Genre theory analyzes how films and media are categorized based on shared themes and conventions. It explores how genres shape audience expectations, industry practices, and cultural meanings. This framework helps us understand how media texts are created, marketed, and interpreted within specific genre contexts.

Genre analysis examines the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic elements of media texts. It looks at how genres evolve over time, reflect societal values, and can be subverted or hybridized. This approach reveals the complex interplay between genre conventions, audience expectations, and broader cultural contexts.

Genre in Film and Media

Defining Genre and Its Role

• Genres categorize media texts based on shared conventions, themes, and iconography
• Genres provide a framework for understanding and interpreting media texts
  • Guide audience interpretation and meaning-making through a set of expectations and conventions
• Genres constantly evolve and change in response to social, cultural, and historical contexts
  • New genres can emerge (found footage horror)
  • Existing genres can be hybridized or subverted (romantic comedy meets sci-fi in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind")
• Genres shape industry practices, marketing strategies, and audience expectations in the production, distribution, and consumption of media texts
  • Studios market films based on genre (action blockbusters)
  • Audiences seek out specific genres based on preferences (horror fans)

Theories of Genre Analysis

Semantic and Syntactic Approaches

• Semantic approach focuses on the shared themes, iconography, and narrative elements that define a genre
  • Emphasizes the "what" of a genre, or its content and subject matter (zombies in horror films)
• Syntactic approach focuses on the structural and formal elements that define a genre
  • Emphasizes the "how" of a genre, or its form and style
  • Examines plot structure, character types, and stylistic techniques (three-act structure in romantic comedies)

Pragmatic, Historical, and Ideological Approaches

• Pragmatic approach considers the social and cultural context in which genres emerge and evolve
  • Examines how audiences engage with and interpret generic texts
  • Emphasizes the "why" of a genre, or its function and significance (sci-fi films reflecting anxieties about technology)
• Historical approach traces the evolution and transformation of genres over time
  • Examines how genres respond to changing social, cultural, and technological contexts (evolution of the Western genre)
• Ideological approach examines how genres reflect and reproduce dominant social and cultural values
  • Explores how genres can challenge or subvert those values (progressive themes in some horror films)

Genre Analysis of Media Texts

Identifying and Examining Genre Conventions

• Genre analysis identifies key conventions, themes, and iconography that define a particular genre
  • Examines how a specific media text adheres to or deviates from those conventions (subversion of horror tropes in "Scream")
• Genre analysis reveals how a media text reflects and responds to its social, cultural, and historical context
  • Explores how it engages with and challenges dominant ideologies and values (anti-consumerist themes in "Dawn of the Dead")

Applying Genre Analysis Across Media

• Genre analysis sheds light on how a media text appeals to and satisfies audience expectations
  • Examines how it may subvert or challenge those expectations (unexpected genre blend in "Knives Out")
• Genre analysis can be applied to a wide range of media texts to understand their formal, thematic, and ideological dimensions
  • Films ("The Matrix" as a cyberpunk sci-fi action film)
  • Television shows ("Breaking Bad" as a crime drama with Western elements)
  • Video games ("Halo" as a sci-fi first-person shooter)
  • Digital media (YouTube vlogs as a form of personal documentary)

Genre, Audience, and Culture

Shaping Audience Expectations

• Genres shape audience expectations by providing familiar conventions and tropes
  • Audiences expect certain elements from particular genres (jump scares in horror)
  • Expectations influence how audiences interpret and respond to a text
• Audiences' genre expectations are shaped by prior experiences with similar texts and broader cultural and social norms and values
  • Different expectations based on cultural background and social position (differing reactions to violence in action films)

Satisfying and Subverting Expectations

• Media producers often seek to satisfy audience expectations by adhering to established genre conventions
  • May also subvert or challenge conventions to create novelty and surprise ("Cabin in the Woods" deconstructing horror tropes)
• Genres can reflect and reproduce dominant cultural values and ideologies
  • Can also provide a space for challenging and subverting those values (progressive themes in some sci-fi films)

Evolving Dynamics of Genre, Audience, and Culture

• Relationship between genre, audience expectations, and cultural context is dynamic and constantly evolving
  • Genres adapt to changing social, cultural, and technological conditions (rise of found footage horror with affordable digital cameras)
  • Audiences' expectations and interpretive strategies shift over time (changing attitudes towards representation in media)