Genre InvestigationKat Scott

What is genre?Genre is the term for a style or category of film. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued.

Typical genre conventions in the modern world change very often. This is mainly down to audiences becoming bored and film institutions competing for the ‘scariest’ horror film. Genre texts would become very boring if they stuck to the same stereotypical conventions all the time which would sooner or later result in audiences no longer wanting to consume them. By genre conventions changing all the time it allows film institutions to compete against each other and make more money.

Genre TheoristsCharaudeau & Maingueneau : The genre theory of Charaudeau &

Maingueneau states that genre can be determined through four different analytic conceptualizations. They state that genre is determined by its: Linguistic function, Formal traits, Textual organization and Relation of communicative situation to formal and organisational traits of the text.

Rick Altman: Argues genres are usually defined in terms of media language or certain ideologies and narratives.

Miriam Hanson: in “Pleasure, Ambivalence, Identification: Valentino and Female Spectatorship” (1984) put forth the idea that women are also able to view male characters as erotic objects of desire. In "The Master's Dollhouse: Rear Window," Tania Modleski argues that Hitchock's film, Rear Window, is an example of the power of male gazer and the position of the female as a prisoner of the "master's dollhouse".

All three theorists are examples of how codes and conventions help audiences to determine the genre of a film.