A2 Media Studies | Genre Theory: Rick Altman

In this analysis I will aim to understand the concept of genre pleasure to audiences and the ideas of the genre theorist Rick Altman, who discussed genre pleasure in 1999. Altman discusses three areas in terms of the 'genre pleasures' that audiences receive, these three areas consisted of:

1. Emotional pleasure (Audience emotional response)
2. Visceral pleasure (inside instinct e.g. reacting mentally instead of physically to something like a movie trailer etc.)
3. Intellectual puzzles (The offering of pleasure in audiences allowing for them to begin unraveling a mystery or puzzle throughout watching a media text e.g. music video, documentary, film trailer etc.)

As well as this, Rick Altman argued that genres offer audiences a set of pleasures. I will further analyse the clip I have been previously looking at, which is a scene from Channel 4's Britain's Benefit Tenants.

What genre is your media text?

The genre of the media text I have chosen for my practical brief is an observational documentary, the text that I'll further analyse provides an educational value to viewing audiences. This is because filmmaker aims to reflect on the broken down properties and the benefit tenants and aims to provide the audience with an educational value, applying to a more young demographic rather than older, this gives the mentioned demographic a better understanding on what the scene is about and what life is like in the perspective of a family who lives on benefits.

How does the genre make you feel?

My emotional response to the chosen genre and clip makes me feel sympathetic and shocked. This is because the scene shows a neighborhood which is constantly breaking down at the minute and also somewhat depicts how life is from the perspective of people struggling to keep their property from the lack of any job opportunities. Expanding on the emotional response given, not being in a state worse than the benefit tenants, the observation on these people puts me in a state of sympathy and also puts me in a state of shock at the same time.

As a viewer of this documentary scene in a young demographic, my emotional responses conform to the demographic that I'm in because the state of shock shows that a young demographic tend to judge whatever is in a lower class or state than them. The state of shock could be a possible sign of relief as I think something around "I'm glad I don't live like this." which could possibly be a judgement towards the scene as I do not fully know the story of these people.

Further response from a relative demographic to the one I'm in, an article from the Independent provides for a negotiated reading as people will conform to the emotions expected from the director/filmmaker and will also disagree to the expected response, according to Stuart Hall's theory of audience position. An example of a negotiated response comes from a Twitter user who wrote "#BenefitsStreet is an abominable programme. The stigma it creates about people on welfare is actually quite sickening in the main.". This shows a negotiated reading of Benefits Street as there could be some possible feeling of sympathy as the user has called the show 'quite sickening' which is possibly to the expectations of the filmmaker, he/she will expect a response of sympathy as for a negative reading would be the anger portrayed in the comment, hence making a negotiated reading from the user e.g. 'Benefits Street is an abominable programme.'

Benefits Street setting - James Turner Street

An example of how people may indicate a negotiated response from Benefits Street would be the setting of the documentary, more intelligent people may indicate an oppositional reading where people feel completely opposite to the director's expectations as for a majority of people will indicate a negotiated reading, and as for people in a more younger demographic, these people will go for a preferred reading where people conform to the feelings the director expects.

What are the main codes and conventions of the genre?

I will link to the two extracts listed below to the genre's codes and conventions in which I'll be looking at the expository mode genre as it fits more with the documentaries than any other of the 6 types of documentaries identified in Bill Nichol's six types of documentary.

With the expository mode, the codes identified in the genre are that the mode is used to emphasise verbal commentary - mostly used with a narrator, to address the spectator (viewing audience). Both of the extracts have this mode as there are voice overs addressing the audience with what's going on in the setting or the situation being documented.

The conventions identified in the expository mode are voice overs are previously mentioned, an example of a quote from each of them which addresses the spectator is "James Turner Street in Birmingham is not your average street." from Benefits Street and "With nowhere to dispose of their rubbish, the family has welcomed some unwelcome guests." from Britain's Benefit Tenants. This addresses the spectator of the documentary as the spectator begins to get introduced to what the documentary is about and what they are about to witness.

This is a convention of the genre identified from the genre because the voice over serves to illustrate what is being said by the narrator, another convention identified within the genre would be the pace of the editing and the scenes in the extracts, this poses as a convention as the editing can show arguments going on within James Turner Street and in Britian's Benefit Tenants, this is evident with the ongoing conversation with the council members.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypRpZNKmP8 - Britain's Benefit Tenants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkKJQF1xSJU - Benefits Street

What demographic/subculture is your media text targeting? How?

