Account for the popularity of one genre of your choice. Illustrate your answer with examples. (June ‘03a)

Genre cycles: Reinvigoration
Copies
Sequels

‘Psycho’ (1960) was perhaps the first slasher to personify evil and create a real-life monster in Norman Bates.
Similarly ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974) and ‘Halloween’ (1978) did the same.
Pre-Psycho = villains of fiction and European myths e.g. vampires, were-wolves

‘Halloween’ (1978) reinvigorated the slasher genre for the 80s
The film was overly violent and relied on special effects and gore to engage the teenage audience. This shows the beginning of films relying more upon violence and visceral pleasure rather then narrative pleasure for the audience.

‘Scream’ (1996) revived the genre for the 90s after the sequel era of
A post-modern film gave the slasher genre a different edge. With explicit references to other slasher films the film appeals to older slasher fans who are aware of the ‘rules’ and makes the film more about the audience because they are the insiders who are aware of the slasher conventions.
References toward ‘Friday the 13th’ (1980), ‘Halloween’ and ‘Psycho’ (1960)

The social context of slasher films can account for the popularity:

The ‘Ed Gein’ murders inspired Tobe Hooper to create the 1974 original ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and also reflected the ‘blue collared workers’ redundancy.

‘Halloween’ reflected the ‘white flight’. The film moved away from the isolated house setting and moved into the sub-urban areas.

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (1984) was inspired by the death of 3 boys in their sleep and was the reason is was set within dreams.

Sequels
The sequel and franchise era of ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ accounts for the popularity of the slasher genre.
The successful narrative template (Neale, repertoire of elements), set by ‘Friday the 13th’, was the conventional narrative structure that proved to be popular amongst audiences (Rick Altman ‘before and after’). The films don’t end until the killer dies. Both films are first left with open-endings which easily allowed them to be continued.
‘Scream’ on the other hand, with a resolution, still came out with two more sequels, this due to its popularity and its reinvigoration of the genre.

Introduction
The slasher genre can perhaps be traced all the way back to the historical text ‘Psycho’ (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock and has been a genre that is popular amongst audiences. The ‘Halloween’ films reinvigorated the genre for the 80s and the sequels of ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ kept the genre going. The social context of the films can also account for the popularity and furthermore after the decline of the slasher genre, the 1996 post-modern slasher film ‘Scream’ by Wes Craven reinvigorated the genre again.