Genre and Teen Drama Films (BP8)

What is Genre?

The term 'genre' means category or type. It is helpful as it is used to group or frame different films according to what they are about. This helps the producers to make and market their film to the correct audience and it also helps the audience to choose what film they would enjoy to see according to the genre of the film.

A theorist named Altman has said that there are two ways in which we can talk about the genre of the film. The first way is Semantic, which is the way the film looks. The second is Syntactic, which is the story the film tells.

To help us quickly recognise the type of film we are watching that is in the same genre, they use similar features called codes and conventions so that we can have some expectations as to what we could see and what might happen. We will often enjoy watching how the film might use the codes of genre and how they would challenge it.

However the genres are regularly changing over time in order to keep the films interesting and unique so that the audience does not get bored which therefore means the codes and conventions of each genre can change over time.

Codes and Conventions.             

The codes and conventions of teen films were made in the 1950's when films like 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'The Wild One' were made, which were known as Juvenile Deliquent films, and films such as 'To Sir With Love' which was about teen experiences at school.

The codes and conventions of films with these films are the common plots and storylines, the characters (which includes the stereotypical groups e.g. the populars , the geeks etc.), settings and locations.

The code for teen films is seen to be the concept of 'Coming of Age' and the conventions are:

• Adolescent characters
• Highschools/Homes/Streets
• Peer groups/Friends
• Teachers/Parents
• Popular music
• Romance

However, some films will change the way they use the codes and conventions. The films of the same genre that use the same codes and conventions in a distinctly different way are known as sub-genres. This is another way in which we can categorise Teen Film.

The first sub-genre is Youth Drama which is mostly focused on the social dilemmas faced by the main character, which most of the time is a male character.
The second sub-genre is High School Drama which is most of the time centred on the social groups in institutions, such as school/college or at home.