Film Genre and the Genre Film

Schatz’s article on “Film Genre and the Genre Film” was a bit confusing at first, but later on in the article he started to explain a few things more clearly. The confusion put forth within the first few pages can be attributed to, in my opinion, the “language and grammar” characteristics of genre. These two topics in any communication reading are what I fear most, but his descriptions of character and plot were much clearer in getting his point across. For example, his descriptions of the differences in films that take place in the old west were the most interesting. He made distinctions between Western movies involving the lone hero (for example, Wyatt Earp) and Western films that include resolutions of conflict through song (for example, The Harvey Girls). While both movies take place in the old west, the two films resolve conflicts and portray conflicts in completely different ways. Basically, both films portray the Western Film setting, yet only one of the films truly encompasses the spirit of the Western Genre. Still, even without reading this article, I feel like I already had a grasp on the differences between the film genre and the genre film, but this article certainly furthered my knowledge of it.