Lost and Genre

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Lost and Genre
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Angela Ndalianis. Lost in Genre Chasing the
White Rabbit to Find a White Polar Bear. Reading
Lost
Marc Dolan, Lost. Essential Cult TV Reader
(forthcoming U P Kentucky, 2009). Ed. David
Lavery.
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Megagenre A large, all encompassing, umbrella
genre, having no distinct subject matter or style
or iconography or formulae. The megagenres of the
movies might be thought of as non-fiction
(documentary) film, fiction film, animated film,
and experimental / underground film.
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Major Movie Genres (according to Tim Dirks
filmsite.org)

• Action
• Adventure
• Comedy
• Crime/Gangster
• Drama

• Epics/Historical
• Musicals
• Science Fiction
• War
• Westerns

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Major Movie Sub-Genres (according to Tim Dirks
filmsite.org)

• Biopics
• Chick Flicks
• Detective/Mystery
• Disaster
• Fantasy
• Film Noir
• Guy Films

• Melodrama
• Road Films
• Romance
• Sports
• Supernatural
• Thrillers/Suspense

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Minor Movie Sub-Genres (according to Tim Dirks
filmsite.org)

• Aviation
• Buddy
• Caper
• Chase
• Espionage
• Fallen Woman

• Jungle
• Legal
• Martial Arts
• Medical
• Parody
• Police

• Political
• Prison
• Religious
• Slasher
• Swashbucklers

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Movie Genres/Subgenres Action AdventureJungle
Martial Arts Mountain Spy
Swashbuckler ArtAny genre or subgenre may be an
"art" film ComedyBuddy Black Comedy
Mocumentary Parody Road Romantic Comedy
Satire Screwball Comedy Slacker CrimeBlaxploi
tation Caper Film Noir Gangster
Hardboiled Detective Police Procedural Prison
Private-Eye Trial Films CultAny genre or
subgenre may be a "cult" film DramaDomestic
Education Historical Political Epic--Biblical
Greek Myth GenderGay and Lesbian
Rape-Revenge Womens Pictures HorrorDemonic
Possession Haunted House Monster Serial
Killer Slasher Vampire Life
StoryAutobiography Biopic Diary
Film MelodramaDisease/Disability Ethnic Family
Saga Weepie Yuppie Redemption MusicConcert
Films Musicals Rocumentary Science Fiction
and FantasyCyber Punk Disaster Dystopia
Fantasy Post-Apocalypse Prehistorical Space
Opera Supermen and Other Mutants Time
Travel SportsAuto Racing Baseball Basketball
Boxing Football Horse Racing Track
Wrestling Teen FilmsPre-Teen Comedy Teen Sex
Comedy Coming of Age WarAerial Combat Civil
War Korean Prisoner of War Submarine Viet
Nam World War I World War II WesternCattle
Drive Indian War Gunfighter
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Creebers Classification of Television Genres
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The classification of texts is not just the
province of academic specialists, it is a
fundamental aspect of the way texts of all kinds
are understood. (Neale in Creeber p. 1)
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In many cases, of course, it is likely that
audiences will have some idea in advance of the
kind of film (or play or programme) they are
going to watch. They will have made an active
choice either to watch or, if their preferences
dictate, to avoid it. They will have done so on
the basis of information supplied by advertising,
by reviews, and previews, perhaps by a title
(such as Singin in the Rain) or by the presence
of particular performers. They are therefore
likely to bring with them a set of expectations,
and to anticipate that these expectations will be
met in one way or another. (Neale in Creeber 1)
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Relevant Terms for Genre from Hans Robert Jauss,
German Reception Theorist/Reader-Response
Critic generic audience generic
frustration generic tension
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In English-speaking countries, the term genre
came to be applied to literary works during the
nineteenth century, at a point in history at
which art of all kinds began to be
industrialized, mass-produced for a popular
public (Cohen, 1986, 120).--Neale in Creeber 2)
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• The repertoire of elements that identify genres
  (Lacey 2000, cited by Neale in Creeber 3)
• Character Types
• Setting
• Iconography
• Narrative
• Style

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• Institutional Aspects of Genre
• Scheduling
• Modes of Production
• Demands of Advertisers
• Demands of Audiences
• Developments in Adjacent Entertainment
  Institutions/Media (Neale in Creeber 4)

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Zapping/grazing/channel surfing feeds genre
recognition (Feuer, 1992, p. 158--cited by Neale
in Creeber 4). Umberto Eco speaks of the
instinctive semioticians who use RCDs.
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For those who study television, genre is a means
of managing TVs notorious extensiveness as a
cultural form by breaking it up into more
discrete or comprehensible segments (Turner in
Creeber 5).
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• Complaints Against Genre Criticism
• Circularity--critics dismiss texts for failing to
  meet criteria they have themselves established.
• Prescriptiveness--critics dismiss genre
  shows/series for departing from Platonic ideal
  versions. (Turner in Creeber 6)

