A film genre is a stylistic or thematic category for motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative elements , aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film.
51-579: The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor . These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending , with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre . Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies , which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music
102-710: A camp sensibility lay behind the successful Carry On films , while in America subversive independent film-maker John Waters made camp films for college audiences with his drag queen friends that eventually found a mainstream audience. The success of the American television show Saturday Night Live drove decades of cinema with racier content allowed on television drawing on the program's stars and characters, with bigger successes including Wayne's World , Mean Girls , Ghostbusters and Animal House . Parody and joke-based films continue to find audiences. While comedic films are among
153-524: A ceremony (epideictic). In the Poetics , Aristotle similarly divided poetry into three main genres: the epic , tragedy , and comedy . In the case of poetry, these distinctions are based not on rhetorical purpose, but on a combination of structure, content and narrative form. For each type, he proposed a definition as well as the rules for its construction. After the time of Aristotle, literary criticism continued to develop. The first-century Greek treatise " On
204-521: A genre can change through stages: the classic genre era; the parody of the classics; the period where filmmakers deny that their films are part of a certain genre; and finally a critique of the entire genre. This pattern can be seen with the Western film. In the earliest, classic Westerns, there was a clear hero who protected society from lawless villains who lived in the wilderness and came into civilization to commit crimes. However, in revisionist Westerns of
255-520: A genre script but they haven't twisted the story beats of that genre in such a way that it gives an original face to it". Cinema technologies are associated with genres. Huge widescreens helped Western films to create an expansive setting of the open plains and desert. Science fiction and fantasy films are associated with special effects, notably computer generated imagery (e.g., the Harry Potter films). In 2017, screenwriter Eric R. Williams published
306-680: A given genre. A film's genre will influence the use of filmmaking styles and techniques, such as the use of flashbacks and low-key lighting in film noir ; tight framing in horror films ; or fonts that look like rough- hewn logs for the titles of Western films. In addition, genres have associated film scoring conventions, such as lush string orchestras for romantic melodramas or electronic music for science fiction films . Genre also affects how films are broadcast on television , advertised, and organized in video rental stores . Alan Williams distinguishes three main genre categories: narrative , avant-garde , and documentary . With
357-489: A given genre. Drawing heavily from the theories of literary-genre criticism , film genres are usually delineated by conventions, iconography , narratives , formats, characters, and actors, all of which can vary according to the genre. In terms of standard or "stock" characters , those in film noir , for example, include the femme fatale and the "hardboiled" detective ; while those in Westerns , stock characters include
408-465: A repetition of noir genre tropes, or a re-examination of the noir genre? This is also important to remember when looking at films in the future. As viewers watch a film they are conscious of societal influence with the film itself. In order to understand its true intentions, we must identify its intended audience and what narrative of our current society, as well as it comments to the past in relation with today's society. This enables viewers to understand
459-404: A rigid way. Furthermore, different countries and cultures define genres in different ways. A typical example are war movies. In United States , they are mostly related to ones with large U.S. involvement such as World wars and Vietnam, whereas in other countries, movies related to wars in other historical periods are considered war movies . Film genres may appear to be readily categorizable from
510-443: A sense of originality and surprise". Some screenwriters use genre as a means of determining what kind of plot or content to put into a screenplay. They may study films of specific genres to find examples. This is a way that some screenwriters are able to copy elements of successful movies and pass them off in a new screenplay . It is likely that such screenplays fall short in originality. As Truby says, "Writers know enough to write
561-603: A separate genre, but rather, provides a better understanding of the film. Film genre Drawing heavily from the theories of literary-genre criticism , film genres are usually delineated by "conventions, iconography , settings , narratives , characters and actors". One can also classify films by the tone , theme/topic , mood , format , target audience , or budget . These characteristics are most evident in genre films , which are "commercial feature films [that], through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters and familiar situations" in
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#1732859186836612-509: A system for screenwriters to conceptualize narrative film genres based on audience expectations. The system was based upon the structure biologists use to analyze living beings. Williams wrote a companion book detailing his taxonomy , which claims to be able to identify all feature length narrative films with seven categorizations: film type, super genre, macro-genre, micro-genre, voice, and pathway. Because genres are easier to recognize than to define, academics agree they cannot be identified in
663-409: A well-established fanbase that reads horror magazines such as Fangoria . Films that are difficult to categorize into a genre are often less successful. As such, film genres are also useful in the areas of marketing, film criticism and the analysis of consumption . Hollywood story consultant John Truby states that "...you have to know how to transcend the forms [genres] so you can give the audience
