What is Genre?

Genre is a way of classifying artistic products in to groups, particularly TV, movies, literature, video games and music. Examples of genres would be horror or thriller, for products such as TV, film and literature, and rock, pop or folk for music.

There are various elements that we can use to determine the genre of a film or TV programme. Mostly it is based upon their use of codes and conventions. For example, the use of mise-en-scene, camera work, editing, sound, as well as it's narrative structure and representation, are typical of certain genres. For instance, if a film is set in space and features extra terrestrial characters, it would indicate that the film was of the science fiction genre.

Genres are a practical way of organising and classifying texts into groups and it is a way that producers can engage their target audience, which is the key to a successful media product. Because genres are created by a combination of codes and conventions, we have certain expectations of particular genres and it is often the case that we are influenced by knowing the genre of a product when deciding whether or not we should consume it for we tend to prefer some genres over others.

However, there are problems associated with the concept of genres. Some film theorists feel that the concept of genre is restrictive and uncreative, the word 'generic' coined and a negative adjective by many film critics. Not only this, but the concept of defining a genre is pointless because they are constantly changing over time. A comedy released in 2018 would be completely different to one released at the very start of cinema, because the codes and conventions have evolved overtime as well as a difference in the relationship between the producers and the audience. There is also the issue that a lot of films don't fit into exactly one genre. However, their are such things called 'sub-genres' where a product can fall into a mixture of two or more genres. An example of a sub-genre would be an 'action comedy', which would encompass codes and conventions of both the action genre and the comedy genre.

Here are what some well known film theories have to say about the concept of genres:

John Fiske

“Genre attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convenience of both audience and producers.”

Fiske says that genre is a method of categorising media texts which are divided into categories based on common elements.

Jane Feuer

"Implies that works of literature, films and television programs can be categorised."

She simply states that genre is just a method of categorising media texts.

Dennis McQuail

"Genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and effectively and to relate its production to the expectation of its customers."

Sees the practical elements of classifying media texts by genre and how it can benefit both producers and consumers.

Daniel Chandler

"Defining genres may be problematic, but even if theorists abandon the concept, in everyday life people would still continue to categorise texts."

He is aware of the many problems surrounding the concept of genres, but accepts that it is only natural that we should put things into categories.

David Bordwell

"one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable."

Likewise, Bordwell agrees that it is inevitable that we should put media products into certain categorise but concludes that it is pointless to try and define what these genres are.

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