Defining a genre can be problematic, the musical for instance, as described by Collins is a 'multifaced, hybrid and complex'[1] genre. Indeed, as
[1] Collins, Jim (1988):'The Musical' in Wes D. Gehring, Handbook of American Film Genres,
[2]
[3] Altman, R (1999)Film/Genre,
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- How it is a ‘mongrel’ genre, and to understand its characteristics fully, one must take a look at its history.
- Maltby – genres “are subject to the constant process of change and adaptation”.
- Reference to teen pics.
- Need to introduce the text: HSM,
- Also, need to include some reference to any visual pattern in changes.
Convention: Song. –
Start off with explaining the importance of song in musicals:
-Song is the most easily identifiable element of the musical even to those who don’t know much about the genre.
-Is one of the foremost expected conventions of the musical (audience expectations?)
WC (E) : Globalisation/commercialization.
Songs from musicals that have been released in the charts , as CD’s = Profit. Commercialization
*evidence*:
-Grease (YTOTIW): “The single was number one in the
Globalisation (WC: S, E, P?): HSM: Songs released in
HSM songs are gearing towards the mainstream…popular culture amongst tweens? Grease and HSM are recent examples of the changing conventions of musicals...Musical songs although popular amongst their niche audiences were not released to the mainstream, whereas HSM is..
*evidence* “‘We’re All In This Together’ makes a token concession to hipness by appropriating the marching band beat of Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl” (5)
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_The_One_That_I_Want)
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_school_musical#Soundtrack
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA)
(4) http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gayspy/a74975/the-big-one-the-high-school-musical-phenomenon.html
(5) http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gayspy/a74975/the-big-one-the-high-school-musical-phenomenon.html
Musical Dramas: Tendency to use what Delamater calls ‘“big” voices’ (Delamater, 1974, p.123) (Use this quote in the section on the use of music/song/dance in musicals)
Examples of ‘big voices’ in Grease .. John Travolta, Olivia
Hsm doesn’t conform to this in all aspects. Although there is undoubtable presence and talent in the voices of such actors such as Lucas Grabeel (side character) ….“Drew Seeley's voice was blended with Zac's” (a main character) (source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475293/soundtrack) . Showing the way the musical may have opted for looks rather than talent… reflecting an extremely image conscious society.
Absence of diegetic singing in teen musicals (song)
Absence of diegetic singing in teen musicals is a reason for why many teen musicals have not been considered musicals. Although, diegetic dance is common.
HSM does not conform to this as it includes diegetic singing. Why? – HSM is conforming more towards the conventions of the traditional musical in this sense rather than conforming to the conventions of teen musicals with non- diegetic music.
Use of diegetic music now may be successful amongst teens due to the demand for ‘audience interaction’ through sing-along. “arguably dancing or singing along or combing ones hair to pre-recorded music aspires to the daily experience of the walkman generation”.
Section on dance: notion of spectacle?
One of the key conventions of the musical film genre is of course dance. Recent innovations in technology raise an argument into whether modern fast editing is taking over the over the need for talent when trying to achieve the notion of spectacle through the choreography in modern film musicals. The film
“Loves Labour's Lost (2000) and Moulin Rouge (2001) used such MTV-inspired techniques to make their non-singing, non-dancing stars look and sound like musical pros”.
HSM: relies more upon talent and skilled, athletic choreography rather than flashy editing. Convention of dance: going back to the mid 1950s *evidence* “MGM’s mid-1950s song and dance extravaganzas were energetic, athletic masterpieces” put your head in the game is a key example of this. Use of pastiche also, the stick to the status quo song can be seen as a pastiche to Grease as can various other elements of the musical such as the storyline etc.
Significantly, the director and choreographer of High School Musical, Kenny Ortega, was the choreographer of “one of the most successful movies with music of all time, Dirty Dancing” “At its best, often when Ortega’s dazzling choreography is ushered to the fore, High School Musical offers guilt-free escapism of the highest order.”
Section on the idea of integration in the musical… how this is achieved through dance and song…
Section on the relationship between narrative and song – idea of integration.
- how on one hand integration was the norm and conventional and on the other it wasn’t
1940s and 50s- “Would burst into song at the slightest dramatic provocation”
Musicals come of age: 1940s and 50s, a change in musicals as they became more “lavish “integrated” productions”. “performance numbers were woven into the storylines themselves”
Section on the ‘escapist’ status of the musical (might fit well next to dance and song)
The ‘escapist’ status of the musical has been addressed at length by Dyer, Feuer and Altman,
“accessible and effortless image” (TheCinemaBook)(use this quote on the section on escapism or dance)
The “abundance, energy, transparency, community” of the entertainment films appealed to audiences because it was the opposite of the “scarcity, exhaustion , dreariness, fragmentation, of their real lives” (Dyer, Richard, “entertainment and Utopia.” movie no24 1977)
Hsm: Provides escapism through songs (creating entertainment) but also deals with key teen issues which are typical issues explored in teenpics)..
