Section 04
Genre Machinery
A genre is a set of promises. These pieces work out which promises noir, the western, the musical and horror actually make, and what happens when a film keeps all of them but one.
In this section
- Pieces
- 4
- Looks at
- Noir, westerns, musicals, horror.
- Everything
- The full register
Every piece in Genre Machinery
The whole register- 01 Noir is lighting and fatalismA look and a worldview that arrived together, and can be separated — usually badly. Read
- 02 The western and the lineEvery one is about a boundary: settlement and wilderness, law and its absence. Read
- 03 The musical number as argumentThe plot stops and the number says what the dialogue would not. Short read
- 04 Horror and the rulesThe audience learns the rules so the film can break one. Short read
The other sections
Close Reading
Single scenes, openings, whole films.
Staging & Cut
Blocking, camera position, continuity, sound.
Women's Picture
Melodrama, domestic thrillers, maternal pictures.