Media Languages

Genre

 

Genre is a type of category or film. It is a way of classifying a film to help us to identify a film to help us to identify it so we can:

Create it e.g. for a director of a film

Choose it e.g. for a member of an audience

Understand it e.g. for a student of a film

Some different genres and a movie from each

Science fiction – Star Trek,

Horror – The Conjuring

Romantic Comedies – Love Actually

Thriller – Leon

Action – Die Hard,

Western – The Good the Bad the ugly 

 Adventure – Indiana Jones

Gangster – American Gangster      

Fantasy – Narnia the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe

War – Saving Private Ryan

Three types of genre

Major genre

A dominant, important category, it should be obvious and easy to define

Subgenre

A minor category or subdivision that is closely related to its major genre by being a specific type in its own right, e.g. James Bond films

Hybrid genre or generic hybrid

Combination of major genres that sometimes creates another type of type of film e.g. horror/western

How do we recognise genre?

We identify genre by looking at:

Generic and conventions – these are signifiers that have been established through time and should be recognised in the mise-en-scene, the characters and the storyline

Signifiers are the physical aspects that we see or hear in a film, such as the clothes or props. We interpret these signifiers to create meaning.

The mise-en-scene is that which we see in the frame of the film – it is that which is ‘put into’ the picture. So this would include the set, the props, the costumes, and the landscape in the world of the film.

Genre	Western	Gangsters	Sci-fi	Horror	Choice: Action
What we see	Tumbleweed, old western town, guns	Suits, Casino, Clubs, Guns, Hats, and Drugs	Space, Space ship	Blood, gore, haunted houses	Cars, explosions, weapons
What we hear	gun shot	Casino noises, gun shots	Space ship noises	Screaming, scratching	Car engines, weapons going off
Typical Characters	Outlaw, Cowboys, Bandits, Native Americans, Law abiding citizens, salon girl, sheriff	Club owner, Casino owner, Mob owner, Mob members	Captain, Commander, Aliens, command crew	Female victim, hero, non-believer, ghost, villain, victim	Hero, Heroine, hero’s ally, villain, villain’s ally
Typical Storyline	main character goes after bandits/outlaw and wins	Someone owns the gang leader something	Humans in space, usually in the future, fix crisis’s	Family moves into new house, it’s haunted, get terrorised, someone dies, hero saves the day	Villain attacks something, hero tries to stops him, villain gets heroine, hero saves the day
Themes Moral Ideas	Revenge, Good over bad	revenge	Adventure, good over bad	revenge	Good over bad, revenge
Examples	The Good the Bad the Ugly	Gangster Squad, Godfather	Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5	The Conjuring	Die Hard 1-5, Under Siege 1-2