genre content which creates a hybrid Genre; Slasher is a hybrid genre as it incorporates thriller aspects and mystery with horror and its entailed gore and blood. The Slasher Genre has also been identified to have a ‘pattern of meaning’ which frequents sends out the message that female or males being Promiscuous are bad/evil or doomed to die whereas Virginity results in success and is positively reinforced. Although throughout the development of the genre it has broadened its parameters to wider meanings regarding a Psychopathic murderer who relentlessly murders a group of conventional teens.

In order to analyse the Return regarding genre, there are two approaches I must take a Descriptive and Functional analysis along with institutional consideration (audience and producer) and explain how my trailer relates to McConnell’s Five Genre Theory.

In the descriptive approach of analysis of The Return, this focuses on identifying common aspects which exist in the same genre; Slasher such as character types, costumes, common or conventional locations, themes implied by the film and the overall plot.

Firstly in The Return I have chosen to abide by the convention of the sexually promiscuous members of the group dying first specifically Chelsea and Jay, if not first then quite graphically to imply the Virginity vs Promiscuous theme which is always seen within Slasher convention, this clearly demonstrates the conventional & formulaic form of my film as it abides by one of the most evident aspects of Slasher. Location wise Slashers tend to maintain location continuity of a Haunted House, Forest or woodland area setting. This has been followed in my film due to the usage (planned) of a Forest or deep woodland area as this demonstrates the Mise En Scene aspects of being isolated and stranded in the wake of death itself (Ruby in my film) and a house has been utilised although this has been subverted in a slight manner as the house is not necessarily haunted only that its partying, occupying residents are doomed due to Ruby’s presence in the house so it has been subverted slightly. Another convention which has been altered and subverted in my film is that the main killer/villain is not male but female which empowers females in a way due to the predatory and dominant aspects a villain displays within Slasher convention. In addition to this point is that Ruby abides by the convention of having a masked killer as this displays and feeds on the natural human fear of the unknown (unknown identity of the killer), this consistently featured in Slasher films for example Jason, Leatherface and Mike Myers all being masked killers; however Ruby is masked with her hair not with a mask or balaclava which is a direct intertextual reference in my film to The Grudge, where the killer is a girl and is masked with her own hair.

Regarding the functional analysis of ‘The Return’, the film comments on a social issue which is evident within this time period; Teenage recklessness. In my film nearly all the teenagers die as a direct result of the reckless, irresponsible and primitive nature of their acts for example getting drunk, partying and speeding. The film reinforces the dominant hegemonic value of Teenagers wanting to ‘grow up’ or become adults far too quickly and the view of them being defiant and abusive or uncaring. This is reinforced through again all the teenage characters behaviour but in particular the final girl herself as she was the catalyst for Ruby becoming a psychopathic killer and it was Frankie, the final girl herself who also abused Ruby when she was a child, neglecting her due to her being adopted and ‘stealing’ the attention from her and Amy. Considering that the conventions of Slasher films is to maintain the final girl’s innocent and pure personality, my film takes quite a spin on this.

Genre as emphasised earlier is extremely beneficial with the film industry and general commercial enterprise. A genre highlights a potential market area in business terms and enables producers to identify the codes and conventions within the market gap/genre and cater to them to gain a larger audience and make them, the audience approve of their products due to demographic gratification. The genre creates markets for the producers so they can further empathise their efforts within that areas rather than waste efforts where no profit or yield is produced e.g. success of films such as ‘Man Of Steel’ indicate to producers that the Superhero genre is an area for profit to be made. In a social context genre is beneficial too as it simplifies the process of the selection of media text to enjoy thus promoting social activities such as visits to the cinema. On the parental side also it promotes the home media (dvds, uv copies, vhs and Blu Ray) sales as parent can easily filter through the masses of media content and select appropriately for their children via the genre listing in a shop e.g. HMV regardless of an age rating or not as the genre displays information about the internal content without any further analysis e.g. Horror films are not suitable for children, an age rating is not required to understand this but the genre listing does this for the parent due to the codes and convention they have witnessed from prior exposure to the content of that genre.

Within genres there are accepted but enjoyed aspects of the verisimilitude within the digesis and codes and conventions, this enables creative decisions to be made to create more content within the genre. The Slasher genre utilises the convention or aspect that the killer is almost invulnerable and always able to survive e.g. Mike Myers in the ending of Halloween. This generates fear within the audience and paranoia as the threat still exists which further prolongs the Enigma Code or mystery aspects of the film outside of the viewing experience as they are still engaged with the verisimilitude in a shape or form. The Return utilises this as a film within the Slasher genre due to the ambiguous ending which leaves the fate of the final girl Frankie and Ruby being left unanswered, this is a common genre convention or pattern to follow within the Slasher Genre as it is not only seen in Halloween but in Friday The 13^th with the River boat attack scene. These types of endings spark an ability to produce sequels and enlarge the franchise on the film hence why the decision of the ambiguous ending was made as it makes sense from a financial or marketing view point, this decision of enlarging/expanding the franchise is seen prominently in the Slasher genre e.g. Friday the 13^th, Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequels and franchises.

However McConells Five Genre theory opposes the idea of having a genre and its surrounding entailed benefits and believed that genres should be substituted with themes. With each theme outlined I will explain exactly how this relates to the Slasher genre and ‘The Return’. The five themes are;

-The King: An individual who obtains the gift of power and rises socially, economically/financially and physically. This is shown through ‘The Return’ via the character of the Villain Ruby who socially and physically obtains power violently through the systematic killing of Frankie’s friends.

-The Pawn: Smaller side stories of people of lesser importance compared to The Knight or King, it covers the dramatic aspects of their mundane lives who are encaged within a social situation. A prime example of this is British Soaps involving British Social Realism and the drama surrounding those entailed reoccurring characters. This can be seen in ‘The Return’ through the teenagers (Chelsea, Amy, Jay and Frankie) who are trapped in a game of Cat and Mouse with a psychopathic killer, regardless of whether they choose to run to the forest, ‘escape’ via a car they are still in danger therefore trapped within a situation or environment fulfilling the role of the Pawn.

-The Knight: The daring exploits and adventurous experiences of a Heroic (predominantly male) figure. This is not seen within the Return as this does not necessarily feature within Slasher films but is more prominent in an Action genre setting e.g. Rambo

-The Fool: Prominent in more comedy based films were the characters jesting behaviour and demeanour is a direct product of the silliness of the residential state he/she lives in. An example of this is in Mean Girls. Again this is not a common theme displayed in Slashers.

-The Apocalypse: The phase in which the previous established equilibrium is replaced with a new equilibrium which leads to the destruction of a matter e.g. person, person’s possessions or loved ones etc. This is a prominent feature and conventional theme in Slashers and is displayed in ‘The Return’ through the agonising experience Frankie endures in which she witnesses each one of her closest friends and finally her sister being taken from her.