Film Genre

Film genre is an important concept for critics, film-makers and audiences, as well as media theorists. Film genre has both academic and practical applications as films are categorised by genre at every stage of their existence, from the initial approach the screenwriter takes, to where they end up on the shelves of your local store, to how their impact on cultural history is assessed. A lot of formal study has been conducted into the categorisation of film through various paradigms, and into how that categorisation informs our understanding of the film as text. There is also a lot of commercial interest in the way people classify and choose to watch movies — this is very important for the initial marketing of a movie, and for companies like Netflix or LoveFilm, who rely on genre categories to help their customers make their picks.
There are two basic approaches to the study of film genre:

Descriptive Approach to Film Genre: This involves viewing a film as belonging to a category. It is perceived as sharing aspects and attributes with other films in the same category. This approach relies heavily upon the use of genre paradigms or readily identifiable elements such as costume, location, shots or plot content. This approach involves putting a large number of films into a number of small groups. The descriptive approach sometimes means an over-emphasis on the formal and stylistic qualities of films, and doesn't take into account how a film's meaning and impact may change over time, and when viewed by different audiences.

Functional Approach to Film Genre: The genre film is perceived as "collective expressions of contemporary life that strike a particularly resonant chord with audiences". The repetitions of patterns in a genre film are the repetitions of social questions that we need answers to as part of our shared social experience e.g.

• What is frightening, or what possibilities do we fear? (horror films)
• What is criminal, or what are the boundaries of social morality that we must not cross? (gangster films)
• What is morality? (melodramas)
• What is acceptance and belonging? (romantic comedies)
• What is alien? (science fiction)
• What is the future? (science fiction again)

These questions are repeated from generation to generation therefore making genre films a product of socio-historic context.

Within the main genres (Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Epics, Horror, Musical, Science Fiction, War, Western and Thriller) there are Sub Genres; For example within Action Adventure films sub genres include

Film genres derive from literary genres however film genres must contstantly evolve and mutate otherwise the plots of each genre will become increasing repetitive. Subgenres can develop in response to a movie that pushes genre paradigms, and is successful, or in response to external socio-historic factors, and can cross traditional genre boundaries.
Genres need to be constantly evolving there paradigms to prevent the genre type from becoming predictable and boring. There are only seven basic plots so by combing genres you can have many different takes on these plots for example Twilight is a Horror Romance a film based around Vampires but leading to a love story.