| Summary: | If film ia to be taurht in Jouth African secondary schools
as a katriculati(n subject, we need a viable cethod cl
teaching it. which must be media specific and appropriate
to the discipline. Genre film categories present numerous
teaching examples, because of their adherence to given
f o rm ulae and structural p a t ' e m : . A deconstruction o .
these films reveals that the narrative content of an
individual genre film is scv ifically organised around a
framework of binar. oppositions. These oppositions form the
basis for the structuralist model which can be used as a
tool for the critical analysis and discussion of musical
f 1 1 m s .
The argument between various critics and film theorists
about the 'h i g h b r o w • aestheticiam of film as an artistic
medium, and its function as 1 popular culture' has always
been volati le and is clouded by dogma, preconceptions and
prejudice. In recent y e a n , m a n y , like victor ierkins,
Jim Kitzes, .Stephen .. e a 1 n , .jtanlcy uolomon, . h oca s Scha v ^
and Colin ...cArthur have sought to debunk the notion c: an
'orthodox film t h e o r y ' and have upheld popular culture modes
as valuable and revealing. - ecauee although they adhere to
the constraints of a commercial film industry and a
definite entertainment function in society, many individual
genre films >re both c o m ; lex and artistic.
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