Page 27 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 2

release for audiences. An integral aspect of comedy, for example, is tied
to the pleasure principle, in which laughter puts people in touch with their
“inner child”; in that sense, being silly and infantile can be regenerative.
Comedies are often a direct reaction against the reality principle, in which
people have to act like “adults” in society by controlling their emotions
and acting responsibly. Thus, a common storyline in the Three Stooges
comedies puts the Stooges in a formal setting, such as an upper crust
dinner party. Inevitably, they toss a pie at one of the pompous guests,
and the party swiftly regresses into an infantile free-for-all.
Genres can even provide physical benefits. According to psychologist
Jack Vaeth, the burst of terror that we experience when we watch a horror
film “releases chemicals including adrenaline and endorphins into your
blood, which are similar to opiates. So what we are doing is stimulating
ourselves to a point of chemical release which in turn is rewarding to
our bodies.” 12
Genres such as demolition shows (Battlebots, Robot Wars, and Junk-
yard Wars) provide a healthy outlet for the destructive side of human
nature—what D.H. Lawrence called “creative dissolution.” Norm Fluet,
head of the Department of Psychology at Scott & White Memorial Hos-
pital, explains:

I think we get some vicarious pleasure out of seeing things destroyed. It
releases anxiety, tension, feelings of aggression. . . . Society has evolved,
but I think we still have that in our biology. I think we need these vicari-
ous outlets. Fortunately, there’s a difference between what we fantasize
about and what we actually do. 13

Within this context, a genre can fulfill a cathartic function, giving
expression to the destructive impulses in the members of the audience.
For instance, vigilante films resonate with the audiences’ primal revenge
fantasies. A notable example of this genre is the series of five Death Wish
films, which were produced over a twenty-year period beginning in 1974.
These films starred Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, an architect whose
wife had been murdered on the streets of New York City. The release
of the initial film was a minor phenomenon; audience members, who
felt victimized by urban criminals, stood and cheered as Kersey took
his revenge on the hoods and punks. The vigilante subgenre also ties
into the need for people to assume control in their lives, tapping into the
American cultural myth of rugged individualism and self-determination.
(For further discussion of cultural myth, see Chapter 9.)

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