This document discusses genre theory in media. It defines genre as a category that media texts are placed in due to conventions and characteristics. Examples of genres include romance, horror, sci-fi, thriller, action, and fantasy. Genres sort media texts so audiences know what to expect. Audiences can develop preferences for certain genres. Genres are dynamic and evolve over time rather than being static systems. Consistent elements within genres include mise-en-scene, narratives, characters, production companies, personnel, sound design, and editing style. Genres allow audiences to choose what media to consume to fulfill certain pleasures like emotional, visceral, and intellectual responses.

1. Genre Theory

2. What is genre?
A genre is the category a media text is placed in due
to the presence of certain conventions and
characteristic.
Examples of genres are:
• Romance
• Horror
• Sci-fi
• Thriller
• Action
• Fantasy

3. Barry Keith Grant
Media texts are sorted into categories (genres)
so that audiences can easily identify them and
know what to expect.
Audiences can then develop a liking for a certain
genre and delve deeper into it.

4. Steve Neale
Neale argues that genres are processes of
systemization rather than systems.
This is because they are dynamic and evolve
over time.

5. Things that are consistent within a
genre
• Typical mise-en-scene
• Typical types of narrative
• Generic characters
• Typical studios/production companies
• Typical personnel
• Typical sound design
• Typical editing style

6. Jason Mittel
Mittel argues that genres are cultural categories
that are sold by industries to audiences.
Familiar codes and conventions are used to
appeal to audiences and and relate to certain
references.
Genre allows audiences to choose what they
want to consume in order to fulfill certain
pleasures.

7. Rick Altman
Altman argues that there are several pleasures that
audiences use media texts to fulfill:
• Emotional pleasures – these are particularly
significant when they generate a strong audience
response
• Visceral pleasures – when a film’s stylistic
construction causes physical effects on the
audience
• Intellectual puzzles – these allow the audience to
solve them and feel a sense of accomplishment

8. Strengths of genre theory
• Everyone uses and understands it
• It can be applied across a wide range of texts
• It allows audiences to choose what they want
to consume
• It allows producers to choose what they want
to create in order to appeal to audiences

9. Christian Metz
Metz argues that genres go through a certain
process during their lifetime:
• Experimental stage
• Classic stage
• Parody stage
• Deconstruction stage

10. Music videos
Music videos are a medium with many sub-
genres.
They are a post-modern way of promoting music
and attaching a persona to the artist.
They often parody genres or recreate them.
The genre conventions stay the same but the
style changes throughout the different music
genres.

11. David Bordwell
‘Any theme may appear in any genre.’
For example:
• Teen angst
• Romance
• Nihilism
• Romance
• Coming of age rituals
• Tribalism
• Hedonism

12. David Buckingham
He states that genre is not given by the culture,
it is a process of negotiation and change.
Genres are not fixed – they change and evolve
over time.
For example, short films and music videos are in
the process of genre cross-over.