Deck 13: Genre

Question 1

The musical reached its creative and economic peak during ________.

A) the early 1970s
B) the early 1920s
C) the late 1940s
D) the mid 1980s

Answer 1

C

Question 2

When a film radically modifies a genre's conventions,critics refer to it as ________.

A) hybrid
B) nostalgic
C) revisionist
D) complementary

Answer 2

C

Question 3

For critics like Richard Dyer and Robin Wood,who define genre in terms of theme more than visual conventions,the horror film is inevitably interested ________________.

A) the stark difference between good and evil
B) how the monster represents the feelings the protagonist represses
C) the conflict between scientific rationality and the chaos of nature
D) how humans allow themselves to be consumed by fantasies of grandeur

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Alien uses the narrative conventions of the ________ genre but employs the visual iconography of the ________ genre.

A) horror/science-fiction
B) western/horror
C) horror/film noir
D) science-fiction/paranoid conspiracy

Question 5

Most film historians link film noir's initial popularity with a period of cultural cynicism and dark mood following America's involvement in ________.

A) World War I
B) World War II
C) The Cold War
D) The Vietnam War

Question 6

In his review of Martin Scorsese's New York,New York,Richard Combs argues that the film is a success because ________.

A) it drew audiences back to the once-forgotten musical
B) it allowed Scorsese to explore themes he was unable to consider in the gangster film (the genre Scorsese is most closely associated with)
C) it allowed Scorsese to pay homage to studio-era directors whom he admired
D) Scorsese was able to pursue his unique interest in self-destructive masculinity

Question 7

Paranoid conspiracy films are generally set ________.

A) in creepy, remote locations
B) in suburban America
C) in crowded urban centers
D) in Washington D.C.

Question 8

The genre of ________ films are united by a thematic interest in the relationship between technology and humanity.

A) science fiction
B) action
C) neo-noir
D) paranoid conspiracy

Question 9

The origin of the term "genre" can be traced back to ________.

A) ancient Greek Philosophy
B) post-war French film criticism
C) 19th century American literary theory
D) Shakespeare

Question 10

Studying genre films from an auteurist approach would involve ________.

A) looking at how acclaimed directors lose their personal vision when they are forced to work within a genre
B) looking at how acclaimed directors assert a personal vision even while working within a genre
C) looking at how and why some studios became associated with particular genres
D) looking at how audience appeal has the power the shape the evolution of film genres

Question 11

The ________ genre deals chiefly with the tensions between the freedom the wilderness represents and the security promised by civilization.

A) Action
B) Western
C) Sci-fi
D) Disaster

Question 12

The "final girl" is a familiar character type,which appears in many ___________.

A) Westerns
B) science fiction films
C) horror films
D) screwball comedies

Question 13

One reason Hollywood studios liked producing genre films is because ________.

A) they could reuse sets
B) they could easily dub them for overseas exhibition
C) they would succeed overseas, since genre films were uniquely American
D) all of these

Question 14

_________________ films like Alien fuse the conventions of two or more genres.

A) multi-generic
B) revisionist
C) deconstructive
D) hybrid

Question 15

In a(n)________ musical,characters with no professional connection to music or the stage spontaneously break out into song.

A) integrated
B) backstage
C) inter-textual
D) classical

Question 16

The convention which ties Brokeback Mountain most closely to the Western genre is ________.

A) the visual convention of the lead characters with six-shooters and rifles.
B) the depiction of a romance that spans several decades
C) the idea that the remote Western landscape represents unbridled freedom
D) a protagonist unable to commit to a traditional relationship

Question 17

Critics like Robert Warshow and Judith Hess Wright argue that genre films are a modern mythology because ________.

A) as a mass-produced form of entertainment, they can reflect and/or influence cultural beliefs
B) a genre's character types are larger than life, idolized by children and adults alike
C) the most important genres (e.g.,the Western, the screwball comedy, science fiction) repeat storylines that grow directly out of classical Greek narratives
D) like classical myths, they provide directors a standard template to work with but allow room for the "storyteller's" individual input

Question 18

Most film critics didn't value genre films until the 1960s because ________.

A) they associated these films with mass-production practices
B) they were turned off by the often gory violence
C) this was the era when sophisticated revisionist films became popular
D) all of these

Question 19

Many science fiction films are based off of the myth of ________ in which man trades his eternal soul for knowledge,then learns that knowledge divorced from wisdom is destructive.

A) Sisyphus
B) Oedipus
C) Faust
D) Icarus

Question 20

Smaller clusters of films within a genre in which additional conventions come into play are called ________.

A) microgenres
B) neogenres
C) subgenres
D) intergenres

Question 21

In an integrated musical,characters with no professional connection to music or the stage spontaneously break out into song.

Question 22

Genre films share narrative,stylistic,and thematic characteristics called ________.

Question 23

Why did American audiences embrace the film noir,with its dark moodiness that marked a dramatic departure from the lavish spec?tacle and optimism characteristic of Hollywood films in the 1930s?

Question 24

In addition to sharing similar narrative characteristics,films from the same genre often exhibit the same visual and sound techniques.

Question 25

What's the difference between the way audiences respond to violence in horror films and the way they respond to violence in action films?

Question 26

Cultural resonance of genres such as the Western (closely identified with America ideology)and the samurai film (closely identified with Japanese ideology)greatly limit their appeal to international audiences.

Question 27

Identify two characteristics of the Western narrative.

Question 28

What international film movement helped influence the visual conventions of the horror film?

Question 29

In a sentence,explain why most film critics didn't value genre films until the 1960s.

Question 30

One reason Hollywood studios liked producing genre films is because they could reuse sets.

Question 31

To be included within a given genre,a film must exhibit all of the characteristics and conventions associated with that genre.

Question 32

Genres play a significant role in shaping audience expectations.

Question 33

The convention of the teen or young adult protagonist in the horror genre has been standard since the classic horror films of the 1930s.

Question 34

Unlike the common criminals they pursue,hard-boiled detectives patiently work through mysteries as if they were games of cat and mouse rather than relying on physical stamina to catch their opponents.

Question 35

Avatar fuses science fiction with the syntax of ________________________.

A) the paranoid conspiracy film
B) the horror film
C) the gangster film
D) the Western

Question 36

What is the relationship between rationality and emotions in most science fiction films?

Question 37

Describe how the "monsters" of the horror genre changed during the 1960s .

Question 38

Rick Altman equates a genre's visual conventions with a sentence's _________________; just as we know that some words don't logically work together,we also sense that a menacing castle doesn't fit in the Western.

A) punctuation
B) semantics
C) linguistic arrangement
D) structure

Question 39

Science fiction films usually explore the dangers of scientific inquiry and suggest that the most advanced societies are those that repudiate technology.

Question 40

One drawback of the genre films is that their adherence to fixed conventions prevents them from addressing contemporary concerns.

Question 41

What role do the conventions of a genre play in its relationship with its audience? Why might a filmmaker choose to stick to those conventions? Why might that filmmaker choose to go against those conventions? How might this effect audience response?

Question 42

Using the horror film as an example,explain how a genre might be studied as a culturally responsive artifact.

Question 43

How did Alfred Hitchcock upset audience expectations in North By Northwest?

Question 44

Identify and explain two approaches a film scholar might adopt when studying a genre.

Question 45

Explain the difference between the backstage musical and the integrated musical.

Question 46

In a sentence,explain Robert Warshow's argument about the Western's relationship to the status quo.

Question 47

Using a film that has been screened in class,discuss the difference between Rick Altman's concept of semantics and syntax.