Genre Busting: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'': a [[Sci-Fi]] high school comedy with [[Slice of Life]] elements and episodes that play around with other genres ([[Music Stories]], [[Detective Drama]], [[Standard Starship Scuffle]], etc.) <!-- I've watched it three times and read the books, and I don't see why. Explanation, please? -Robkelk, with the Mod hat off -->

* The dearly departed [[Satoshi Kon]] made his career out of this. Most of his films have strange or unconventional premises.

* ''[[Berserk]]'' is a [[Dark Fantasy]] series with [[Cosmic Horror Story]] undertones, but The Golden Age Arc - several volumes long flashback in the middle of the series - is a [[Low Fantasy]] that's very close to [[Historical Fantasy]], while still having some small elements of [[Dark Fantasy]]. And main character escaped from [[Heroic Fantasy]].

 

* ''[[Watchmen]]'': a [[Film Noir]] [[Raygun Gothic]] [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] / [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] / [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|Dark Age]] [[Sci Fi]] [[Cyberpunk]] [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|Political]] [[Alternate History]] [[Deconstruction]] of superheroes that ''invented'' half the tropes used by modern comics, and quite a few others besides. Phew.

* ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'' is a [[Funny Animal]]s comic book that follows all the conventions of the classic [[The Epic|Epic]]—a truly modern epic.

* ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]''. At first blush, it's a pretty standard samurai story. Albeit one starring an anthropomorphic bunny. Then the ghosts and ghouls start showing up, then it veers into a pure detective story, then slice-of-life, almost [[Edutainment]], in/about Shogunate Japan, and even tragedy raw enough to draw tears. It's an interesting series.

 

* ''[[Casablanca]]'' is a classic example, proving that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]. It's equal parts romance, [[Film Noir]], spy thriller, and war drama, though the romance portion tends to be remembered the most.

* ''[[Sucker Punch]]'' is a [[Mind Screw]] that's [[All Just a Dream]] except you're not sure just whose dream it is with an [[Imagine Spot]] inside an [[Imagine Spot]] mixing together over the top action sequences reminiscent of every anime and video game you've ever seen, the fifties, and [[Bedlam House]] escape drama. It defies genre.

* ''[[Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire]]'' is a comedy-horror sports-drama musical about a snooker-playing vampire.

 

* [[Literary Fiction]] is expected to not fit into a particular genre. Certain academics who regard [[Lit Fic]] as [[True Art]] are guilty of looking down on works that don't engage in Genre Busting.

* William Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]]'' combines elements of film noir, mystery, pul science fiction and an emphasis on technology to create what is now known as [[Cyberpunk]] . It is now seen as the [[Trope Maker]] of the genre, and depending on who you ask, the [[Trope Codifier]] as well.

 

 

* ''[[Tokusatsu]]'' can do this.

* ''[[Lost]]'', while also being a [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[Noughties Drama Series]], started off with what can best be described as a clean slate since [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot|the plot was so heavily shrouded in mystery]]. This allowed the writers to construct a story that would include tropes from... well... Pretty much everything.

 

 

* [[The Damned]]: Late 70s British [[Punk]] band turned [[Progressive Rock]]/[[Gothic Metal|ProtoGothic]] (before it was even known as "gothic") in the early to mid-80s, with use of early electronic instruments. Cites influence from many different genres, and has a singer who dresses like a vampire and sings like a pub crooner.

* [[Queen]]: Both individual songs and their discography as a whole.

 

 

* When you get right down to it, ''[[Lio]]'' is like nothing else in America. The closest it gets to "normal" is when it emulates ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', but it's just as likely to resemble a Victorian morality fable mixed with [[Surreal Horror]].

* When ''[[Candorville]]'' began, it essentially was to ''[[Doonesbury]]'' what ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' is to ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', albeit with far more black people. As time passes, however, the [[Non Sequitur Scene]]s not only have gotten more frequent, but seem to have stopped being [[Non Sequitur Scene]]s and become canon. At the same time, in what seems to be an unrelated process, the previously unimportant character of Saxon Kenchu set up a comedic horror plot that has been declared to be his insanity, then declared actually true, then declared to be the main character's insanity, then indicated to be true after all, with no end in sight.