714-510: Is a drama (type) Slice of Life (super-genre) animation (voice). Williams has created a seven-tiered categorization for narrative feature films called the Screenwriters Taxonomy . A genre movie is a film that follows some or all of the conventions of a particular genre, whether or not it was intentional when the movie was produced. In order to understand the creation and context of each film genre, we must look at its popularity in
765-460: Is based on the accepted cultural consensus within society. Martin Loop contends that Hollywood films are not pure genres because most Hollywood movies blend the love-oriented plot of the romance genre with other genres. Jim Colins claims that since the 1980s, Hollywood films have been influenced by the trend towards "ironic hybridization", in which directors combine elements from different genres, as with
816-531: Is commonly accepted that the genre of fiction ("literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation") is not applied to all fictitious literature, but instead encompasses only prose texts (novels, novellas, short stories) and not fables. There are other ways of categorizing books that are not usually considered "genre". Notably, this can include age categories, by which literature may be classified as adult, young adult , or children's literature . There
867-765: Is typically subdivided into the classic three forms of Ancient Greece, poetry , drama , and prose . Poetry may then be subdivided into the genres of lyric , epic , and dramatic . The lyric includes all the shorter forms of poetry e.g., song , ode, ballad, elegy, sonnet. Dramatic poetry might include comedy , tragedy , melodrama , and mixtures like tragicomedy . The standard division of drama into tragedy and comedy derives from Greek drama. This division into subgenres can continue: comedy has its own subgenres, including, for example, comedy of manners , sentimental comedy, burlesque comedy , and satirical comedy. The genre of semi-fiction includes works that mix elements of both fiction and nonfiction. A semi-fictional work may be
918-484: The James Bond spy-films, which all use a formula of "lots of action, fancy gadgets, beautiful woman and colourful villains", even though the actors, directors and screenwriters change. Films are rarely purely from one genre, which is in keeping with the cinema's diverse and derivative origins, it being a blend of "vaudeville, music-hall, theatre, photography" and novels. American film historian Janet Staiger states that
969-523: The comic , and the tragic through the constitution of "the relation between the hero of the work and ourselves or the laws of nature." He also uses the juxtaposition of the "real" and the "ideal" to categorize the genres of romance (the ideal), irony (the real), comedy (transition from real to ideal), and tragedy (transition from ideal to real). Lastly, he divides genres by the audience they are intended for into: drama (performed works), lyric poetry (sung works), and epic poetry (recited works). Since
1020-675: The docufiction and docudrama , which merge the basic categories of fiction and non-fiction (documentary). Genres are not fixed; they change and evolve over time, and some genres may largely disappear (for example, the melodrama ). Not only does genre refer to a type of film or its category, a key role is also played by the expectations of an audience about a film, as well as institutional discourses that create generic structures. Characteristics of particular genres are most evident in genre films , which are "commercial feature films [that], through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters and familiar situations" in
1071-875: The schoolmarm and the gunslinger . Regarding actors, some may acquire a reputation linked to a single genre, such as John Wayne (the Western) or Fred Astaire (the musical ). Some genres have been characterized or known to use particular formats , which refers to the way in which films are shot (e.g., 35 mm , 16 mm or 8 mm ) or the manner of presentation (e.g., anamorphic widescreen ). Genres can also be classified by more inherent characteristics (usually implied in their names), such as settings, theme/topic, mood, target audience, or budget /type of production . Screenwriters , in particular, often organize their stories by genre, focusing their attention on three specific aspects: atmosphere, character, and story. A film's atmosphere includes costumes, props , locations, and
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#17328591868361122-545: The 1920s to the 1950s favoured genre films is that in "Hollywood's industrial mode of production, genre movies are dependable products" to market to audiences – they were easy to produce and it was easy for audiences to understand a genre film. In the 1920s to 1950s, genre films had clear conventions and iconography, such as the heavy coats worn by gangsters in films like Little Caesar (1931). The conventions in genre films enable filmmakers to generate them in an industrial, assembly-line fashion, an approach which can be seen in
1173-647: The 1970s New Hollywood era, there was so much parodying of genres that it can be hard to assign genres to some films from this era, such as Mel Brooks ' comedy-Western Blazing Saddles (1974) or the private eye parody The Long Goodbye (1973). Other films from this era bend genres so much that it is challenging to put them in a genre category, such as Roman Polanski 's Chinatown (1974) and William Friedkin 's The French Connection (1971). Film theorist Robert Stam challenged whether genres really exist, or whether they are merely made up by critics. Stam has questioned whether "genres [are] really 'out there' in
1224-419: The 1970s, the protagonist becomes an antihero who lives in the wilderness to get away from a civilization that is depicted as corrupt, with the villains now integrated into society. Another example of a genre changing over time is the popularity of the neo-noir films in the early 2000s ( Mulholland Drive (2001), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) and Far from Heaven (2002); are these film noir parodies,
