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Type of Genre Examples of Images Associated with Genre

Themes and Keywords Associated with Genre

Fantasy Magic/supernatural powers;

Creatures from/based on legends & folklore (fairies, dragons, unicorns etc);

The story may be set in the past, an imagined place that is based on past times, or an imagined place that combines the modern with the historical;

Adventures and quests;

Magical objects (often associated with ‘good’ or ‘evil’- such as the ring in The Lord of the Rings);

Surreal settings (the world seems ‘dreamlike’ or ‘nightmarish’.) It may be confusing in a disturbing or comical way. “Alice in Wonderland is a surreal children’s story”.)

Horror Frightening mood;

Tense/ suspenseful scenes;

A sense of mystery;

Bloody/gory imagery;

Lonely and/or underground settings (graveyards, deserted streets, cellars, boiler rooms, sewers etc);

Supernatural beings or people with evil/uncontrollable powers that cause harm;

Frightening and disturbing imagery;

Violence;

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Helpless or apparently weak/powerless victims;

The uncanny.

This is defined as ‘the unfamiliar in the familiar/ the familiar in the unfamiliar’- especially when this is disturbing and makes you feel, ‘spooked’ or frightened.

For example, a highly realistic mannequin that seems to be (or is mistaken for being) ‘alive’ is uncanny.

Psychological Thriller

This genre shares many of the same traits as horror.

However, most psychological thrillers do not have magical/supernatural themes or characters, and they may even be closely based on real life events.

Other common themes include:

a sense of confusion or ambiguity (something can be interpreted in more than one way);

In many cases, the reader/audience does not know whether a character is insane or if what s/he (the character) believes is happening is true:

“The ending of the novel is ambiguous because the reader still does not know whether the character is insane, or has an accurate perception of events”;

dangerous forms of insanity, such as psychopathy, cannibalism or a split personality in which the main personality is harmless, but the other personality is psychopathic;

a sense of uncertainty regarding which characters are safe/trustworthy and which are dangerous.

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Gothic Gothicism often shares similarities with horror and psychological thrillers.

Yet, as the Gothic Pictures website explains, gothic texts also tend to have strong romantic themes http://www.gothicpicturesintl.com/gothorhoror.html.

Alternatively, gothic narratives may encourage the reader/audience to feel sympathy for, or even like the antihero/ possible antihero (that is, a character that the reader/audience suspects might be an antihero.)

Although a narrative may include all three genres (horror, gothic & psychological thriller), gothic texts tend to be more subtle, suspenseful and mysterious.

Other themes/keywords may include: ‘dark’/’spooky’/disturbing imagery;

Wild and/or lonely landscapes and areas where nature cannot be controlled;

darkness and/or stormy weather;

frightening and dangerous forces of nature;

large houses or castles with few people living in them and/or secret/forbidden areas;

suggestions (hints) of madness/obsession;

actual ghosts, a fear of being haunted and/or ‘symbolic ghosts’ (memories of the past and strong fears);

motifs (recurring images and sounds) associated with death and/or religion, such as gravestones, crucifixes, churches and organ music.

feelings of claustrophobia (being enclosed/trapped.)

This may be physical and/or psychological (for

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example, someone is ‘haunted’ by the past or an unresolved and possibly disturbing mystery(http://www.gothicpicturesintl.com/gothorhoror.html);

The uncanny is also a particularly common theme in gothic narratives

Examples include ghosts, the ‘undead’ & characters who suddenly take on behaviours or the appearance of someone else.

Historical To state the obvious, historical fiction is set in the past.

Some historical texts were written during the time in which the author lived, while others were created at a later date about a previous era.

For example, Toni Morrison’s Beloved (see picture on the left) was written in 1987 but set between 1861–1865.

Alex Haley’s Roots describes the lives of his ancestors in a literary nonfiction style.

However, because Haley only knew about certain events in his ancestors’ lives, he invented other details to fill in the gaps in their stories.

Nonfiction Nonfiction narratives tell stories about real life events.

They may be autobiographies (the life story of the author), biographies (a person’s life story written by someone else) or memoires.

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Memoires tell stories about key events or a specific period of the author’s life.

For example, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth details the author’s experience of working as a midwife in a poverty stricken district of London in the 1950s.

Autobiographies and memoires are usually written in first person narrative (that is, telling the story using the words ‘I’ and ‘Me’.)

