We have to put labels on everything so we know what is appropriate for audiences, such as a horror film wouldn't be appropriate for children, at the same time as a children's show might not be entertaining for adults.
However some programmes or films might cross over, and have more then one genre appropriate to describe it; such as a western film could also be humorous or have romance within.
These are the notes I took whilst in the seminar:
We were shown a few different examples of what's classed in which genre and why.
The "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" example shown was Western, since they are dressed like cowboys and in the traditional taverns. However it does represent the musical genre as well, in one of the gags.
It has strong violence in it... But a lot of cartoons do contain violence more recently, since some of the things that occur could never happen in real life, so it could be considered more amazing or entertaining for children. The difference between animation and real life is that the characters in animation don't actually get hurt, so this allows the artist to be more creative and exceed the boundaries of ordinary films.
So this raises the question of what is appropriate for children to watch? Because exposing them to this much violence at an early age, when they're still learning what's right or wrong, could be bad, if the violence is shown in a humorous way...
[Insert Bugs Bunny video here]
Looking at this and deciding what audience it's most suited for, I think children/early teens would find it more entertaining, due to the dancing and gags within it. But it still makes me wonder if the violence is a good thing to include if this is the target audience, depending on if they see it as a ridiculous fantasy or something they could potentially try at home...
Another example we looked at was an episode of Tom & Jerry. This is most famous for it's humorous violence between an angry cat and troublesome mouse; which links back to my question "what is appropriate for children?" But parts of Tom & Jerry are very repetitive, so that would make it easier for children to understand and keep up with the action, whereas adults might eventually get bored of the repeated actions.
This particular example is a take on the horror of "Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde", but as our class discussed, we think it's more of a parody of the film rather then a replica; this is because it is predicable, and it still contains humour.
The final example shown to us was "Grizzly Tales - Mr Peelers Butterflies". This I'd say is more enjoyable for parents to watch as well as children, because they can relate to it as well. However because it is quite scary, it's questionable if parents want their children watching it, due to nightmares they might have because of it. But at the same time, it could scare kids into listening to their parents when they need to go to bed, depending on how old and gullible they are.
It is more the concept that's scary, rather then the characters, however the way they're perceived adds to the concept. And this show generally is good at delivering a morel to the story, more obviously then some programmes.
So to sum up, lots of programmes do have generic plots (underlying genres present in certain films), which either makes it easier or harder to categorise the target audience.
These are the notes I took whilst in the seminar:
We were shown a few different examples of what's classed in which genre and why.
The "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" example shown was Western, since they are dressed like cowboys and in the traditional taverns. However it does represent the musical genre as well, in one of the gags.
So this raises the question of what is appropriate for children to watch? Because exposing them to this much violence at an early age, when they're still learning what's right or wrong, could be bad, if the violence is shown in a humorous way...
[Insert Bugs Bunny video here]
Looking at this and deciding what audience it's most suited for, I think children/early teens would find it more entertaining, due to the dancing and gags within it. But it still makes me wonder if the violence is a good thing to include if this is the target audience, depending on if they see it as a ridiculous fantasy or something they could potentially try at home...
Another example we looked at was an episode of Tom & Jerry. This is most famous for it's humorous violence between an angry cat and troublesome mouse; which links back to my question "what is appropriate for children?" But parts of Tom & Jerry are very repetitive, so that would make it easier for children to understand and keep up with the action, whereas adults might eventually get bored of the repeated actions.
This particular example is a take on the horror of "Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde", but as our class discussed, we think it's more of a parody of the film rather then a replica; this is because it is predicable, and it still contains humour.
The final example shown to us was "Grizzly Tales - Mr Peelers Butterflies". This I'd say is more enjoyable for parents to watch as well as children, because they can relate to it as well. However because it is quite scary, it's questionable if parents want their children watching it, due to nightmares they might have because of it. But at the same time, it could scare kids into listening to their parents when they need to go to bed, depending on how old and gullible they are.
It is more the concept that's scary, rather then the characters, however the way they're perceived adds to the concept. And this show generally is good at delivering a morel to the story, more obviously then some programmes.
So to sum up, lots of programmes do have generic plots (underlying genres present in certain films), which either makes it easier or harder to categorise the target audience.
