Genre Investigation

1. Kat Scott

2. Genre is the term for a style or category of film. Genres are formed
by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented
and the use of old ones are discontinued.
Typical genre conventions in the modern world change very often.
This is mainly down to audiences becoming bored and film
institutions competing for the ‘scariest’ horror film. Genre texts
would become very boring if they stuck to the same stereotypical
conventions all the time which would sooner or later result in
audiences no longer wanting to consume them. By genre
conventions changing all the time it allows film institutions to
compete against each other and make more money.

3. Charaudeau & Maingueneau : The genre theory of Charaudeau & Maingueneau states that
genre can be determined through four different analytic conceptualizations. They state
that genre is determined by its: Linguistic function, Formal traits, Textual organization and
Relation of communicative situation to formal and organisational traits of the text.
Rick Altman: Argues genres are usually defined in terms of media language or certain
ideologies and narratives.
Miriam Hanson: in “Pleasure, Ambivalence, Identification: Valentino and Female
Spectatorship” (1984) put forth the idea that women are also able to view male characters
as erotic objects of desire. In "The Master's Dollhouse: Rear Window," Tania Modleski
argues that Hitchock's film, Rear Window, is an example of the power of male gazer and the
position of the female as a prisoner of the "master's dollhouse".
All three theorists are examples of how codes and conventions help audiences to determine
the genre of a film.