This document discusses genres in film. It defines genre as a system of symbols or themes that allow audiences to recognize certain expectations within a style, like westerns being associated with cowboys and desert landscapes. Genres can be flexible and combine elements, like Terminator 2 blending science fiction and human/robot themes. Common film genres mentioned include science fiction, horror, comedy, action, war, and western. Science fiction is described as future-oriented and dystopian. Horror uses dark settings and sudden scares. Comedy genres vary but Dumb and Dumber exemplifies stupid humor.

1. Genres
Category
Type

2. Genre
A genre is a system of signs/
symbols/ themes by which a
genre is recognised by, for
example Western is typically
known as having cowboy hats,
horses, mountains or deserts,
Indian cowboys or gunfighters in
‘Taming the West’
• A genre can contract between
the audience and film-makers.
Audiences build up ‘generic
memory’ and can anticipate
things happening- so the
director can play on this.

3. Type of genres
• Science Fiction
• Horror
• Comedy
• Action
• War
• Western
• Romance
• Tragedy
• Musical

4. Sci-Fi
Terminator 2
Genre boundaries can be flexible and
you can get genre hybrid, for example
Terminator 2. This film is:
Part Sci-Fi
Part human, part robot
Indestructible
Scans people
Time travels (teleports)
Science fiction can be described as:
Dystopian
Future

5. Horror
Annabelle
Horror genres can range form lots of
different things, such as:
Dark settings
Sudden scares
The way in which it is filmed
For example in Annabelle, the man
character is a doll, which can move and
haunts people, this can also be described
as Sci-Fi, since the doll is able to move
and do things on its own, without any
assistance.
Horror can be described as
Dystopian

6. Comedy
Dumb and Dumber
Comedy genres have very flexile
boundaries, because there are lots of
different kinds of comedy, like dark
comedy, or sarcastic, which can be set
on most settings.
In Dumb and Dumber, the comedy could
be classed as stupid, since the setting is
all over and the actors are funny and
stupid throughout.