Do film genres change over time? Answer with reference to two or more genres you have studied in the context of the concept of film.

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Do film genres change over time? Answer with reference to two or more genres you have studied in the context of the concept of film.

With reference to horror film and texts from the sub-genre vampires, particularly those dealing with the Dracula story, are interesting to investigating how the horror genre has changed over time, because of their lasting popularity but changing appeal.

        From an industrial perspective genre emerged from studio system’s dual need for standardisation and differentiation. These are based on recognisable conventions including narrative, character, iconography, mise en scene and reflecting ideologies of the era. Typically, the horror genre has retained many of its conventions while undergoing many changes else where, such as technology, changes in audience expectations, censorship and codes of conduct.

        The three Dracula films I have studied are from three very different era’s and these are reflected greatly within them. All the Dracula films; Browning 1931, Hammer House Productions (Terrence Fisher) 1958 and Coppola 1992 are categorised by a narrative structure of Todorov’s theory of equilibrium – disequilibrium – modified equilibrium model. Browning’s version is told chronologically and also is the hammer production, which is specifically told through Harker’s diary. The narrative structure is vaguely similar between the first two productions and becomes more complex in Coppola’s version. The 1992 version gives a background and the origin of Dracula. It can be argued that contemporary audiences are much more sophisticated viewers than those who saw the original films and an audience reading a text from an established genre is likely to be familiar with the codes and conventions of that genre from viewing the similar texts. Therefore the popularity of certain kinds of texts proves that for many audiences familiarity breeds contentment. Having said this, texts need to strike the right balance of repeating certain codes and conventions while adding something new. A contemporary setting, a final ‘twist’, a moment where a central character behaves unexpectedly or perhaps even a self-conscious parody of existing codes and conventions – in order to keep the genre fresh and prevent us from getting bored.

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        It can be certainly said that Coppola’s version does these aspects. The subtle moments of humour between Dracula and Harker upon their meeting, parading classic vampire conventions. Also the generic codes of Dracula do not match with pre-conceived audience images of the ‘usual’ Dracula. He is less traditional, old and has white hair. He breaks the mould of Propp’s idea of defined character roles. However Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, the actors who played Dracula before are more stereotypically as we would expect, black cloak, staring eyes, slick black hair and has an evil presence. Dracula has always been typically ...

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