Genre

Genre, in some forms, is nothing more than an identifier; a significant aspect of a piece of art or entertainment which defines what category that specific piece belongs to. Naturally, when thinking about genre in film, I consider romance, action, adventure etc. to be the only forms of categorisation used in modern day times. Many years ago, this might have been viewed as correct but media as we know it is evolving and changing every day. Traditionally, each genre has it's own set of rules/expectations in which it needs to follow to be keep a successful industry/audience relationship; however genres have combined to create new genres such romcom, action adventure, dystopian fantasy etc. It is extremely difficult to limit a film to only one genre, as most narratives and story lines possess elements of many. For example, Star Wars is typically seen as a Sci-Fi but the narrative also includes a love interest; does this not follow a rule of the romance genre? Star Wars also possesses elements of action, adventure, space operas, fantasy etc. so can it really be bound to a classification as simple and injustice as "Sci-Fi"?

Us, as a society and an audience, have certain expectations in which we assume to be met whenever we go to watch a film; we expect the same from actors and actresses also. Most actors stick to one genre in which they achieve success and when featuring a role which opposes their typical character/genre it is not effective. This is because we become familiar to seeing a certain actor playing a certain role, within a certain film; it is hard to visualise the character or feel convinced into believing the role if the films in which they feature are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Genres also contain an element of predictability. For example, the evil characters are always defeated, the boy always gets the girl, no good person goes unrewarded etc. It can be argued that media has a direct impact on us as a society and the way in which we act and behave as a way of expression, therefore most genres typically send a "message", a way to "contain the masses". We are viewed as easily corrupted and impacted as individuals that the media feels we are to be protected from such visual motive, creating the "feel good factor", e.g punishing criminals as deterrence.

When a genre is in it's prime and therefore in high demand by the audience, film makers often combine genres to attract the attention of the fans of both individual categories. These combinations are known as "hybrids". For example, if a new Romance has been released but Comedy ratings are the highest at the current time, the film can be classified as a 'RomCom', therefore attracting a mixed audience of both Romance lovers, and Comedy fans; meeting both expectations and therefore combining the viewings. This increases success and therefore profit.