In 1984 Rick Altman set out to “scratch” an itch that he claimed no one working in the field of film genre criticism seemed to even feel (6). In his essay “A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre” he claims that the field is befuddled with uncertainty, confusion and contradiction because it lacks an adequate theory, an adequate means of reconciling the differing opinions which were then stalemating advancements in genre study. Fortunately, Altman himself offers a solution, a unifying theory which he claims will, unlike the semiotic and structuralist approaches he critiques, diachronically consider historical context while reconciling the field’s contrasting opinions. In his essay, Altman strategically shows his proposed semantic/syntactic theory, an inclusive, dualistic approach, to neatly solve the three sets of problematic contradictions that he explains are hindering genre studies, believing that such an approach will supplement “weaknesses of current notions of genre” while also productively raising “numerous questions for which other theories have created no space” (6, 17).
Altman’s essay is exceptionally well organized, straightforward and clear; he firmly establishes a lack in (what was then) current genre studies and then plainly shows the ways in which his proffered theory corrects that lack, all in a pleasantly conversational tone and with plenty of illustrative examples. Altman initially outlines the three main “contradictions” which he claims plague genre criticism because of the way that their seemingly oppositional points of view have allowed no common ground or universally accepted definitions of genre; and since no rapprochement between the two sides has been yet established, the field has been left irreconcilably divided and bereft of a cohesive guiding theory (6). Firstly, Altman explains that there is no single agreed-upon way of determining a genre’s corpus, which can be defined by either an inclusive or an exclusive means of selection, depending on your position. The inclusive list, such as would be found in an encyclopedia, defines genre in a broad, tautological sense, while the exclusive canon is determined by more abstract qualifications. In this latter category, a definition is given based on “attempts to arrive at the overall meaning or structure of a genre” and tends to encapsulate films that critics feel somehow “represent the genre more fully” (7). These two types of definition ultimately correspond to Altman’s own dual semantic and syntactic approaches, respectively, and his proposed theory thus unites the two canons and two types of definition which he here shows to be contradictingly and competingly disparate.
Altman’s second contradiction pertains to genre history and theory and the apparent, or at least accepted, incompatability of the two schools. Clearly favoring a diachronic, historical and developmental view of genre, Altman briefly explains the synchronic, ahistorical semiotic approach that has dominated genre studies from the 1960’s until the 1980’s when he is writing. He posits that such thinking tends to conceive of genres in terms of timeless Platonic ideals and completely ignores their historical development as well as the very fact that they do develop and evolve. This section of Altman’s argument becomes a little muddled in his eagerness to discount such a synchronic view while also trying not to bog down his relatively direct and concise essay with burdensome theory and history. Still, the fact that genres do develop over time, as do genre theories themselves, as Altman illustrates, seems a simple enough truth upon which to accept his assertion that the theory of genre should consider history rather than exist in diametric separation from it, as he claims is currently the case with this second contradiction.
Thirdly, Altman compares the so-called ritual approach to genre with the ideological approach, explaining how they, like the inclusive and exclusive definitions and like genre theory and history, have been viewed as opposite, incompatible positions which then leaves the field of genre criticism with no clear course of study. He writes that the ritual approach, stemming from Levi-Strauss’ examination of the role of myth in genre, essentially attributes ultimate agency to audiences, who pick the movies they want to see and thus compel Hollywood to accommodate their desires. On the other hand, the ideological approach denies all audience agency and describes genre as merely a vehicle for the rhetoric of Hollywood, as their means of “luring” audiences in and then manipulating them for their own commercial motives (9).
After thus clearly establishing three sets of contradictions, three sets of theoretical binaries, Altman calls for a theory that will not only consider historical context, but will also, without denying any of these past positions, offer a “critical methodology which encompasses and indeed thrives on their inherent contradictions” (10). His proposed semantic/syntactic theory here offers a “dual approach” whose “slash” component promises to resolve the seemingly insurmountable fissures he just established by combining their contradictory view points (12). In categorizations that parallel those of the inclusive and exclusive canons of genre, Altman differentiates between genres defined by their semantic elements and those by their syntactic organization. Semantic definitions, he explains, use “a list of common traits, attitudes, characters, shots, locations, sets,” i.e. the genre’s “building blocks themselves.” Syntactic definitions, on the other hand, stress the “constitutive relationships between undesignated and variable placeholders,” or the “structures into which [the building blocks] are arranged” (10).
Altman’s entire semantic/syntactic argument is predicated upon his belief in a diachronic approach to the study of genre, or of any text. Most clearly introduced in the context of his second stated contradiction, Altman directly asserts the need for such an approach throughout his essay while also indirectly confirming its validity and necessity through the inclusion of examples which reveal the historical developments of genre. For instance, he outlines the development of the musical in which the original use of music to melodramatically convey sorrow later developed into associations with the joy and pleasure of “coupling, the community and entertainment” (13). Also, in establishing the contradiction between genre theory and history, Altman indirectly describes the development of genre theories themselves, explaining the way in which previous citations of the industry’s own generic terms were suspiciously replaced by a “self-conscious critical vocabulary” after the work of semiotics rose to popularity (7). Furthermore, aware of the change and evolution of not only genres but ideas of theory as well, Altman consciously avoids the trap of synchronicity by historically situating his own semantic/syntactic theory as a response to the dominating influence of semiotics over the twenty years before he is writing, as one more step in the history of genre theory. By thus conveying that historical development does occur, in genres as well as in theories, Altman cleverly shows all of these single-theory approaches, each half of his three “contradictions,” to be inherently incapable of explaining a genre’s big picture. The logical extension of this idea, which supports the rest of Altman’s argument, is that since theory alone cannot tell the whole truth of a genre without the insight gained from considering history, so too do his two other contradictions also fail to fully convey a genre when they do so from only one side.
To unequivocally prove not only that his two new categorizations of semantic and syntactic can successfully define a genre but also that the two elements need to be combined in order to optimally characterize genres, Altman uses the example of The Western. He explains both the semantic and the syntactic elements of this familiar genre, thus concretely clarifying his two categories while also proving that they can sufficiently define a genre. However, he then cites the problematic subcategory of the “Pennsylvania western” which has clear “affinities” with the western genre but lacks some of the established semantic requirements. In a succinct affirmation of his dual theory, Altman neatly removes the “problem” of this exception by removing the mono-ideological approach; combining semantic and syntactic definitions means sacrificing neither wide applicability nor the identification of meaning and the “Pennsylvania” films can be thus unproblematically grouped within the Western genre where they belong (11).
From this rather convincing example, Altman clearly and systemically returns to his original three stated contradictions to show in each how the application of his semantic/syntactic theory adroitly solves the problems posed by a faithful adherence to just one ideology. Thus, by neatly aligning his dual approach with the two means of defining a genre’s corpus and by making it clear that the use of only one such definition ignores the complexity, individuality and varying “levels of genericity” of each film text, Altman proves that his dual approach offers a “more accurate description” of genre. Secondly, he forgoes the synchronic division between genre theory and history that he so clearly disapproves of and offers his own “working hypothesis” of the two paths of generic historical development, in relation to his chosen semantic and syntactic categories: “either a relatively stable set of semantic givens is developed through syntactic experimentation into a coherent and durable syntax, or an already existing syntax adopts a new set of semantic elements” (12). This not only reaffirms the fact that genres change and proves the previ
