This eight-week course will explore the concept of film genre, delving into several genres in-depth, examining tropes and subversions and considering how different genres have impacted film and audiences today.
The course will initially examine the origins of genre as a concept, inviting us to think about how, when and why key conventions were established and the filmmakers who pioneered this work. We will then explore specific genres in detail, covering some of genre cinema’s ‘greatest hits’ in the process.
Areas of focus will include: Melodrama and the opportunity it affords filmmakers to embrace emotional intensity; Science Fiction filmmaking from b-movie bunkum to blockbusting epics; and Film Noir, the dark and dangerous filmmaking style that transformed Hollywood.
Led by Dr John Ayres, lecturer of Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester.
25.01.23 – Lecture 1: What is Genre?
01.02.23 – Screening 1: Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk, 1954)
08.02.23 – Lecture 2: Melodrama
15.02.23 – Lecture 3: Horror
22.02.23 – Lecture 4: Westerns
01.03.23 – Film Screening 2: Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
08.03.23 – Lecture 5: Film Noir
15.03.23 – Lecture 6: Science-Fiction