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Hybridity The now common tendency to splice
together different genres.
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Todd Gitlin (Inside Prime Time 1985) uses a
genetics metaphor when he speaks of the rise of
recombinant programming in the 1980s.
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Genres came to be identified with impersonal,
formulaic, commercial forms and distinguished
from individualized art. Ironically, this
represented a reversal of previous
characterizations, which saw high art as
rule-bound and ordered (as evident in genres lke
the sonnet and tragedy) and low art as
unconstrained by the rules of decorum (Cohen,
1986, 120).--Neale in Creeber 2
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Formulaic
Dictionary ?fôrmy?'laik Adjective--constituting
or containing a verbal formula or set form of
words a formulaic greeting.? produced in
accordance with a slavishly followed rule or
style predictable much romantic fiction is
stylized, formulaic, and unrealistic.
Thesaurus Adjective--the homes here are not the
products of a formulaic design conventional,
stock, unoriginal, stereotypical, uninspired,
cliched, paint-by-number.
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Some important new critical theories have
challenged the primacy of genre as a basic
critical concept. The next important task of
genre theory is to examine these objections in
order to discover to what extent they require
revision of the theory of popular genres and to
what extent they may require us to go beyond
genre (John Cawelti, The Question of Popular
Genres Revisited 1997).
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Thomas Schatz's life history of a genre (from
Hollywood Genres) an experimental stage,
during which its conventions are isolated and
established, a classic stage, in which the
conventions reach their equilibrium and are
mutually understood by artist and audience, an
age of refinement, during which certain formal
and stylistic details embellish the form, and
finally a baroque (or mannerist, or
self-reflexive) stage, when the form and its
establishments are accented to the point where
they themselves become the substance or
content of the work. (37-38)
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Genre films essentially ask the audience, "Do you
still want to believe this?" Popularity is the
audience answering, "Yes." Change in genre
occurs when the audience says, "That's too
infantile a form of what we believe. Show us
something more complicated." And genres turn to
self-parody to say, "Well, at least if we make
fun of it for being infantile, it will show how
far we've come." Films and television have in
this way speeded up cultural history. --Leo
Braudy, The World in a Frame
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Lavery, David. The Islands Greatest Mystery Is
Lost Science Fiction? The Essential Science
Fiction TV Reader. Edited by J. P. Telotte.
Lexington U P of Kentucky, 2008 283-298.
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Lost and Genre
Cult Television
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The Essential Cult Television Reader Edited by
David Lavery University Press of
Kentucky Introduction How Cult TV Became
MainstreamDavid Lavery 1. 24 (US, 2001- )Steven
Peacock 2. Absolutely Fabulous (UK, 1992-1996,
2001-2005)Angelina I. Karpovich 3. Adventures of
Brisco County, The, Jr. (US, 1993-1994)Bartley
Porter and Lynnette Porter 4. Alias (US,
2001-2005)Henrik Örnebring 5. Angel (US,
1999-2004)Joyce Millman 6. Avengers, The (UK,
1961-1969)Angelina I. Karpovich 7. Battlestar
Galactica (US, 2005-2008)Ian Maull and David
Lavery 8. Blakes 7 (UK, 1978-1981)Steve
Duckworth 9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (US,
1997-2003)Milly Williamson 10. The Comeback (US,
2005)Joanne Morreale 11. Daily Show, The (1996-
) and The Colbert Report (2005- ) (US)Sam
Ford 12. Dark Shadows (US, 1966-1971,
1991)Jonathan Lampley
The Essential Cult Television Reader Edited by
David Lavery University Press of Kentucky
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13. Dexter (US, 2006- )Michele Byers 14. Doctor
Who (UK, 1963-1989 1996 2005- )Matt Hills 15.
Farscape (Australia/US, 1999-2003)Jes Battis 16.
Firefly (US, 2002)J. P. Telotte 17. Freaks and
Geeks (US, 1999-2000)Jonathan Gray 18. Heroes
(US, 2006- )Nikki Stafford 19. League of
Gentlemen (UK, 1999-2002)Leon Hunt 20. Life on
Mars (UK, 1996-1997)Robin Nelson 21. Lost (US,
2004-2010)Marc Dolan 22. Miami Vice (US,
1984-1989)Jon Stratton 23. Monty Pythons Flying
Circus (UK, 1969-1974)Marcia Landy 24. My
So-Called Life (US, 1994-1995)Michele Byers 25.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (US,
1989-1999)Robert Holtzclaw 26. The Prisoner (UK,
1967-1968)Douglas L. Howard
The Essential Cult Television Reader Edited by
David Lavery University Press of Kentucky
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27. Quantum Leap (US, 1989-1993)Lynnette
Porter 28. Red Dwarf (UK, 1988-1999)De
Amy-Chinn 29. Roswell (US, 1999-2002)Stan
Beeler 30. The Simpsons (US, 1989- )Jonathan
Gray 31. South Park (US, 1997- )Jason Jacobs 32.
The Star Trek Franchise (US, 1966-1969)Rhonda
Wilcox 33. Stargate SG-1 (US, 1997-2007)Angela
Ndalianis 34. Supernatural (US, 2005- )Alison
Peirse 35. This Life (UK, 1996-1997)Stephen
Lacey 36. Torchwood (UK, 2007- )Matt Hills 37.
Twilight Zone (US, 1959-1964)Jonathan
Lampley 38. Twin Peaks (US, 1990-1991)David
Bianculli 39. Ultraviolet (UK, 1998)Stacey
Abbott 40. Veronica Mars (US, 2004-2007)Sue
Turnbull 41. Wonderfalls (US, 2004)Stan
Beeler 42. The X-Files (US, 1993-2002)Mikel J.
Koven 43. Xena Warrior Princess (US/New Zealand,
1995-2001)Carolyn Skelton
