Rick Altman

Este estudo monográfico busca analisar a suposta permanência do gênero “chanchada” no cinema contemporâneo brasileiro. Em um primeiro momento, analisaremos os filmes estrelados por Xuxa Meneghel e Renato Aragão depois da retomada nos anos 1990 a partir de características geralmente atribuídas às chanchadas, a fim de investigar através de uma abordagem semântica/sintática se tais poderiam ser considerados continuidades do gênero. Posteriormente, em uma abordagem de viés pragmático, discutiremos o recente processo de generificação do termo “neochanchada”, seus diferentes usos e significados, enfatizando o papel do crítico na criação de terminologias genéricas no Brasil.

Palavras-chave: gênero cinematográfico; cinema brasileiro; televisão; neochanchada.

ABSTRACT

This study aims to analyze the supposed persistency of the chanchada genre in contemporary Brazilian cinema. First, we will analyze movies starred by Xuxa Meneghel and Renato Aragão after the “rebirth” of Brazilian cinema in the 1990s based on assumed semantic/syntactic features generally attributed to the chanchadas, in order to investigate if they could be considered continuities of the genre. Later, through a pragmatic approach, we will discuss the recent genrification process of the term neochanchada, its different uses and meanings, highlighting the role of the critic in the creation of generic terminologies in Brazil.

Keywords: film genre; Brazilian cinema; television; neochanchada.

In this paper I shall negotiate repetition of romantic encounters in following contemporary Holywood rom-coms: "High Fidelity", "13 Going On 30", "50 First Dates" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", as well as their narrative temporality and motives of memory and nostalgia. I shall analyze their convergence of nonlinear narrative structure toward melodrama and film noir through Rick Altman’s semantic/syntax model. I shall also negotiate the aforementioned rom-coms as modern equivalents of  “comedies of a remarriage”. In this paper I will negotiate contemporary nonlinear romcom narratives (High Fidelity; 13 Going On 30; 50 First Dates; and radically challenging Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) - deconstruction of a narrative temporality, motives of memory and nostalgia -  in an attempt to demonstrate that contemporary rom-com became considerably hybridized. It’s hybridization happened due to: 1. Converging it’s nonlinear narrative structure toward melodrama and film noir structure which intrinsic specific consists of exploiting memory leitmotif using flashbacks, 2. Disputing the very convention of happyend  (i.e. Eternal Sunshine, which possesses some of the rom-com tropes and at the same time a suggestive open ending),  3. Appropriating genre models and conditions of fantasy and science fiction (prominent in 13 Going On 30 as well as in Eternal Sunshine where memory is being literally erased from protagonist’s mind). In addition, I will negotiate  the aforementioned rom-coms as modern equivalents of  “comedies of a remarriage” (the term coined by Stanley Cavell). Finally, I will incorporate those rom-coms into postmodern romance myth which maintains itself in (eternal) ironic repetition of love encounters and elusive protagonists’ identity.

U ovom radu razmatram nelinearne narative savremenih holivudskih romantičnih komedija  (skrać. romkom):  "High Fidelity", "Danas 13 sutra 30",  "50 prvih poljubaca", kao i  radikalni "Večni sjaj besprekornog uma", njihovu dekonstrukciju narativne temporalnosti, motive sećanja i nostalgije, a sve u pokušaju da demonstriram da je savremeni romkom postao umnogome hibridizovan.
Hibridizacija ovog žanra dogodila se 1. Konvergencijom njegove nelinearne narativne strukture prema melodrami i žanru film noir čija se osobena struktura sastoji u eksploataciji lajtmotiva sećanja uz upotrebu flešbeka, 2. Problematizovanjem same konvencije happyenda (npr. u slučaju "Večnog sjaja besprekornog uma" koji poseduje neke od tropa karakterističnih za romkom ali istovremeno i sugestivni otvoren kraj), 3. Aproprijacijom žanrovskih modela i uslovnosti fantastike i naučne fantastike (dominantno u ostvarenju Danas 13 sutra 30  kao i u Večnom sjaju besprekornog uma u kojem se sećanje doslovno briše iz uma protagoniste). Koristeći teorijsku platformu Rika Altmana pokazujem da je romantična komedija doživela hibridizaciju i divergenciju žanra kroz semantičko-sintaksnu ravan, te se savremeni romkom pozicionira u preseku sintakse („rečeničnog sklopa“) melodrame i film noira, i semantike (gradivnih jedinica filmske priče) tzv.“otkačene“ komedije, skrubola.
Takođe,  razmatram i pomenute romkome kao moderne ekvivalente podžanrova kao što su „komedije ponovnog venčanja“ (vođena sintagmom Stenlija Kavela) i „priče o vezama“  (koje je definisao Robert Šamvej). Konačno, inkorporiram ove romkome u mit o postmodernoj romansi koji održava sam sebe u večnoj i ironičnoj repeticiji ljubavnih susreta izazvanoj kontinuiranim osećajem nostalgije, kao žaljenjem za nepovratnošću vremena.