1275-586: The Romantic period, modern genre theory often sought to dispense with the conventions that have marked the categorization of genres for centuries. However, the twenty-first century has brought a new era in which genre has lost much of the negative connotations associating it with loss of individuality or excess conformity. Genre categorizes literary works based on specific shared conventions, including style, mood, length, and organizational features. These genres are in turn divided into subgenres . Western literature
1326-544: The Sublime ", for example, discussed the works of more than 50 literary writers and the methods they used to influence their audiences' emotions and feelings. The origins of modern Western genre theory can be traced to the European Romantic movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during which the concept of genre was scrutinized heavily. The idea that it was possible to ignore genre constraints and
1377-482: The Western film, and musical theatre pre-dated film musicals. The perceived genre of a film can change over time; for example, in the 21st century The Great Train Robbery (1903) classes as a key early Western film, but when released, marketing promoted it "for its relation to the then-popular genres of the chase film, the railroad film and the crime film". A key reason that the early Hollywood industrial system from
1428-590: The Western/science fiction mix in Back to the Future Part III . Many films cross into multiple genres. Susan Hayward states that spy films often cross genre boundaries with thriller films. Some genre films take genre elements from one genre and place them into the conventions of a second genre, such as with The Band Wagon (1953), which adds film noir and detective film elements into "The Girl Hunt" ballet. In
1479-885: The category of "body genres" since they are each designed to elicit physical reactions on the part of viewers. Horror is designed to elicit spine-chilling, white-knuckled, eye-bulging terror; melodramas are designed to make viewers cry after seeing the misfortunes of the onscreen characters; and pornography is designed to elicit sexual arousal. This approach can be extended: comedies make people laugh, tear-jerkers make people cry, feel-good films lift people's spirits and inspiration films provide hope for viewers. Eric R. Williams (no relation to Linda Williams) argues that all narrative feature-length films can be categorized as one of eleven "super genres" ( action , crime , fantasy , horror , romance , science fiction , slice of life , sports , thriller , war and Western ). Williams contends that labels such as comedy or drama are more broad than
1530-422: The category of super genre, and therefore fall into a category he calls "film type". Similarly, Williams explains that labels such as animation and musical are more specific to storytelling technique and therefore fall into his category of "voice". For example, according to Williams, a film like Blazing Saddles could be categorized as a comedy (type) Western (super-genre) musical (voice), while Anomalisa
1581-489: The context of its place in history. For example, the 1970s Blaxploitation films have been called an attempt to "undermine the rise of Afro-American's Black consciousness movement" of that era. In William Park's analysis of film noir, he states that we must view and interpret film for its message with the context of history within our minds; he states that this is how film can truly be understood by its audience. Film genres such as film noir and Western film reflect values of
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1632-508: The evolution of film genres as time and history morphs or views and ideals of the entertainment industry. Literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature . Genres may be determined by literary technique , tone , content , or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided into more concrete distinctions. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, and even
1683-512: The film industry due to their popularity. In The Screenwriters Taxonomy (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story, and therefore, the labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre. Instead, his taxonomy argues that comedy is a type of film that contains at least a dozen different sub-types. A number of hybrid genres have emerged, such as action comedy and romantic comedy . The first comedy film
1734-400: The genre of a film can be defined in four ways. The "idealist method" judges films by predetermined standards. The "empirical method" identifies the genre of a film by comparing it to a list of films already deemed to fall within a certain genre. The a priori method uses common generic elements which are identified in advance. The "social conventions" method of identifying the genre of a film
1785-423: The idea that each literary work was a "genre unto itself" gained popularity. Genre definitions were thought to be "primitive and childish." At the same time, the Romantic period saw the emergence of a new genre, the 'imaginative' genre. The reason for this shift is often attributed to the social events that were taking place in the Western world in terms of wars, infighting and overthrown leadership. People felt
1836-742: The most popular with audiences at the box office, there is an 'historical bias against a close and serious consideration of comedy' when it comes to critical reception and conferring of awards, such as at the Academy Awards . Film writer Cailian Savage observes "Comedies have won Oscars, although they’ve usually been comedy-dramas, involved very depressing scenes, or appealed to stone-hearted drama lovers in some other way, such as Shakespeare in Love ." According to Williams' taxonomy , all film descriptions should contain their type (comedy or drama) combined with one (or more) sub-genres. This combination does not create
1887-399: The need for "escapism" to remove themselves from their respective situations. In 1957 Canadian scholar Northrop Frye published "Anatomy of Criticism," in which he proposes a system of genres and a set of rules to describe the constraints of each genre. In this work, he defines methodological classifications of the genres of myth , legend , high mimetic genre, low mimetic genre, irony ,
1938-550: The novel is a large genre of narrative fiction; within the category of the novel, the detective novel is a sub-genre, while the "hard-boiled" detective novel is a sub-genre of the detective novel. In the Rhetoric , Aristotle proposed three literary genres of rhetorical oratory: deliberative , forensic , and epideictic . These are divided based on the purpose of the orator: to argue for future policy or action (deliberative), discuss past action (forensic), or offer praise or blame during
