Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Understanding Genre

A genre is a way of categorizing a text through style and form. Identification of key elements in a text helps us to categorize and classify the text in the genre. Each different type of media form has its own characteristics and codes and conventions that need to be followed in order for it to be accepted by society as a whole. Films have genres e.g thriller, horror, film noir etc, magazines have genres, entertainment, lifestyle etc and so do music eg. pop, rock, indie pop, etc. These genres often have sub genres and sometimes these sub genres are a combination of two different genres.

The elements of media texts might be referred to as paradigms and range from costumes, music, plot points and even the fonts used, depending on what medium is used. Genre is important for readers and the creators of the text especially since nowadays, the audiences have become Prosumers; they produce and consume media texts. Genre helps both the producers and consumers to make decisions about what they want to see and what they want to make to supply the demand. 

"Genre creates expectations that condition our responses. The familiarity of the genre enables each spectator to anticipate and predict what will appear in them. Genre sets up hopes and promises and brings pleasure if these hopes and promises are fulfilled." - Warren Buckland 

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