The idea of André Bazin about the opposition between the spatial properties of cinema and the limits of the frame to the painting allows us to study, in this article, what is promoted by Alain Cavalier as space of contact between film and spectator in Libera me.

Bien que marginal, le cinéma de science-fiction a bien existé en République
Démocratique d’Allemagne jusqu’à la fin des années 1970. Développé dans le contexte
de production centralisé et politiquement contrôlé de la DEFA, les studios du cinéma
est-allemand, le genre cinématographique est utilisé par les autorités comme véhicule
au service de l’idéologie socialiste. En réutilisant un genre populaire comme la sciencefiction, la DEFA souhaite profiter de son potentiel spectaculaire populaire pour y
intégrer des messages propagandistes. Malgré une démarche peu délicate et un succès
qui n’est pas au rendez-vous, la production de quatre films s’inspirant de l’esthétique
des Space Opera américains mène à la création de nouveaux codes du genre. En partant
de ces codes et de sa propre idéologie, la RDA porte à l’écran ce qu’elle appelle le film du
futur socialiste, la projection du futur au cinéma pour laquelle la science-fiction semble
le représentant parfait. Au lieu de faire disparaître la notion de genre, le film du futur
socialiste s’intègre à celui-ci pour développer une nouvelle déclinaison de
caractéristiques esthétiques, narratives et discursives uniques qui composent ce que je
nomme dans ce mémoire, le Peace in Space.

My thesis is an investigation into the period of history surrounding the introduction of synchronised sound to film. The intention is in part to redress the current position that sound practice and theory holds in film today, but also to discover a method for understanding film as an audiovisual medium; ontologically necessitating an interplay between sound and image. Prioritising sound is not the intention of this thesis, as to do so would negate the ability to understand film as both sound and image. Theoretical concepts from the deconstructionist philosopher, Jacques Derrida, are appropriated to create a new model that can be used for film analysis. This model attempts to treat film as audiovisual, and uncover specifically, a way in which sound and image can be understood and examined together, resulting in a proliferation of available readings and meanings from the film text. Two ‘transitional’ films from 1927, The Jazz Singer, and Sunrise, along with synchronised sound tests fr...

This essay concerns itself with the myriad ways in which the voice-over gets interwoven with other sounds within the final soundtrack of a film, and variety of reactions these elicit from the audience as auditors as well as viewers. Focusing on a few selected films like

The article examines how Death Proof (Tarantino, 2007) subverts both gender and genre by mixing several genres (the slasher, the car movie, the buddy movie) generally considered to be male, either at the diegetic level (e.g. the main characters) or at the level of reception (i.e. the target audience). The film's play on gender and genre, which is clearly based on the idea that film genres are gendered, is, then, enabled by the very discursivity of these norms. The article also shows how Tarantino took into account feminist film theory, namely Carol Clover and Laura Mulvey, when making Death Proof, suggesting that film genre, for Tarantino, is not so much a matter of corpus as of discourses, including both texts and context, production and reception; the film's visual effects underline, for instance, what Rick Altman calls the “pragmatic” dimension of film genre. The author comes to the conclusion that Death Proof could be considered a hybrid, a horror-car-buddy movie “for gi...

Sind derzeit Filmmusicals erneut auf dem Vormarsch? Diese Arbeit möchte ihren Beitrag zum Erkenntnisgewinn hinsichtlich des zeitgenössischen Filmmusical-Genres leisten. Mittels einer Untersuchung der verschiedenen Herangehensweisen an das zeitgenössische Filmmusical wird sich der Frage gewidmet, ob sich Filmmusicals nach aktuellem Stand bewähren und auch in Zukunft Anklang beim allgemeinen Kinopublikum finden können.

Ausgewählte Beispiele: La La Land von Damien Chazelle, Begin Again von John Carney und Hard Way – The Action Musical von Daniel Vogelmann.