Key Theories in Media (Genre) By Callum Mackinnon

Genre Is a style or category of art, music, or literature. Media products can be classified into categories or genre. The word 'genre' comes from the French word meaning 'type' or 'class’. Few genres: Horror Comedy Adventure Action Mystery

Genre

Repetition and Difference Steve Neale had the theory of repetition and difference. He said: “Genres are instances of repetition and difference” “Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre” Basically you either make a film following the stereotypical genres or you make create a film that is unique to most genres and try to create something new and original.

Conventions Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. Genres form by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones is discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

Intertextuality The interrelationship between texts, the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other.

Paradigms A text is classified in a genre through the identification of key elements which occur in that text and in others of the same genre. These elements may be referred to as paradigms, and range from costume to music to plot points to font (depending on the medium). Audiences recognise these paradigms, and bring a set of expectations when watching a piece of film.

Theorists of Genre in Media There are multiple theorists that have different ideas about the potential of setting genres and limitations.

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, and critic. He thought that texts are like a ball of tangled strings you can pull it from any direction, or pull anyone, and you will always see things from a different angle or perspective. He also says that some texts are, ‘open’ which means you can go at it from multiple angles, or they are, ‘closed’ meaning there is only one way to interpret it.

John Fiske He defines genres as, “attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convenience of both producers and audience.”

Christian Metz Metz believes that there are four stages to that happen within a genre and also believes these stages have a never ending cycle. The four stages are: The experimental stage The classic stage  The parody stage  The deconstruction stage

Nicholas Abercrombie Nicholas Abercrombie suggests that 'the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable’. Abercrombie says, 'genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre’.

David Buckingham Traditionally, genres tended to be regarded as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasises that both forms and functions are dynamic. David Buckingham argues that ‘genre is not… simply “given” by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change’.

Janet Staiger Janet Staiger argues that Hollywood films are never pure genres, because most of Hollywood movies blend the love oriented plot of romance genre with other genres.

John Hartley He believed that “the same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times”. John thought that genres can restrict the meaning, and hold back potential of a text.

Frank McConnell He believed in 5 genres. The King – establishing the state – the epic The Knight – consolidating the state – the adventurous romance The Pawn – trapped in the institutionalised state – the melodrama The Fool – responding to the madness of the state – the satire Apocalypse – the collapse of the state which leads to a new beginning – no single hero