Key Concepts: Genre

Introduction

One of the aims of the course is to break down the immense scale of the media into a more comprehensible framework. So when you come to look at film, instead of just talking about ‘film’, we think in terms of the many different areas and things that make up the cinema. These are genres. So what makes up a comedy film? What is it that special about a thriller or horror?

What is genre?

Put simply, ‘genre’ means type. So you can have science fiction films, or horror novels, or news progammes. Genre is a useful idea because we learn to expect certain things; a film in the western genre would be disappointing if it didn’t have men on horses, just like a horror film that isn’t scary would be a let down.

Because audiences expect certain conventions to be followed in a particular genre, film makers can create surprize by not following the ‘rules’. For example, in a thriller what effect would the ‘bad guys’ winning have? Would it be popular with audiences, or would the satisfaction of consuming the genre be lost?

How to identify genre

As mentioned above, the conventions of a particular genre are important. This covers almost every aspect of construction. So you can tell film is of a particular genre by looking at: