Another example is a Stetson hat which is a vital part and icon to western films. Edward Buscombe proposed “we can tell the difference between genres by the icons” certain sets, costumes, props, performers and music immediately signify which genre the film, Hugh Grant is almost always a character in romantic comedies.
Genre is a set of rules that make un-predicable events and unimaginable happenings become reality. For instance horror films over time developed certain knowable characteristics which the audience began to recognize. These characteristics slowly developed into codes and conventions. The film makers would encode the recognizable conventions and the audience decodes the conventions enhancing the audience’s satisfaction. An example would be of the early thriller ‘Psycho’ the music played when the character was stabbed; the piercing music became a recognized link with thriller films and is known worldwide. Repetition and difference in films has helped the audience acknowledge codes of genres and has helped develop audience pleasure, ensuring the audience return to the cinema allowing the filmmakers to communicate with the audience in future films.
Although there are codes and set rules for genres that are usually followed when making films, some film makers don’t play it safe, and steer away from the set characteristics of the genre ,that the audiences know so well and can experience pleasure when decoding . But films that stray away from the conventions of genre have worked, so this makes me think is genre and iconic codes that appeal to the audience so vital to developing genre and making a box office hit.
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