The word genre is used across many art forms. Music, mainstream art, architecture, books, and of course, film. It is used conveniently to label and categorize films according to their content and the kind of film experience it brings to the layman. But, being a cinema studies student, we have to look further than just layman terms.

This week, we cover different types of film genres and the scholarly meaning behind the word ‘genre’ in film. A genre has comes with a set of “rules” or like how Boredwell and Thompson mentioned in the readings, a certain convention that are attached to the genre. Filmmakers use this conventions in order to stay true to the genre and sometimes even bend the rules to explore to new boundaries and create new conventions for future filmmakers who may want to attempt to make a film in that particular genre.

Genres provide a general classification for viewers to pick and filter the kinds of film they might want to watch. For example, one may not appreciate the thrills and terrifying experience a horror film might present and therefore choose to avoid watching films from the horror genre, or one might enjoy the excitement of being in suspension of disbelief in a fantasy film. Genres give a very brief summary of what a film might turn out to be, with the exception of cross genres.

Boredwell and Thompson gives an example of 4 genres, Western, Horror, Musicals, and Sports. These 4 are very much different from one another in terms of how would you classify a film to its genre. Take the Western genre for example, we picture the set to be taken place at a dessert with horses, carriages, tumble weeds and so on. These are known to be the iconography of the film. A series of symbolic images recurring in various films in the same genre. Horror would be the experience it brings to the viewer, where filmmakers pursue to evoke certain emotions from the viewer, mainly terror and shock, hence developing the experience before presenting the true monster. In musical, the use of songs and dances are the main factors that makes a film in the musical genre. However, musicals are usually tagged along with romance and drama, a musical alone may not be a strong enough idea in terms of narrative is concern, unless the film is about a musical itself. And for sports films, there is a certain narrative structure or theme to most sports film, where the underdog would work and strive to take on major tournaments or win over a rivalry. Generally would make the viewers lean towards and support a certain team or character, usually the protagonist, in the film.