ในปี 1984 ริค Altman ได้ออก "เกา" itch ว่า อ้างว่า ไม่มีใครทำงานในด้านการวิจารณ์ภาพยนตร์ประเภทประจักษ์ใจได้ (6) ในเรียงความของเขา "A Semantic/Syntactic วิธีการฟิล์มประเภท" เขาอ้างว่า ฟิลด์เป็น befuddled กับความไม่แน่นอน ความสับสน และความขัดแย้งเนื่องจากมันขาดทฤษฎีเพียงพอ การหมายความว่าพอเชื่อมต่อความคิดเห็นแตกต่างกันซึ่งได้แล้ว stalemating ก้าวหน้าในการศึกษาแนวความ โชคดี Altman เองมีปัญหา ทฤษฎีรวมกันซึ่งเขาอ้างว่า จะ ซึ่งแตกต่างจาก semiotic และ structuralist วิธีเขาเมืองไทย diachronically พิจารณาบริบททางประวัติศาสตร์ในขณะที่ความคิดเห็นที่แตกต่างกันของฟิลด์การกระทบยอด ในเรียงความของเขา Altman ห้องแสดงทฤษฎีความหมาย/ทางไวยากรณ์ของเขานำเสนอ การรวม dualistic วิธี อย่างแก้กันก็มีปัญหาที่เขาอธิบายจะขัดขวางการศึกษาประเภท เชื่อว่า วิธีการดังกล่าวจะเสริม "จุดอ่อนของกำลังปัจจุบันของประเภท" ขณะเลี้ยง "หลายคำถามที่ทฤษฎีอื่น ๆ ได้สร้างพื้นที่ไม่" ยังบันเทิงทั้ง สามชุด (6, 17)เรียงความของ Altman เป็นเยี่ยมยิ่งจัด ตรงไปตรงมา และ ชัดเจน เขาสร้างไม่มั่นใน (อะไรถูกแล้ว) ประเภทปัจจุบันศึกษา และอุปมาแสดงทฤษฎี proffered ของเขาแก้ไขที่ขาด ในเสียงสนทนาพอ และ มีตัวอย่างแสดงวิธีการ Altman เริ่มสรุปสามหลัก "กันก็" ซึ่งเขาอ้างว่า ภัยพิบัติประเภทวิจารณ์เนื่องจากว่า พวกเขาดูเหมือน oppositional เห็นมีพื้นทั่วไปไม่ได้ หรือแบบยอมรับข้อกำหนดของประเภท และเนื่องจากไม่ rapprochement ระหว่างทั้งสองฝั่งยังได้ก่อตั้งขึ้น ฟิลด์ทิ้งไว้ถูกแบ่ง irreconcilably และ bereft ของการทฤษฎีแนวทางควบ (6) ประการแรก Altman อธิบายว่า ได้เดียวตกลงตามกำหนดของประเภทสถานีเรืออากา ซึ่งสามารถกำหนด โดยการรวมหรือวิธีการพิเศษเลือก ขึ้นอยู่กับตำแหน่งของคุณ รายการรวม เช่นจะพบในสารานุกรมการ กำหนดประเภทในรู้สึกกว้าง tautological ในขณะที่แคนนอนพิเศษจะถูกกำหนด โดยคุณสมบัติของนามธรรมมากขึ้น ในประเภทหลังนี้ คำจำกัดความได้ตาม "ความพยายามสู่ความหมายโดยรวมหรือโครงสร้างของประเภท" และมีแนวโน้มที่ ซ่อนภาพยนตร์ที่นักวิจารณ์รู้สึกอย่างใด "หมายถึงประเภทเพิ่มเติมเต็ม" (7) ทั้งสองประเภทนี้กำหนดที่สุดสอดคล้องกับของ Altman สองทางไวยากรณ์ และความหมายแนวทาง ตามลำดับ และทฤษฎีของเขาเสนอดัง unites ชื่อสองและชนิดที่สองของคำนิยามที่เขาแสดงที่นี่จะแตกต่างกัน contradictingly และ competinglyAltman’s second contradiction pertains to genre history and theory and the apparent, or at least accepted, incompatability of the two schools. Clearly favoring a diachronic, historical and developmental view of genre, Altman briefly explains the synchronic, ahistorical semiotic approach that has dominated genre studies from the 1960’s until the 1980’s when he is writing. He posits that such thinking tends to conceive of genres in terms of timeless Platonic ideals and completely ignores their historical development as well as the very fact that they do develop and evolve. This section of Altman’s argument becomes a little muddled in his eagerness to discount such a synchronic view while also trying not to bog down his relatively direct and concise essay with burdensome theory and history. Still, the fact that genres do develop over time, as do genre theories themselves, as Altman illustrates, seems a simple enough truth upon which to accept his assertion that the theory of genre should consider history rather than exist in diametric separation from it, as he claims is currently the case with this second contradiction.ประการ Altman เปรียบเทียบเรียกว่าพิธีกรรมวิธีประเภทวิธีอุดมการณ์ อธิบาย พวกเขาต้องการรวม และเฉพาะข้อกำหนด และวิธีเช่นประเภททฤษฎีและประวัติศาสตร์ มีการแสดงเป็น ตรงกันข้าม เข้าตำแหน่งที่ แล้วออกจากฟิลด์ประเภทวิจารณ์ ด้วยหลักสูตรไม่ชัดเจนการศึกษาต่าง ๆ เขาเขียนที่วิธีพิธีกรรม อันเนื่องมาจากของ Levi-Strauss ตรวจสอบบทบาทของตำนานในประเภท หลักคุณลักษณะตัวแทนที่ดีที่สุดเพื่อผู้ชม ผู้รับภาพยนตร์ที่พวกเขาต้องการดู และดันดัง ฮอลลีวูดเพื่อรองรับความต้องการของพวกเขา บนมืออื่น ๆ แนวทางอุดมการณ์ปฏิเสธแทนผู้ชมทั้งหมด และอธิบายประเภทเป็นเพียงพาหนะในฮอลลีวูด สำนวนเป็นของตน "เพื่อล่อ" ผู้ชมใน และจัดการสำหรับตนพาณิชย์ไม่สนคำครหา (9)After thus clearly establishing three sets of contradictions, three sets of theoretical binaries, Altman calls for a theory that will not only consider historical context, but will also, without denying any of these past positions, offer a “critical methodology which encompasses and indeed thrives on their inherent contradictions” (10). His proposed semantic/syntactic theory here offers a “dual approach” whose “slash” component promises to resolve the seemingly insurmountable fissures he just established by combining their contradictory view points (12). In categorizations that parallel those of the inclusive and exclusive canons of genre, Altman differentiates between genres defined by their semantic elements and those by their syntactic organization. Semantic definitions, he explains, use “a list of common traits, attitudes, characters, shots, locations, sets,” i.e. the genre’s “building blocks themselves.” Syntactic definitions, on the other hand, stress the “constitutive relationships between undesignated and variable placeholders,” or the “structures into which [the building blocks] are arranged” (10).Altman’s entire semantic/syntactic argument is predicated upon his belief in a diachronic approach to the study of genre, or of any text. Most clearly introduced in the context of his second stated contradiction, Altman directly asserts the need for such an approach throughout his essay while also indirectly confirming its validity and necessity through the inclusion of examples which reveal the historical developments of genre. For instance, he outlines the development of the musical in which the original use of music to melodramatically convey sorrow later developed into associations with the joy and pleasure of “coupling, the community and entertainment” (13). Also, in establishing the contradiction between genre theory and history, Altman indirectly describes the development of genre theories themselves, explaining the way in which previous citations of the industry’s own generic terms were suspiciously replaced by a “self-conscious critical vocabulary” after the work of semiotics rose to popularity (7). Furthermore, aware of the change and evolution of not only genres but ideas of theory as well, Altman consciously avoids the trap of synchronicity by historically situating his own semantic/syntactic theory as a response to the dominating influence of semiotics over the twenty years before he is writing, as one more step in the history of genre theory. By thus conveying that historical development does occur, in genres as well as in theories, Altman cleverly shows all of these single-theory approaches, each half of his three “contradictions,” to be inherently incapable of explaining a genre’s big picture. The logical extension of this idea, which supports the rest of Altman’s argument, is that since theory alone cannot tell the whole truth of a genre without the insight gained from considering history, so too do his two other contradictions also fail to fully convey a genre when they do so from only one side.To unequivocally prove not only that his two new categorizations of semantic and syntactic can successfully define a genre but also that the two elements need to be combined in order to optimally characterize genres, Altman uses the example of The Western. He explains both the semantic and the syntactic elements of this familiar genre, thus concretely clarifying his two categories while also proving that they can sufficiently define a genre. However, he then cites the problematic subcategory of the “Pennsylvania western” which has clear “affinities” with the western genre but lacks some of the established semantic requirements. In a succinct affirmation of his dual theory, Altman neatly removes the “problem” of this exception by removing the mono-ideological approach; combining semantic and syntactic definitions means sacrificing neither wide applicability nor the identification of meaning and the “Pennsylvania” films can be thus unproblematically grouped within the Western genre where they belong (11).From this rather convincing example, Altman clearly and systemically returns to his original three stated contradictions to show in each how the application of his semantic/syntactic theory adroitly solves the problems posed by a faithful adherence to just one ideology. Thus, by neatly aligning his dual approach with the two means of defining a genre’s corpus and by making it clear that the use of only one such definition ignores the complexity, individuality and varying “levels of genericity” of each film text, Altman proves that his dual approach offers a “more accurate description” of genre. Secondly, he forgoes the synchronic division between genre theory and history that he so clearly disapproves of and offers his own “working hypothesis” of the two paths of generic historical development, in relation to his chosen semantic and syntactic categories: “either a relatively stable set of semantic givens is developed through syntactic experimentation into a coherent and durable syntax, or an already existing syntax adopts a new set of semantic elements” (12). This not only reaffirms the fact that genres change and proves the previ
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