Essay on Genre Theory: A Strategic Study of Films & Audience Engagement

Genre theory refers to a strategic study of films in a way that facilitates their categorization which depicts the purpose and guides the viewers on what they should expect even before having the opportunity of watching it. It, therefore, acts as a shortcut for the description of the academic work, and this facilitates having the films in different and relevant categories. According to Carey (2014), having films in different genres is, therefore, an important way of serving specific audiences or viewers based on their unique movie preferences. This paper focuses on the fantasy genre, especially, Miracle on 34th Street of 1947, to assist the film viewers to understand its elements, specific features, and demonstrates the manner in which the film in question expands the boundaries of movies falling under the fantasy genre.

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The study of genre specifies that a film falls in a given category by exhibiting specific genre elements. In a fantasy film, the unique element to be expected by a viewer is the ability of character(s) to inhabit and demonstrate unique qualities which are more of imaginations and mostly surpass the ideal situations in the natural world. In Miracle on 34th Street, an old man proves to be sensational in a role assigned to him and ends up making people believe that he is the real Santa Claus (Mayfield, 1994). The old man, Kris Kringle, is initially recruited to replace a drunken person as the Thanksgiving exercise was approaching as planned by the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Kringle applies the art he has mastered to influence everyone that he has the qualities of the Santa Claus by creating the great charismas mood normally associated with the Santa. Doris, the head of the Thanksgiving Parade is initially reluctant to believe and trains herself and her daughter to completely reject Chris' claims that he would be associated with some of the impossible personalities. Doris, however, begins to believe when Chris continues with his strategic spiritual role which appears improbable to be achieved by an average human being on earth. He demonstrates this by skillfully engaging the customers which implied that the activity involved succeeded. Having actively played a role in the commercialization beyond the ability and the expectations of any individual, Doris herself had to believe his claims and contributed to further influence others to doubt him no more. Concerning the abilities of Kringle, everyone believed that Santa Claus is living in the world through the old man.

The film exhibit a number of conventions which reveal more about it and further proving its classification as a fantasy. For instance, Lee (2017) observes that the most outstanding element in the film is imagination. The director of the film based the context of imagination since under normal circumstances; the real Santa Claus cannot be found anywhere. He is normally an imagined character who is believed to interact with people around the Charismas day giving presents to people. The film adopted this aspect of imagination and made the storyline take the course of imaginations to reveal some extraordinary qualities. In the film, the belief that Chris is the Santa is a considerable imagination. The other convention is magic in which the film's "Santa Claus" is able to create a great spiritual mood that has not been witnessed with any human being. In the real sense, for example, Chris is just a normal human being with the average qualities that any other character in the film could be having; however, he is using some powers to confuse people and present a different impression that he is powerful beyond the capability of human beings. In this case, the film has been strategically set to make the issue of magic create the mood of fantasy.

Mythology is another convention whose manifestation in the film expands the boundary of the genre of fantasy. This element is used in the film to draw from the past beliefs which have been historical in society. There is a popular myth among the Christian believer that Santa Claus is an individual with spiritual powers and normally appears during the time at which people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. According to Carey (2014), this element, therefore, calls for the attention of the viewers to believe in the unseen and which presents the aspect of faith. A study of this convention with respect to this film reveals that it helps in bringing up related concepts which span beyond the normal context of the genre. This is because the film incorporates some concepts and believes concerning myths to which believers are bound.

Conclusion

Genre theory helps the film directors to communicate with the viewers concerning what they should expect even before they view a movie. A fantasy film has specific elements and conventions which are unique to it and may not be exhibited by any other film category. Among the defining conventions of fantasy are imaginations, magic, and mythology. Even though the elements describe the specific genre, some help in expanding the context of the category like in the case of the mythology aspect.

References

Carey, M. (2014). Fantasy. Journal Of Film And Video, 66(3). Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-3421717091/fantasy

Lee, J. (2017). Study on Significance of North Korean Science Fantasy Film GenreSignificance and necessity of 'fantasy' in North Korean cultural art. Journal Of East Aisan Cultures, null(69), 189-211. Doi: 10.16959/jeachy..69.201705.189

Mayfield, L. (1994). Miracle on 34th Street (1994) [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3822781209?playlistId=tt0110527&ref_=tt_ov_vi