Starter LO3 - Monday 22nd March

There are many genre theories which contribute to the idea of how a product's genre will contribute to its success with the example I'm using being The Interrogation Scene: The Dark Knight(2008) to support and give evidence to my debate with reference to external products.

On the one hand, I do not agree with the statement as Steve Neale's theory on genre: "all genres contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the economy of the genre", one of the reasons is because in the interrogation scene where instead of following the standard representations of villains by showing them with their face exposed so that it is clear as to who they are whereas the joker wears makeup so that he is more of an enigmatic characters, and which change would be a surprise to audiences and therefore will entertain them, making it successful.

Moreover, Jason Mattels theory on genre: genres are exploited by the media, suggests that genres are in fact used to create profit as certain genres like the superhero genre are very profitable to younger audiences so in The Dark Knight by having Batman a well known hero in the genre, media producers can market the idea of how this movie has this character in.

Furthermore, David Buckingham's theory: genres change to keep up with society, shows how media companies change their products so that it can maximise its success. In The Dark Knight, we are presented with more violent and mature content through how Batman smashes The Joker's head into the table and also brutally attacks him, this is in comparison to previous renditions of Batman like the the Adam West version who would make the violent acts more comical through onomatopoeia, showing how society has changed from comical heroes to more cool and brutal heroes.

Finally, Rick Altman's theory about generic pleasures shows how people use genres for their own pleasure so from knowing this media companies can use this and exploit it to make profitable content. An example would be how the interrogation generates visceral pleasure through the mise-en-scene element of lighting, that being a dramatic change in lighting, as this creates a shock to the audience that will engage them in the scene.