The characters within ‘The Searchers’ fit into Propps story function as it is shown that, Ethan is the main hero within the film, Martin is the main helper throughout the film and Debbie is seen as the princess who needs to be saved. The same story function can also be applied to ‘Unforgiven’, as Will Money is seen as the main hero of the film, Ned and the Schofield Kid are the main helpers of the film, and the Prostitutes, are the princesses needing help from the hero within the film, this shows how genre can be seen as predictable and formulaic.
The representation of characters can also be seen to predictable within the western genre, as within ‘The Searchers’, the males are always represented, as soldiers, hard working, hero’s, villains, breadwinners or violent, whereas the females are always represented as, innocent, in need of saving, carers, mothers, daughters or prostitutes. This therefore shows how the expectations of the audiences to see the film industries create a western film with the males and females represented in any of these ways is very predictable.
The way in which the two films portray their characters, suggests that genre is not actually predictable and formulaic, as ‘The Searchers’ shows it characters as stereotypes of the western, for example, the cowboys Ethan and Martin and their families are represented as the good characters of the film, who are against the evil characters of the film, the Indians, this therefore shows the expected stereotypes of a western film, which, in comparison to ‘Unforgiven’, breaks all stereotypes of the expected western genre, as they show the cowboys as both good and evil characters fighting against each other. This therefore suggests that as the time period of these two films move from the 1950’s to the 1990’s, the way that the western films portray their characters is changed, through changes in expectations and society, this therefore suggests that as genres change over time, it can not be predictable and formulaic.
The mise-en-scene, within the western genre, is always seen to be desert, raw, harsh, cliffs, basic and hot, this would be predictable if both films fulfilled this, but they do not. ‘The Searchers’ is shown to be very harsh, raw and a desert how it would be expected, but ‘Unforgiven’, shows the west in a very different light, it is green, lush, mountains and has a mixture of weather, this therefore suggests that the director of the film Clint Eastwood, has gone against the expectations of the audience as it is filmed in the 1990’s, he takes a different approach to showing the west as beautiful. This once again relates to changes in society over time, and therefore suggests that genre is in fact not predictable and formulaic, in terms of the mise-en-scene of the western genre.
When looking at the mise-en-scene and characters, it is important to look at the filming techniques used by the directors. ‘The Searchers’, was filmed and directed by John Ford, and starred John Wayne, this film was the twelfth time in which they had worked together on a western, and therefore suggests that their western film, could be easily depicted through the uses of filming. This is shown by the way in which John Ford uses little movement of the camera letting the characters move around the camera, this creates a sense of realism for the film. John Ford has made so many westerns in this specific way that he is known as an ‘Auteur’, as he has perfected his way of filming, and his western films are therefore predictable and formulaic. ‘Unforgiven’ was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood, who by the 1990’s was an established icon of the western genre; he used very different filming techniques to John Ford, as he tried to break stereotypes and expectations of the western genre, to make his films unpredictable and unformulaic.
If looking at directors, film industries, would also have to be taken into account, as they also have their influences on the film and the categorisation of the film into a specific genre, as it matches the codes and conventions of that specific genre. ‘The Searchers’ was made by, Warner Brothers, this is a well known and established film industry, it therefore has its own codes and conventions to follow, for the western genre, they therefore aimed to make a film containing real iconography of the west, stereotyped characters, a typical revenge narrative, following both Propps hero theory and Todorovs equilibrium theory, and the expected and typical mise-en-scene to a western film, this is how they therefore create western films that are predictable and formulaic, as they have codes and conventions for each genre film of this particular time period, in which most western films created in the golden age of the 1950’s were based on the ‘Dime novel’, therefore all ending up rather similar. ‘Unforgiven’ was also made by Warner Brothers, but at the later stage of the 1990’s, they therefore still had their codes and conventions to follow, but these had probably changed, as they created a film, using real iconography, no stereotyped characters, a typical revenge narrative, following both Propps and Todorovs theories, and went against the typical mise-en-scene as it showed the west as a beautiful, lush landscape. This therefore suggests that genres is predictable and formulaic in terms of iconography and narrative, as the film industries have their own codes and conventions of genre to fulfil, which only tend to change over time periods for example, form the 1950’s to the 1990’s.
In terms of what theorists and film critics such as Andre Bazin, Robert Warshow, Alan Lovell, Jim Kitses and Will Wright, some ideas are put forward about genre, in specific the western genre, and what they think of it
Alan Lovell characterised the critical context of the debate about the western genre in the following way; ‘For Anglo-Saxon critics, the western is typical of most of the vices of the mass media. It is endlessly repetitive, utterly simple in form and expresses naïve attitudes’; this can be shown to be true in ‘The Searchers’, which could therefore suggest that genre is predictable and formulaic. Andre Bazin suggests that ‘The 50’s also produced a group of newer directors who managed to make a class of western which, while developing a more contemporary flavour, did not break with the spirit of the true western a class which Bazin termed ‘novelistic’, and characterized by their lyricism and their sincere rather than patronising approach to the form.’ This therefore suggests that during the 50’s directors such as John Ford created film, which all seemed to follow the same codes and conventions of the western genre therefore making them all predictable and formulaic. Both these critics therefore suggest that the western genre films created around the golden age of the 1950’s are in fact predictable and formulaic, as they are all based on the similar structure of the ‘Dime novels’, which creates the codes and conventions in which they follow.
In conclusion to the essay, it could be agreed to a certain extent, that, “Genre films are predictable and formulaic”, because as shown in the two western films discussed, ‘The Searchers’ and, ‘Unforgiven’, although both created in two different time periods, they both follow the theories of Propp and Todorov. This is shown by ‘The Searchers’, fulfilling Propps theory of hero, villain and helper etc, but also following Todorovs equilibrium theory. These two theories are also followed within ‘Unforgiven’, which therefore suggests the western genre is predictable and formulaic.
It can be suggested if looking at the iconography of the western film, that it has to be predictable in terms of iconography, because the films depict a certain part of the western and American history.
It is shown in discussing the film industries and directors impacts on the films, that genre is predictable and formulaic in terms of narrative structure and representation of characters, as both films discussed follow the revenge narrative, and also represent female and male characters in a similar light, and it is only time that changes the way that they show stereotypes, representation of characters and mise-en-scene differently, as they are trying to change the codes and conventions to fit with society as it changes, but also to keep films as predictable and formulaic as possible, because as Thomas Shatz suggests, “Genres help spectators become orientated and help them understand the film world by making references to familiar features. The pleasure of a genre film offers the audience an experience which is predictable and at the same time contains enough variation and suspense to make it different from all the other films of the same genre.”
This all therefore suggests that “Genre films are predictable and formulaic”, as audiences have to have expectations of the films, which make the codes and conventions for the film industries to follow. It is only usually time that changes genres, as expectations change, films become categorized into many genres, and sub-genres are created.
