The Taxonomy of Genre:
The question often asked is that, is there really a finite taxonomy of genre. The broadest division of classification would be poetry, prose, drama and etc, but within these divisions there are even smaller divisions, such as tragedy and comedy within drama. Nowadays, films are classified to genres that every adult in modern society are familiar with, but some theorists argue many genres and sub genres are nameless.
Defining Genre:
There is theoretical dispute about the definition of certain genres, for some, such as Jane Feuer, genre is "not something that exists empirically in the world, as it is an abstract concept. Themes are seen as an inadequate base to define genre, as David Bordwell argues "any themes can appear in any genre". Conventions are now used to define a genre, such as conventional themes, settings and form, but one film may be categorised as one genre due to its context, but could also be considered a different genre due to its form. We should also take note of hybrid genres and the difficulty in categorising them. Therefore, Andrew Tudor argues, this is an "empiricist dilemma".
Genre:
Most of our genre knowledge is tacit, so Andrew Tudor adds " genre is what we collectively believe it to be", Secondly, Steave Neale stresses "genres are not systems, they are processes of systematisation". Genre enables producers to predict audience expectations, due to the relative stability in the understanding of genres. Elitists reject mass media "generic fiction", which are products of popular culture than high art. Instead they hold an argued romantic ideology of originality and vision, that emphasise individual style and "artistic self impression", Thus, the belief in auteurism which is the belief that a film should first and foremost reveal the directors beliefs and feelings, like they had written it themselves.
Function and purpose of genre:
Uses and gratification (Bulmer and Katz) researchers, such as Miller, argue that "particular genres develop, frame and legitimise particular concerns, questions and pleasures". While, Horace Newcrombie and Paul Hirsch, argue genres negotiate shared beliefs and values that helps to maintain social order and help us to adapt to change.There is a triangular relationship between texts, its producers and its interpreters. This is because, semiotic-ally genre can be seen as a shared code between the producers and the interpreters.
Working with genres:
Genres can be seen as an unspoken contact between authors and readers. Traditional and romantic perspective argues that genres are constraining and inhibiting authorial creativity, but contemporary theorists reject this, as Gledhill argues, that those who work in genre, work in a creative "tension". Thus, Folwer sees genre are an efficient way of communicating to audience. Any text requires cultural capital (audience position), for exmaple generic knowledge to help them make sense of the text. Identification of texts allows an audience to judge if its appealing to them or not.
Construction of an audience:
John Fisel found that genre is seen to be involved in the construction of their readers. This is supported by Steve Neal who argues in relation to cinema "genre contribution to regulation of desire, memory and expectations" Mass media genres play a role in the construction of difference and identity, for example some TV and film genres have been aimed primarily at and stereotypically favoured by male or female audiences, e.g war films, which westerners tend to regard as being "masculine"
Advantages of generic analysis:
Genre analysis positions texts within textual and social contexts, to underline the socila nature of the text. Moreover, genre analysis also serves to locate texts within a specific cultural context as well as historical perspective.
From this reading, I learnt that it is important to convey the horror genre to my audience through my film, poster and radio trailer, because essentially it is the genre that creates the contract between me and audience. In addition, I have also learnt that it is not wrong to mix genres and create a hybrid genre or include several sub-genres, because there is dispute in the definition of genre and in my opinion after this reading, the attraction to defining genre exists, because it makes it easier to produce a text, as defining a genre means laying out the rules of what to include and what not to include. Therefore, in my horror film I will attempt to incorporate and a sub genre that is not very common to pair with the horror genre and this is the mystery genre.
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