Reason for more emphasis on escapism during the 1930s : “At a time when more than a fifth of the world was unemployed, they aimed mostly to entertain and musicals, the only film genre to rely directly on sound, were the newest way in which they did this” (The story of film, Mark Cousins, Pavilion Books ‘o4 p.183)
Section on the relationship between nature, gender and spectacle. (representation).
Women: Berkelys’s work has.. been criticised for what Lucy Fischer (1981) has called its ‘optical politics’. In an analysis of Dames (1934), Fischer points out that women literally became two-dimensional images, subordinated to a voyeuristic gaze whose instrument is the camera and whose source is resolutely male.
Men: The relationship between gender, narrative and spectacle in the musical has been explored in the case of male performers too. Cohan, for example, argues that Fred Astaire’s ‘male image’ is grounded in ‘the so called “feminine” tropes of narcissism, exhibitionism and masquerade’ (Cohan, 1993.p48) …Rickard (1996) argues not only that the dance sequences in the Astaire-rogers films serve to sexualise Astaire’s masculinity, but also that this sexualisation is authorised for the audience by Roger’s gaze.
This is not true of HSM, although the characters are ‘good-looking’ they are not represented in a sexual way. Why? – HSM is a teen film catered towards a young tween audience.
Representation: Ethnic Representation – Black People (more research)
Representation:
Character roles: focus in teen musicals and teenpics - the expected roles of teens being ‘juvenile delinquents’
The idea of the juvenile delinquent continued to colour films of all kinds made about teenagers in the 1950s and early 1960s including musicals such as Jailhouse Rock (1957) and West Side Story (1968)
(not so much the case in HSM- focus on child centeredness.. children/teens need protecting , also links to quote by Barsocchini as less ‘serious’ representations are explored.
Character roles: HSM seems to appropriate certain elements of the distinction between good and evil in Disney films.
How accurate is the representation of teens in HSM?
- clichéd stereotypical ‘goody-goody’ representation of teenagers.
Gradd points out, despite ‘ striking legacies, images and myths to the contrary’, there are numerous ‘paths’ to growing up, not just one (Graff, 2996, p.xiii) As Lewis points out, ‘When we are talking about youth we are talking about a fundamentally mediated culture, one that continues to re-present itself in terms of the products it buys, the art that defines it, and the art that defines it as its own’ (Lewish, 1992, p4)
Equality:
zeitgeist- Hull High,
How the 1980s development of female centred teenpics was ignored. Not ignored so much now as G + T are presented as more or less equals (changing role of women). However, at some points G is presented as slightly more vulnerable than T *evidence* - ML analysis of ‘we’re breaking free’.
Easily identifiable character roles (Prop) – easily identifiable – appeals to tweens (easy to identify different character types)
Ideology - encourages the idea of ‘change’ of character as Sharpay congratulates Vanessa and troy eventually.. Ideology/message: that no one is completely evil..
Why? Context? Possibly trying to break away slightly from the fear of evil from children.. (Terrorist acts etc)
Further convention of the teenpics is parental control and interest etc.
Doherty describes a ‘palpable desire for parental control and authority’ in post-1960s teenpics (Doherty, 1986,p.237)
Rock Around the Clock. Rock Around the clock was, as Doherty points out, ‘the first hugely successful film marketed to teenagers to the pointed exclusion of their elders’ (Doherty, 1986,p.74, emphasis in original – talk about how Grease does this but HSM does/doesn’t.
In the clean teen’s baroque phase, AIP’s Beach Party cycle (1963-65), parents were banished altogether,’ he writes. ‘As compensation though, there was little in this portrait of teenage life that would disturb a worried father. Adults were usually absent, but their values were usually present. Fulfilling the best hope of the older generation, the clean teenpics featured an aggressively normal, traditionally good-looking crew of fresh young faces, “good kids” who preferred dates to drugs and crushes to crime’ (Doherty, 1986,p195) HSM conforms to this greatly.
HSM : huge parent appeal. Its script pushes messages – ‘Teamwork matters!’ ‘It’s the taking part that counts!’ ‘Friends are important!’ – that all parents want to instil in their children. Shows how parental values are ever-present here still.
“Rebellion and deviance as hallmarks of teenage authenticity” (cinemabook)
Section on the exploration of teenpics convention regarding the actual issues/ideologies that are dealt with.
