The document discusses three theories of genre: Metz's theory outlines four stages in a genre's development from experimental to classical to parody to deconstruction. Neale's theory states that audiences find pleasure in genres through a balance of repetition of conventions and the introduction of differences. Altman's semantic/syntactic theory describes genres as having conventions (semantic) that communicate to audiences and relationships between conventions and narratives (syntactic).

1. Genre Theories
Aaron Gemmell

2. Metz
• Metz’s theory states that a genre develops in 4 different
stages:
• Experimental- Where the genre is established and
experiments with different sceneries and scenarios.
• Classical- Developing the initial codes and conventions of
the genre.
• Parody- Introducing comedic elements to mock the codes
and conventions.
• Deconstruction- Selecting certain elements from different
genres to create a hybrid.

3. Neale
• Neale’s Movie Genre theory states that an audience
cannot find pleasure in a film without having both
repetition and different. The use of repetition causes
recognition within and audience and can be achieved
through the use of genre conventions. However the
different elements will create a new approach to the genre
which will be pleasing and refreshing for the audience to
see.

4. Altman
• Altman’s genre theory is the Semantic/Syntactic
approach.
• Semantic- The conventions that communicate the genre to
the audience in terms of characters, settings, props ect.
• Syntactic- The relations between these conventions and the
narrative of the genre.

5. References
• http://film.tamu.edu/PDFs/Syntactic%20Approach%20to
%20Film%20Genre.pdf
• https://prezi.com/3ewc87yoxddt/steve-neales-theory-of-
repetition-difference/
• http://applyingmetztheory.blogspot.co.uk/p/genre.html