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Genre by Don Hertzfeld
Trailer for Young Dr. Kildare
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\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGenres are collections of conventions in storytelling in general and filmmaking in particular. Westerns, musicals, romantic comedies and horror films, to name just a few genres, all contain time-honored story elements, including standard scenes, casting choices, and plotlines, iconic shots, features of set design and scoring. Even particular camera lenses tend to be favored for particular genres. Conventions are heavily embedded in our culture—many even have their roots in Greek myth.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGenre conventions are important tools because they manipulate audience expectations. Without expectations about what you’re watching, surprise, suspense, and humor—the most basic elements of storytelling—would be impossible.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYou might think that genre conventions would get stale after awhile, and some scholars contend that we live in a post-genre era. But contemporary films and television don’t so much violate genres as bend and mix them for effect—they depend heavily on your knowledge of them.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t![\"A](\"images/content/Kildare2.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe actors and the film technology may have changed, but for all that, House and ER adhere to genre conventions laid down a long time ago in shows like Ben Casey and Medic. In fact, some of the formulas they follow are even older than that. Many of the major story elements in contemporary medical shows were actually established before television in the 1930s as part of the Dr. Kildare film serials, and later radio programs of the same title.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe early MGM serials feature Lew Ayres as young Dr. Jimmie Kildare, and Lionel Barrymore (famous as Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life) as his older mentor, a hard driving, but brilliant “diagnostician.” The two work tirelessly together, saving lives and reeling off one-liners.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThat physicians, especially research-minded ones, should be heroes of the screen was far from inevitable. In the 1930s, science was just cementing its place in medicine, and many adults remembered a time when doctors let blood, prescribed quicksilver, and operated without antiseptic. The Kildare ethos triumphed amid a variety of other films offering darker interpretations of the medical profession—and plugged fee-for-service during a national debate over socialized medicine.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDr. Kildare heavily influenced the first medical television shows and the franchise itself was eventually adapted into a hugely popular TV show, starring Richard Chamberlain as Kildare and Raymond Massey as mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t![\"Poster](\"images/content/internes.jpg\" "\\"Poster")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOne convention started by Dr. Kildare that’s still faithfully followed today is the focus of medical dramas on student doctors. In Kildare, intrepid medical resident Jimmie Kildare was trained by Dr. Gillespie. Today, despite the fact that most real hospitals aren’t teaching institutions, nearly all the medical shows on the air—Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, House, ER—feature interns in lead roles and squeeze much of their appeal out of the interplay between medical residents and their mentors.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThere are a few reasons for this. For starters, when you’re making a show, you want the audience to sympathize with the hero. And the original filmmakers who invented Kildare figured that audiences would be more likely to sympathize with interns, who work long hours and live on subsistence salaries than with trained physicians whose wealth and status might suggest ulterior motives. In short, if you’re not in the medical business, you’re probably more likely to be able to see yourself in the shoes of the underdog.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSecond, medicine is a technical profession and medical dramas are filled with technobabble. Having a student and teacher on screen together means that when someone tosses off a tricky word, the audience has a proxy on screen who can stop the action and ask a question—“Hold on, what is a corpus callosotomy, anyway?” Or, even better, we can watch the mentor explain the action and terminology (to the student, of course) as it unfolds, all without stopping the plot.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t![\"A](\"images/content/gueststars.jpg\" "\\"A")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn 1932, MGM produced a hit film called Grand Hotel starring Greta Garbo and John Barrymore. The hotel in the film served as a plot device—a means of bringing together a bunch of interesting characters who probably wouldn’t meet each other under normal circumstances. This bit of stagecraft became a standard tool among screenwriters, to the point that the plot device is now called “the Grand Hotel.”\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn medical dramas, the hospital is the ultimate Grand Hotel. It serves as a device for bringing in a whole host of new guest stars on a weekly basis. This makes the cast of characters ultimately much larger than in other shows, which don’t make use of this formula. For instance, compare the number of guest stars from two of today’s popular television shows, both of which premiered in the same year:\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t| \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t | Guest Stars Since 2005* | \n\t\t\t\t\t\t
|---|---|
| Grey’s Anatomy | \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t636 | \n\t\t\t\t\t\t
| The Office | \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t243 | \n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t*Source: fancast.com\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOf course, there’s an apples-to-oranges aspect to this comparison. The shows are of different lengths, for instance, have different budgets and get different ratings. But the trend is still pretty robust across different kinds of shows. There are, however, other TV genres that use the Grand Hotel. Can you think of a few?\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t![\"Marcus](\"images/content/welby.jpg\" "\\"Marcus")
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIdealistic medical interns and their altruistic mentors quickly became stock characters. But by the early 1960s, many television genres were getting their first taste of the “antihero”—a type of stock character known for behaving brashly, breaking the rules, and taking matters into their own hands. And the medical drama was no exception: In 1961, ABC launched Ben Casey, of which we’ve already gotten a taste. The title character was a rude and arrogant physician who was tolerated by colleagues and patients mostly for his medical brilliance.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAround the same time, NBC premiered its television remake of Dr. Kildare, and the two shows became a sort of foil for one another. Vince Edwards played the bullish Ben Casey, while Richard Chamberlain took on the role of wholesome Dr. Kildare.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe stock character of the altruistic physician reached its extreme, however, with ABC’s Marcus Welby, M.D., which first aired in 1969. Robert Young played the title character, a saintly family doctor who rivaled Mary Poppins for well-meaning and efficiency.\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe “bad boy” TV physician is still around, too. Hugh Laurie is the latest medical antihero, playing the role of Gregory House on Fox’s House M.D. In general, however, both nice and naughty TV physicians have been portrayed as increasingly human and error-prone in recent decades. The doctors on ER, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scrubs all make mistakes. And House’s arrogance can get him into serious trouble. Today’s TV doctors are still well-meaning, but they’re no longer all-knowing.\n\t\t\t\t\t
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