Realistic Fiction

Realistic fiction is often written in a similar style to nonfiction narratives and it may be difficult to tell the difference between the two genres.

Realistic fiction is about made up events, but the reader/audience could easily mistake this type of fiction for a real life account, because similar events ‘could happen’ in real life.

Romance Romance narratives tell the story of two people falling in love with one another.

Common themes include:

characters who initially dislike/argue with one another, but eventually fall in love (for example, Pride and Prejudice & Bride and Prejudice);

characters who are ‘just friends’ but eventually fall in love;

tragedy- one or both of the lovers die, leaving the other person heartbroken (Romeo and Juliet, Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela and Titanic);

unrequited love (one person romantically loves someone, but that person does not feel the same way);

Usually, the person in love will end up falling more deeply in love with someone else, or the person they love will

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eventually return their affections.

Another version of this theme is when two people fall in love, but other circumstances prevent them from staying together (for example, the main characters of Bridges of Madison County must part because Francesca is already married to a kind man with whom she has a family.)

ComedyThe purpose of comedy is to make the reader/audience laugh. Comedies often feature:

ridiculous and embarrassing situations;

Exaggerated versions of situations that people tend to fear/dread (for example, Meet the Parents);

childish and embarrassing conflicts between characters (sometimes characters who are/will fall in love);

satire (making fun of pointless/inappropriate social conventions and/or political situations, and inefficient authority figures (The Office);

parodies (a parody is similar to satire, but is usually based on a specific narrative, song or historical event.

Examples: the Key of Awesome songs on YouTube, the Scary Movie films and scenes from the Horrible Histories TV show.)

Tragedy These stories tend to make the reader/audience care about characters who will eventually die from a disease, the result of a disaster/accident, in a war and/or by being murdered etc. Alternatively, the character is left permanently damaged.

Tragedies often include disasters or Romeo and Juliet style narratives.

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Examples: Titanic, Sholay, Everest & Pearl Harbour.

Tragicomedy This genre incorporates strong elements of comedy and tragedy.

For instance, the narrative may be largely comical until a tragic ending. Examples: My Girl and Thelma and Louise.

Science Fiction

Fiction that uses real or imaginary scientific discoveries or advanced technology as part of their plot.(www.dictionary.com/browse/science-fiction)

Science fiction is usually set in the future or a technologically advanced world/society.

It might feature:

inventions or scientific knowledge that are more advanced than we currently have;

aliens (people or beings from other planets);

dystopias (where people are usually unhappy and/or afraid because they are not treated fairly);

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dystopia)

using technology or scientific knowledge to travel through space and/or time;

machines that behave like humans and humans that behave like machines;

Nature behaving in an ‘unnatural’ way and against the known laws of science.

Drama Dramas usually feature powerful and harrowing* events that could happen in reality. They often emotional journeys and

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relationships that have a deep impact on the major characters.

They may also feature:

criminals and crime activities; crisis situations; danger; false accusations and/or miscarriages of

justice**; abusive, exploitative and/or oppressive

situations.

(adapted from https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/drama )

* Harrowing- extremely upsetting because connected with suffering (definition: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/harrowing ) ** Miscarriage of justice- somebody is unfairly punished for something they have not done.

Additional Notes

Please note that, even if a text mostly belongs to a specific genre, it will generally include elements from other genres.

For example, a fantasy film might also include a romance and some comedy. Similarly, a realistic

fiction novel might include some gothic-like scenes (such as a character feeling alone and afraid in

a dark and deserted house)- even though there are no supernatural characters/themes in the

story.

Narrative = the story.

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Narrator = the person who is telling the story.

First person narrator = the story is told using the words ‘I’ and ‘me’.

Second person narrator = the story is told using the word ‘you.’ This is rarely used in most types of narrative, but it might be used in adventure computer games that have a story.

Third person narrator = the narrator is not a character in the story, and is usually unknown. ‘I’ and ‘me’ are only used when a character speaks about themselves (in quotation marks.) The characters’ names or pronouns (he, she, they etc) are used to tell the story.

Journeys = in stories, physical journeys/travel often symbolise a psychological journey, where the character undergoes a learning/ emotional process.

Chilling- in formal English, ‘chilling’ means scary, disturbing, ‘creepy’ or haunting.