A New Genre Arena? Questions of Genre in the Digital Age of Promotional Media

Abstract

This chapter examines how advertising materials of film and television do not simply advertise the “primary” text, nor do they offer “pure” industrial information; it argues that they serve a more complex purpose. As specifically created, stylized, and choreographed texts, promotional materials promote, amongst other things, specific generic features. These materials work to establish genre implications not only by opening up generic references but also by critically interrogating assumptions and ideas surrounding generic definitions. Although journalistic discourses and industrial advertising materials have been considered as significant to the genre identity of a movie or series, these older analyses could not take into consideration the many changes the digital transformation has brought on to media industries and marketing practices. Combining new approaches from media studies, productions studies, and promotional screen studies, the chapter emphasizes that these materials are not simple marketing tools but embedded in an ongoing digital transformation of media industries, to which they have become the primary mode of operation. Drawing explicit connections between these approaches and genre theory sheds new light on the long-standing intermediary role promotional media have for genre in the digital age. Through an analysis of different promotional materials, the chapter approaches the question how do promotional media “work” generic references and signifiers today and what effect do they have on our understanding of genre? The analysis includes promotional materials such as making-ofs, still photographs, and teasers associated with the series Bates Motel, Scream Queens and Killing Eve, which circulate across multiple digital platforms. By addressing their aesthetic, semiotic, and spreadable value as well as the industrial theorizing they perform, the analysis shows that promotional media not only appeal to the audience’s interest in genres but also negotiates genre on different levels. By using iconic references, a familiarity with specific generic worlds and a sense of irony, promotional media generate the generic significance of the associated primary text and sets specific viewing expectations.