{"id":1582,"date":"2017-04-24T23:48:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T03:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2017-04-24T23:48:39","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T03:48:39","slug":"death-of-genre-in-the-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/2017\/04\/24\/death-of-genre-in-the-digital-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of Genre in the Digital Age?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our last class discussion on the \u201cLandfill Legend\u201d article and the Atari E.T. video game, Dr. Sample briefly brought up the concept\u00a0of paracinema, specifically the idea of \u201cbad\u201d film. People discussed the entertainment value of bad movies or video games, and the idea of something being so ridiculously bad that it becomes good. I found it interesting to note that the \u201cLandfill Legend\u201d article mentions that people tend to not be as tolerant of bad video games as bad film. I was fascinated by the cult followings some bad movies have gained over the years, seemingly to the extent that intentionally bad film has become a sort of art form in itself. For me, the movie Sharknado<\/em> comes to mind as an example when I think of a cringe-worthily bad film that has gained an enthusiastic fanbase. Of course, these films can\u2019t just be simply bad, but a specific type of bad \u2013 usually involving self-awareness of its badness and irony. For example, I examined the movies Troll 2 <\/em>(1990) and its spinoff, the Best Worst Movie <\/em>(2009). I haven\u2019t seen either of these films in their entirety, but Troll 2 <\/em>is often considered one of the worst movies ever made of all time. The Best Worst Movie<\/em> was directed by Michael Stephenson, one of the child stars in Troll 2<\/em>, and is a documentary about the making of Troll 2<\/em>, acknowledging the film as infamously bad.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Troll 2 Movie Poster<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Best Worst Movie Poster<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you compare the ratings between this film and Troll 2<\/em>, you\u2019ll see that while the original film received atrociously low ratings, the documentary received quite positive reviews. This made me think about the question of what makes a film \u201cgood.\u201d And if a bad movie can become good, is there even distinct criteria? In modern cinema, with the rise of experimental film and film that can\u2019t quite be placed into categorical boxes, there seems to be not only a blurring of the distinction between high art and low art, but between genres as well. Many previously recognizable genres have died out over time \u2013 i.e. the old western, film noir, etc. Now, in the era of the Internet, the accessibility of all kinds of film has made genre virtually infinite. There are now subgenres, and even subgenres within those subgenres \u2013 and the rise of parody, fanfiction, and remix culture. Sure, paracinema can be considered a genre of film, like any other, but it makes me wonder if the idea of genre overall is dying out as we progress into the digital age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our last class discussion on the \u201cLandfill Legend\u201d article and the Atari E.T. video game, Dr. Sample briefly brought up the concept\u00a0of paracinema, specifically the idea of \u201cbad\u201d film. People discussed the entertainment value of bad movies or video games, and the idea of something being so ridiculously bad that it becomes good. I … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Death of Genre in the Digital Age?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sightings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1585,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions\/1585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}