Genre Theory:
A genre is a type or category of a text. If you were to analyse a film in regards to its genre, you would not be analysing it individually, but by comparing it to other films of the same genre (or sub-genre). Films are them known to divide into sub-genres and hybrid genres - a combination of different genres or a mix. The iconography included in a film usually helps to distinguish its genre - for example a horror film would include knives and blood, with romance films featuring flowers and rings.
Barry Keith Grant: Sub-Genres
When media texts are categorised into sub-genres, Grant believes this allows audiences to identify a text specificallly through their familiar characteristics and iconography. Grant specifies that these sub-genres are catergorised through the mise-en-scene and the type of things that the audience expect and I want to see when they are viewing a particular genre or media text. The sub-genre can also be represented through the use of camera angles to give the audience a representation of the narrative and classification of the text. For example, extreme close ups may be used in a Young Adult Romance to portray the intense and overwhelming emotions that the characters may be experiencing, and to reflect these feelings onto the audience to make them more invested in both the narrative and characters themselves. Grant believes that this consequently results in an audience being able to specify and identity a sub-genre through the use of relevent characteristics throughout the text.
Here is an example of the different sub-genres one can find within the horror genre:
Here is an example of the different sub-genres one can find within the horror genre:
Steve Neale: Theory of Repetition and Difference
Steve Neale one stated that "Genre's are instances of repetion and difference", and that "difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre". Through this quotes, Neale is illustrating that a genre is typically defined by the stereotypes and conventions included in the media text and that a media text - films in particular - must conform to these stereotypes and characterisitcs enough that the audience are able to classify the text as that specific genre. He also clarifies that a genre is also designated through how much it subverts from its specific genre, and that it must do so enough that it is of its own individual and unique narrative, and not a clique or overally predictable. For example, whilst horror films may feature similar conventions in terms of camera angles and movements and sounds, they will feature some countertypes of characters in an attempt to keep the audience entertained and to prevent the film from becoming a clone of others within that genre.
Steve Neale one stated that "Genre's are instances of repetion and difference", and that "difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre". Through this quotes, Neale is illustrating that a genre is typically defined by the stereotypes and conventions included in the media text and that a media text - films in particular - must conform to these stereotypes and characterisitcs enough that the audience are able to classify the text as that specific genre. He also clarifies that a genre is also designated through how much it subverts from its specific genre, and that it must do so enough that it is of its own individual and unique narrative, and not a clique or overally predictable. For example, whilst horror films may feature similar conventions in terms of camera angles and movements and sounds, they will feature some countertypes of characters in an attempt to keep the audience entertained and to prevent the film from becoming a clone of others within that genre.
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