1989-493: The pain and horror of war. While there is an argument that film noir movies could be deemed to be set in an urban setting, in cheap hotels and underworld bars, many classic noirs take place mainly in small towns, suburbia, rural areas, or on the open road. The editors of filmsite.org argue that animation, pornographic film , documentary film, silent film and so on are non-genre-based film categories. Linda Williams argues that horror, melodrama, and pornography all fall into
2040-424: The proliferation of particular genres, film subgenres can also emerge: the legal drama , for example, is a sub-genre of drama that includes courtroom- and trial-focused films. Subgenres are often a mixture of two separate genres; genres can also merge with seemingly unrelated ones to form hybrid genres , where popular combinations include the romantic comedy and the action comedy film . Broader examples include
2091-468: The retelling of a true story with only the names changed; at the other end of the spectrum, it may present fictional events with a semi-fictional protagonist, as in Jerry Seinfeld . Often, the criteria used to divide up works into genres are not consistent, and can be subject to debate, change and challenge by both authors and critics. However, some basic distinctions are widely accepted. For example, it
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2142-430: The rules designating genres change over time and are fairly unstable. Genres can all be in the form of prose or poetry . Additionally, a genre such as satire , allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre (see below), but as a mixture of genres. They are defined by the general cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. The concept of genre began in
2193-489: The setting of the film. Nevertheless, films with the same settings can be very different, due to the use of different themes or moods. For example, while both The Battle of Midway and All Quiet on the Western Front are set in a wartime context and might be classified as belonging to the war film genre, the first examines the themes of honor, sacrifice, and valour, and the second is an anti-war film which emphasizes
2244-608: The term "genre" (already in use in English with reference to works of art or literary production from at least 1770 ) was used to organize films according to type. By the 1950s André Bazin was discussing the concept of "genre" by using the Western film as an example; during this era, there was a debate over auteur theory versus genre. In the late 1960s the concept of genre became a significant part of film theory . Film genres draw on genres from other forms; Western novels existed before
2295-522: The time period. While film noir combines German expressionist filming strategies with post World War II ideals; Western films focused on the ideal of the early 20th century. Films such as the musical were created as a form of entertainment during the Great Depression allowing its viewers an escape during tough times. So when watching and analyzing film genres we must remember to remember its true intentions aside from its entertainment value. Over time,
2346-506: The use of comedy film to make social statements by building their narratives around sensitive cultural, political or social issues. Such films include Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and The Graduate . In America, the sexual revolution drove an appetite for comedies that celebrated and parodied changing social morals, including Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Fanny Hill . In Britain,
2397-410: The visceral experiences created for the audience. Aspects of character include archetypes , stock characters , and the goals and motivations of the central characters . Some story considerations for screenwriters, as they relate to genre, include theme, tent-pole scenes, and how the rhythm of characters' perspective shift from scene to scene. From the earliest days of cinema in the 19th century
2448-488: The works of Aristotle , who applied biological concepts to the classification of literary genres, or, as he called them, "species" (eidē). These classifications are mainly discussed in his treatises Rhetoric and Poetics . Genres are categories into which kinds of literary material are organized. The genres Aristotle discusses include the epic, the tragedy, the comedy, dithyrambic poetry, and phallic songs. Genres are often divided into complex sub-categories. For example,
2499-979: The world or are they really the construction of analysts?". As well, he has asked whether there is a "... finite taxonomy of genres or are they in principle infinite?" and whether genres are "...timeless essences ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culture-bound or trans-cultural?". Stam has also asked whether genre analysis should aim at being descriptive or prescriptive. While some genres are based on story content (the war film ), other are borrowed from literature ( comedy , melodrama ) or from other media (the musical ). Some are performer-based ( Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films) or budget-based ( blockbusters , low-budget film ), while others are based on artistic status (the art film ), racial identity ( race films ), location (the Western ), or sexual orientation (" New Queer Cinema "). Many genres have built-in audiences and corresponding publications that support them, such as magazines and websites. For example, horror films have
2550-414: Was L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895), directed and produced by film pioneer Louis Lumière . Less than a minute long, it shows a boy playing a prank on a gardener. The most notable comedy actors of the silent film era (1895–1927) were Charlie Chaplin , Harold Lloyd , and Buster Keaton , though they were able to make the transition into “ talkies ” after the 1920s. Film-makers in the 1960s skillfully employed
2601-416: Was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue . Comedy, compared with other film genres , places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to
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