Key words: ‘rights of passage’
HSM doesn’t deal with as ‘threatening’ social issues as Grease:
Grease: Tackles such social issues as teenage pregnancy and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence. Changes in character - Danny from the 'Nice boy' at the beach, to the 'too-cool-for- school' 'T-Bird'. (Teen problems, peer pressure, identity, draw parallels with HSM)
Talk about the sexual innuendos that are present in grease. "Meditate in my direction...feel your way!" "We made out under the docks..." (his gesture.)
HSM:
-“there’s nothing remotely threatening about High School Musical: its leads are pleasantly cute rather than pant-wettingly gorgeous; nobody ever stays miserable for more than 30 seconds, and its plot is… devoid of sex…”. In fact, the burgeoning romance between
(WC – S) – giving an explanation for the change. Barsocchini believes it's found such a large audience because today's youngsters are expected to grow up too soon. “A lot of its success has to do with kids being so inundated with lectures on drugs, violence and sex,”
“High School Musical is kitsch, sexless and hopelessly clichéd, but it manages to offer a giddy sense of fun to a generation that's overdosing on seriousness”.
Teen pics: some had ‘rites of passage’ narratives, in narratives, in stories which placed their protagonists ‘betwixt and between’ (Hay, 1990.p.336) and adulthood and childhood which explored issues of autonomy, identity, allegiance and difference in the context of the teenage peer group on the one hand and adult society the other, and in the ways in which – and the extent to which- hitherto dominant generic norms were inflected or reworked in the process;
These films in some fashion involve narrative conflict both over finding one’s place within a relatively autonomous society of youths and over defining, negotiating and resisiting differences between youth and adulthood. In the sense that teenpics were given to modelling conflict in this manner and through generic conventions that also deterritorialized and reterritorialized the conventions of traditional Hollywood genres, they can be said to define doubly the relation of ‘the minor’ to a ‘parent’ culture (Hay,1990.p.336) *Evidence* - include ML analysis of ‘stick to the status quo’ song and ‘we’re breaking free’
Section on ‘the resolution of contradictions and oppositions’ –Altman.
?
The relationship between romance and a dual-focus structure.
(teenpic convention) Section on how rock n roll was potentially disruptive to the fenre’es commitment to romance and community… perhaps.. the recommitment to the genre of romance and community is reflective on the situation post 9/11,.
Section on Alltman: Altman also constructs a new typology of musical forms. Using the relationship between the musical’s romance plot and its ideological oppositions as a basis, he suggests that there are three basic musical types: ‘the fairy tale musical’, in which ‘resorting order to the couple accompanies and parallels…restoration of order to an imaginary kingdom’, ‘the show musical’, in which ‘creating the couple is associated with the creation of a work of art (Broadway show, Hollywood film, Fashion magazine, concert etc)’ and the ‘folk musical’, in which ‘integrating two disparate individuals into a single couple heralds the entire group’s communion with each other’ (Altman, 1987,p126)
- HSM links to the show musical and the folk musical..
-again link the idea of communion as a wider context point regarding 9/11 or say the modern world with a great emphasis on individualisation and selfishness is no longer appealing to people. Working together as a group also links to the American dream i.e. working hard, - hegemony.
Economic context, remakes, commercialisation.. profit making.
When talking about remakes etc… include a quote on repetition of genre, as well as using examples of texts such as Grease 1 and 2, HSM trilogy and The Cheetah Girls trilogy (which is also a DCOM).
Nicholas Abercrombie notes that 'television producers set out to exploit genre conventions... It... makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale' (Abercrombie 1996, 43). He adds that 'genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre' (ibid.).
“It’s not immediately obvious how this modest Disney Channel production, made for a paltry £2 million, became a worldwide TV sensation”. (HSM – Low budget)
“Though director Kenny Ortega shoots the movie in a lurid day-glo colour palette, there’s no mistaking the cheapness of its production values”.
Characters and their appeal: (don’t address this as a separate convention – link the information to other sections)
“Between the 1930s and 1950s the music of
Convention of teen films: often ‘co-opted, parodied or resisted’ the preferred genres and ‘narrative practices of US film culture’ (Hay, 1990.p.336)
Instead, like Grease HSM is a pastiche…
Section on pastiche… could include most of the grease similarities here.
Grease: "Danny's blue Windbreaker at the beginning of the film was intended as a nod to Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Conclusion:
Jacques Derrida proposed that 'a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without... a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text' (Derrida 1981, 61). Include a reference to teenpics: ‘the complexity and interest of a genre which has for years been important to
Interim evaluation
Happy with my Interim grade (A) as it reflects the level that I’m working at.
Not so happy with being given a ‘good’ for ability to work independently. Everything I do in media is independent so a ‘good’ instead of ‘excellent’ just doesn’t translate.
Targets:
- Maintain effort
- Focus on independent study
