Lo3 - 22nd March 2021

The genre of a product does not contribute its success. Discuss the statement with reference to a digital media product you have studied. Use examples to support your answer. 

There are many ways genre is constructed throughout media. I am going to discuss Rick Altman's theory about generic pleasures. I am referring this theory to the video game named GTA 5. 

Rick Altman's theory of generic pleasure states that genres have different pleasures that entertain an audience through different ways and how people respond to then also called emotional pleasure. Visceral Pleasure and intellectual pleasure. This suggests that media products could make us feel pleasure in different ways such as in GTA you will feel all of these as you progress through some of the missions leading to the main one.

Another theory that links to GTA could be Steve Neils theory of repetition and difference. Steve Neil claims all genres contain repetition and difference. 

You can experience emotional pleasure while playing GTA missions such as a heist mission. Such as when you try and lose the police and proceed to crash your car or when you get shot allowing you to have failed the mission. You also feel Visceral pleasure when you are in a cutscene such as controlling a camera allowing it to show you around everywhere and where to go and what to do. You may also feel intellectual pleasure when you are trying to lose the police in the sewers while they are following you from behind and above allowing you to try and escape by going fast or making the right turn. 

A production technique you can see in GTA is diegetic sounds such as when police are chasing you, you can hear their sirens from far away and the direction they are coming from and also see a helicopter and hear the propellers while trying to escape the police. Non diegetic sounds are also included in the game when the police are around you their is a noise/sound when you get a wanted level. You can also hear non diegetic sounds while in a cutscene watching the police all line up outside a building. 

This clearly shows to the player that generic pleasure is an essential part of the video game leaving a dramatic effect and this further solidifies the generic pleasure theory. The part of GTA I discussed shows that generic pleasure as it makes the player feel like they're actually in the game. What I discussed could also make an audience feel like they're in the game and you can feel emotional pleasure when the police are behind you and chasing you. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conventional Structure 

Binary Opposition

Narrative Theory

The narrative of a product does not contribute 

Protagonist are the bank robbers and Antagonist are the police/rich.

Use a birds eye view or a high angle. 

Equilibrium -

Starts with robbing a bank and then having to escape the police and ending up crashing. 

Pam Cook - Cause and effect 

If the alarm goes off in the bank then it could all go wrong or they might still have a chance to escape. 

High angle shot of the protagonists looking around while the antagonists surround the building. 

Roland Barthes theory of narrative codes. 

The alarm goes off in the bank leading into a cutscene and the audience don't know what's happening next. 

It is a high angle shot off in the bank while the protagonists panic that the alarm has gone off. 

Can show close up shots of the characters. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Representation Theory. 

David Newmans Theory of working class as society's problem. 

Stuart halls theory of Preferred meaning. 

Manuel Alvarados theory of racial representation 

Laura Mulvey of Male Glaze. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Male Glaze theory 

In GTA you can go the strip club where you can see women dancing and a lot of men standing around getting close up shots of them.