 

 

* [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]: At the time, all operas were written in the Italian style (except the French, which were seldom performed outside France). There were two types of opera: Opera Seria (dramatic) and Opera Buffa (comedic). Mozart was one of the first composers to blur the lines between the two styles, incorporating hilarious comedy into dramas and compelling drama into comedies. He even took this a step further, inventing the concept of "German Opera" with ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' (and to a lesser extant, ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'').

** Even [[Don Juan|Don Giovanni]], an Italian opera written in an essentially classic form and style, shatters conventional dramatic structures. There's no hero, the [[Anti-Hero]] Jerkass protagonist(?) dies, the alpha couple doesn't get married, and one of the few sympathetic characters is too weak-willed to do anything but be a menial serf to some other entitled creep. Neither tragedy nor comedy, it's just sorta ''there''.

 

 

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' doesn't care if the tropes it uses are from Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, or whatever, as long as they make the setting [[Darker and Edgier]].

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' combines Tolkenesque fantasy with Classic [[Cyberpunk]].

 

 

* ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' was the first play to combine the idea of comedies and tragedies. In a typical comedy, there are young lovers who live [[Happily Ever After]]. In a typical tragedy, there are political figures and families that feud and kill people. All of this happens in ''Romeo and Juliet''. [[Dissimile|Except]] [[Downer Ending|the happily-ever-after part.]]

* There is a classic story about the first two productions of ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'' by [[Anton Chekhov]]. The first production was very sad and melancholic, and the audience left the theater deeply moved. The second production? The audience was laughing so hard the walls shook. So which is it, comedy or tragedy? None can say (though [[Word of God]] claims comedy).

 

 

* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' is damn near impossible to classify into any genre: the open-world-ish exploration segments contain no puzzles or combat, while the [[Colossus Climb|Colossus battles]] are equal parts puzzling and climbing, and there's never any definitive or enduring rule as to how to approach the Colossi, other than 'stab the weak point'.

* ''[[Katamari Damacy]]''. Apart from those who call it ''Bubbles'' {{smallcaps|as a 3D platformer!}}, trying to fit this series into a genre is an exercise in futility and [[Mind Screw]].

* ''[[The Binding of Isaac]]'' is certainly a [[Religious Horror]] and [[Survival Horror]] as far as the story is concerned, but exactly what ''type'' of game it is can be debated. Some say it's a [[Roguelike]] stealth game due to all the dungeons, while others say it's "twinstick shooter" due to the controls. Whatever the case, the gameplay can definitely be called ''unique''.

 

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' started out as simply a [[Fantastic Comedy]], then (while still keeping comedy a staple) started playing [[Genre Roulette]] with soap operatic drama, epic fantasy/science-fiction, spy stories, horror, film noir, and so on. However, thanks to the [[Continuity Snarl|constantly accumulating continuity]], story elements introduced while handling one genre will still be around when another genre takes the foreground, creating some weird combinations. Like sci-fi epic "Oceans Unmoving" having a lead character who's a [[Talking Animal]] that went to war with Santa Claus. Or the wacky adventure of "A Time for Hair-raising" drawing upon Torg's past as an action hero and Gwynn's past as a victim of [[Demonic Possession]]. Or the dark, brutal story told in "Fire and Rain" still having a [[Involuntary Shapeshifting|Zoe-gets-turned-into-a-camel]] gag.

** During a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARPmOwpyzLQ top 10 webcomics list] the youtuber found great difficulty describing just what Sluggy Freelance is about. By about halfway through he starts having fits. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPoA5qAHqFU Here's the Sluggy segment by itself.]

** Where do you even try to fit the aztec god of alcohol?

 

* For its first two chapters, ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'' is a musical, superhero [[Deconstruction]], romantic comedy [[Villain Protagonist|about a wannabe mad scientist supervillain]] and his attempts at gaining power (frequently detailed, of course, in his video blog). Then the last chapter ends {{spoiler|with elements of classic tragedy, the only remotely sweet and sympathetic character dying in the most gut-wrenching, Whedon-specialty way possible. The montage that follows, however, still includes some brutally funny moments}}.

* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', just like [[Battle Royale|the work that inspired it,]] is pretty much impossible to place in one genre. A class of students being abducted and forced to kill each other with very close attention to their personal experiences has led to a rather diversive mix of horror, action, romance and even comedy, all thanks to the multitude of different writing styles that occurs with so many authors in one place.

 

* ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'', one of the first sound cartoons.

* ''[[KaBlam!]]!'': Comedy/sci-fi/action/(and depending on the Henry and June short) romance