Page 163 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 6

political and social issues and events. To illustrate, Steven Spielberg’s
War of the Worlds (2005) comments on the ongoing American war in
Iraq. Frank Rich explains:

In not terribly coded dialogue, the film makes clear that its Americans know
very well how to distinguish a war of choice like that in Iraq from a war of
necessity, like that prompted by Al Qaeda’s attack on America. Tim Robbins
—who else?—pops up to declare that when aliens occupy a country, the
“occupations always fail.” Even Tom Cruise’s doltish teenage screen son is
writing a school report on “the French occupation of Algeria.” 37

The horror genre has frequently been a vehicle for allegories, offering
a concrete visualization of societal issues and forces. Author Maitland
McDonagh observes, “The [horror] genre has the ability to address themes
38
and ideas that the mainstream won’t touch.” As an example, Bob Clark’s
film Deathdream (1972) is a comment on the damage of the Viet Nam
War to the American psyche. Film critic David Edelstein explains:

A variation on the classic O. Henry tale “The Monkey’s Paw,” the movie
brings its dead young soldier (killed in the prologue) home as an angry,
slowly festering zombie who sits in his room and rocks back and forth
on a squeaky chair while his once overjoyed parents (John Marley and
Lynn Carlin) cower below. 39

Modes of Analysis

Point of View

The point of view of media programming is generally presented from
the source of power and control. Production elements often furnish clues
about the dominant point of view of the genre. In films and television
programs, the camera is trained predominantly on the person (or persons)
who are the primary characters. (For further discussion of production
elements, see Chapter 7.)
For instance, the court TV genre is an entire channel devoted to on-
going coverage of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Robert Blake,
and O.J. Simpson. Programs typically consist of summaries of the day’s
events (accompanied by artist’s renderings) and commentaries, from
the point of view of the reporters. In addition, some channels devote a
portion of their programming to this genre, such as CNBC’s coverage

148