The demographic I would say that my chosen media text is targeting would be a range of demographic, ranging from young to middle aged. This is because the middle aged demographic would provide a negotiated or oppositional response (in contrast to Stuart Hall's audience position theory, 1973) because responses that may come from this demographic may consist of anger and distraught that the people behind the documentary are filming innocent and suffering people that don't deserve to be filmed and that some actors have gone on to fame and fortune because of this documentary. An example of this would be that a star from the documentary known as 'Little Dot' has toasted her celebrity status in a hot tub with a can of larger whilst on a five-star break even though Dot and her husband have remained unemployed for 20 years.

Whereas for the young demographic would have a preferred/negotiated response as most of the demographic watching either documentary (Benefits Street, Britain's Benefit Tenants) would feel sympathy as for some of the young demographic would have a negotiated response as a young person watching the documentary may have an array of mixed feelings whilst watching the scenes depicted in the documentaries. As for an oppositional reading, this may apply to some people in the highlighted demographic as very few people may seek to become aggressive about the documentary as the filmmaker puts these people in a negative light and also allows for these people to make more of a living than them and their families have.

What are the most popular genres in the brief you have picked?

The most popular genres I would list from the brief I have picked are the reflexive mode, expository mode and the participatory mode. Beginning with the reflexive mode, there are many documentaries in where the spectator is the focus of attention and also speaks about the historical world as worded from Bill's presentation.

Spectator being the focus of attention in the documentary.

An example of this may come from a documentary such as Episode 4 of Catastrophe, which reflexive on the event of an asteroid impact on Earth, dating back many years to when the dinosaurs became extinct due to the same scenario. As the spectator discusses about this, there is a simulation of the impact using CGI in the event of a space rock the size of which killed the dinosaurs impacting Earth.

Catastrophe - Episode 4: CGI showing the event of an asteroid impact.

Expository mode is popular with documentaries such as the previously discussed Britain's Benefit Tenants and Benefits Street, the filmmaker is aiming to expose these people and possibly put them under a negative light, which is the main cause of controversy around the two documentaries. Both documentaries also conform to this genre as the spectator is addressed directly with a voice which proposes the perspective of the documentary, which is a broken down street filled with people who live on benefits, which applies to both of the documentaries listed, commentary is often emphasised from the aid of a narrator in both texts.

Benefit tenant being exposed and put into a negative light with excessive background rubbish.

Participatory mode is a popular genre within documentaries as there are many documentaries which reflect disasters, which often involve interviews between survivors and the filmmaker. Two examples of where participatory mode has been depicted in documentaries consists of Seconds From Disaster and Air Crash Investigation, these documentaries have reflected and based CGI animation off real disasters. An example of where the filmmaker and subject interview is evident in the two images below, showing an interview with a survivor of a disaster and an air disaster.

Interview with a subject having involvement in the Paddington Rail Disaster.
Seconds From Disaster

Interview with a passenger on board Qantas flight 32, which suffered engine damage during flight.
 Air Crash Investigation

Pleasures of chosen media text

The pleasures out of the three that Altman has discussed, I have gathered that the media text I have chosen sparks two out of three responses. These responses are the visceral and emotional responses, the text makes people feel emotionally stressed and their inside instinct sparks a visceral response of either sympathy, disgust or anger, I will be discussing more about these responses in which Altman has discussed below.

Emotional

Having viewed the chosen media text several times, there's a clear indication of an emotional response from the text as you can either feel stress or sympathy for the people depicted in the text. Both of these emotional responses are mixed through an array of comments made by people on social media such as Facebook and Twitter which most of it is bad press on Channel 4 or the people who have produced the documentary as the viewing audience believe that the filmmaker is attempting to put benefit tenants in a negative light. Whereas for sympathy, people in a young demographic may feel sympathy for the benefit tenants as those people on benefits were a result of failure to pass GCSEs/A-levels and have to live on their own benefits for daily needs.

Visceral

This response that Altman discussed in his theory is evident within the text as before mentioned, people will feel either sympathy, disgusted or stressed when viewing the text which is arguably dependent on the demographic of the audience. If a young demographic is viewing the text, feelings of sympathy and disgust may come into mind whereas if an older demographic is viewing the text, feelings of stress and disgust are sought as it's as if they're being put in a negative light as mentioned before and that they shouldn't deserve any press from filmmakers.

Summary

This analysis has allowed me to gather how Rick Altman's different views on documentaries and has also allowed me to learn more about the genre of my media text. I feel this will support me in my own practical brief as I can make an attempt to link Altman's views into my documentary and also see how a professional documentary broadcaster/maker allows for their work to look professional and discuss something serious (e.g. a disaster, benefit tenants in Britain etc.).