The Essential Cult Television Reader Edited by
David Lavery University Press of Kentucky
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Lost and Genre
Cult televisions imaginary universes support an
inexhaustible range of narrative possibilities,
inviting, supporting and rewarding close textual
analysis, interpretation, and inventive
reformulations.--Jones and Pearson
Cult Television
Cult Television
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Lost and Genre
That cult tv has evolved into a meta-genre that
caters to intense, interpretive audience
practices, affording fans enormous scope for
further interpretation, speculation and
invention.--Jones and Pearson
Cult Television
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Lost and Genre
We should focus on analyzing and defining cult
TV as a part of broader of broader patterns
within changing TV industries (Matt Hills,
Defining Cult TV 522).
Cult Television
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Lost and Genre
hyperdiegesis the creation of a vast and
detailed narrative space, only a fraction of
which is ever directly seen or encountered within
the text . . . (Matt Hills, Fan Cultures 137)
Cult Television
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Lost and Genre
Cult television is most readily identifiable by
the fervency of a programs audience support,
the degree to which its language and
catchphrases enter its audiences vocabulary,
fans determination to amass collectibles and
memorabilia, and conventions at which likeminded
souls can congregate and share their passion
(Robert Holtzclaw, recapitulating TV Guide, in
his essay on Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Cult Television
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Lost and Genre
Lost and Genre
Is it possible that a dip in a shows quality may
actually enhance its cult appeal? (were looking
at you 24).
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
What obligation do the makers of cult series have
to answer the clamor of fans for more involvement?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Does the presence of a star with cult street cred
or a cult of personality guarantee cult status?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
What is the relationship of camp and
cult-ivation? Of badnesswhat Steven Duckworth
calls the sheer crappiness of the series and the
crappiness it attributes to the universe in his
essay on Blake's 7and cult tv?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
What are the specific relations between genre
hybridity/genre bending and cult status?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Lost and Genre
Does brilliant but cancelled status (the name
of a website on the subject) actually enhance cul
thood?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Why is the fantastic, left of real (J. J.
Abrams term), such a fertile ground for
television cult shows?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
How does the strategic use of the cameo amp the
possibilities of cult?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Is it possible for a television show to gain cult
status largely through nostalgia?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Would the current conversation about cult
television have transpired without the validation
of TV on DVD?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Would the current conversation about cult
television have transpired without the validation
of TV on DVD?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Are B.Y.O subtext shows (Joss Whedons phrase)
ipso facto cult shows? What role do
intertextuality, metaxtextuality, and seriality
play in the growth of cult television?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Is cult tv always counter-cultural? (Is the
reverse true?)
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Has SHOWTIME consciously positioned itself
(against its not TV rival HBO) as a cult TV
venue?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Does cult television exhibit a unique approach to
character investment?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Is it still true that your standard issue
television cult work, in keeping with the
tradition, represents a disruptive rather than a
conservative force (Kawin)?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
How does cult television differin subject
matter, audience, marketing, narrativefrom cult
film?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Do cult shows by their very nature record seismic
shifts in the evolution of television programming?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
How will the emergence of multiple platforms for
television programming change the nature of cult
television?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Are there narrative forms unique to cult
television, and if they exist, how have they
influenced all of series television?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Are there narrative forms unique to cult
television, and if they exist, how have they
influenced all of series television?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Are there narrative forms unique to cult
television, and if they exist, how have they
influenced all of series television?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
What is the place of the conspiracy theory in
fostering/sustaining cult TV?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
Are the traditional youth demographics of cult
television changing?
Cult Television Questions
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Lost and Genre
To what degree has cult television created
transnational languages and viewing practices
and furthered globalization?
Cult Television Questions