Value of CriticismFor audience, reading good criticism shouldAllow you to have a fuller appreciation/understanding of a film or TV program you’ve watched and why you did/didn’t enjoy itProvide you with guidance as to what films to see or TV programs to watchBut criticism can fail if its not useful to you as the recipient/reader of itIf it uses too much jargon, get too theoreticalIf you don’t buy into its type of criticism (e.g., political economy-, racial-, feminist-, politically conservative-, politically left-based)If you usually find a type of criticism useful but find the arguments in a particular piece unpersuasiveYou don’t buy the examples providedYou can think of some/many/more examples that undermine the argument being madeIf you say, “ah I’ve never thought of that before” - that’s good criticismGenre Criticism: Vande Berg Chapter 6“Genre” is a French word for “type” or “category”Examples includeSituation comedySoap operaDetective dramaPrime-time serialGame showTalk showCartoon/animatedDocumentaryWesternSportsNewsGenre CriticismA genre is both a static and dynamic systemAlthough all texts in genre share certain common features (often called the genre’s conventions), each individual program in a genre is somewhat unique (e.g., has some innovations in the genre’s basic components)The central problem for TV (and film) creators is how to balance the tension between convention and innovationHollywood genres a product ofThe pragmatic needs of Hollywood production companies to maximize profits by simultaneously controlling production costs and developing a loyal body of consumersThe tastes of the audience who flock to some, but not all, of Hollywood’s creationsHorace Necomb’s 11 TV GenresSituation and domestic comedyWesternMysteryDoctor and lawyer dramasAdventureSoap operaReality entertainment (news, sports, documentary)Other genre types/names includeProceduralLaw and orderDramedyDocudramaCompetition/talent showsAmerican idolMockumentaryThe officeBritcomsSci-fiFantasyHorrorComedy/horrorElements of TV genresSemantic (formal/stylistic) featuresCharacter typesLocation (in geography, time, space)Scene settings (indoors, outdoors, both)Characteristic type of shots. Camera angles, camera work (e.g., unobtrusive vs. handheld)Style of action (naturalistic vs. stylized)Use of time(compressed or prolonged)Single plot or multiple intersection plotlinesIconographyMetatextual practices (e.g. self-reflexivity, intertextuality)Type of diagetic and extradigetic/non-niagetic sound (musical soundtrack, laugh track)Length of episodesFrequency of episodes (daily, weekly)Types of lighting (flat, bright, chiaroscuro)Elements of TV genresSyntactic (substantive) featuresNarrative structure (open vs. closed; episodic vs. serial or anthology)Dialectic (structures of paired oppositions)Recurring themesDiscoursesNarrative CriticismFirst assumption is that human beings construct their understandings of themselves and their lives, their immediate environments, and even worlds outside their experience using storiesFisher said humans are Homo Narrans because storytelling is what defines us as sentient animalsWhat defines us and conscious creaturesSo we put events together to form a story, to be able to understand it ourselves and to communicate it to others9/11 led to at least 3 major narratives/stories often told in the mediaThe story of institutional failure (CIA, airport security)The story of the new world order (rogue states, terrorism replaces communism fear)The story of American renewal (rebuilding the Pentagon, TSA created)Syntagmatically (from syntax which is the organized of words in sentences, rules for deriving logical structures, rule-based arrangement)Narrative structure is a symbolic tool for creating something understandableWe organized stories with beginnings, middles and endsWe organize stories by hours of the day, days of the week, years, eras (e.g., the roaring twenties) s we can understand the past in comprehensible piecesStories gain their coherence horizontally and verticallyHorizontal: and then and then and then, seem rational, almost cause and effectOnly makes sense if you know previous informationVertical: story makes sense because you’ve experienced others like it.Narrative Criticism - Three VocabulariesTraditional Aristotelian/narrative vocabularyThe contents of dramatic stories (writing)Plot, character, thought/themeThe vehicles of dramatic stories (performance)Diction/spoken language; melody (vocalizations spoken and sung); spectacle (bodily performance within some environment)Structuralist vocabularyUseful in coming to grips with both story lines and characters’ thoughts and behaviors within storiesA fictive universe in which audience can explore their own values, perceptions of the world, etc.Example: the movie se7en - what would you do if you were Brad Pitt’s character?Visualist vocabularyFourth wall usually being maintained, per AristotleBut the story is being told by and with the cameraThe camera and editing are our narratorsTo talk about story you therefore need a visualist vocabularyVocabularyColorFramingLight/dark (use of light)Shot depth (close up, long shot)Simplicity - complexity (# of layers in a shot)Foreground-background relationshipsIcons (flags, uniformsVisual quotations (v for victory, Heisman pose)Interactions of/with othersMise-en-sceneMis-en-sceneFrench for “placing on stage”The visual themeAll of the available means that directions, producers, and editors have in creating a scene, including camera placement and movement, pacing, positioning of actors, and set decoration, that, when assembled in the camera shot, convey the feelings, attitudes, style of directors, producers, editorsNarrative CriticismSecret to writing good narrative criticism is to be a good storyteller yourselfAnd to provide solid description/detailsAnd to provide evidence good enough to convince your readersAuteur CriticismIts the author as a whole - whole work - how they are throughout their career“Auteur” is French for authorRegards the auteur almost as a genre him/herselfEx: Scorsese filmLooks at ways in which an auteur creatively managed to consistently place her or his artistic signature on all of her or his works, despite the constraints of the film and TV industryAuteur can be a writer, producer, a director, and some would argue even a production company, executive, network or studioIn film the auteur is usually the directorIn TV the
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