Friday 6 November 2009

Christian Metz model of genre developments


We are going to identify films in the horror genre and use Christian Metz model development to recognize the horror genres existence and development.

Horror films
-Frankenstein (1931)
-Scary movie (1999)
-Scream (1996)
-Nosferatu (1922)
-Blair witch project (1998)
-The sixth sense (1999)
-Dracula (1931)
-The cabinet of Dr Caliguri (1919)
-Seven (1995)
-Carry on Screaming (1969)
-Shawn of the Dead (2004)

Christian Metz in his books, language and cinema (1974) explored the development of genre film and came up with a conclusion that genres pass through four stages of existence:

(1) The Experimental- The cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu

(2) The Classic- Dracula, Frankenstein

(3) The parody- Scary Movie, Carry on screaming, Abbot and costello meet frankenstein, Shawn of the dead

(4) The Deconstruction- Seven, Sixth Sense

Explanation of four Stages

By experimental we mean the phase of early films which explored and experimented with horror themes in its narratives e.g. Nosferatu

By classic we mean the phase of films which established the narrative conventions of the horror genre in its most successful and defining period e.g. Dracula

By parody we mean films that have mimicked the horror genre in some comical way e.g. Scary Movie

By Deconstruction we mean films which have taken the genetic elements of the horror genre and amalgamated (mixture) them in to varying sub genres e.g. Seven

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