A comparison of the old discourse of Genre with its current meaning with reference to “Genre” written by Sarah Berry Flint!

Genre was a concept of categorization developed in libraries for systematic arrangement of books belonging to different streams, topics and disciplines in an organized way for the convenience of the readers. Different types of literary texts were placed in different sections for the readers’ convenience, so that the books can be located and accessed easily.

However, with the emergence of Cinema and Television, the Genre started being used for categorizing movies. While this categorization is essential and very efficient, it fails to encompass the entirety of a movie when attached to it.

The movie experience can be different for various viewers, which can lead to their own categorization of the Film. A tragic movie can be seen as an action thriller or a romantic movie by certain viewers.

Confining visual art in a definitive category is almost impossible as the perceived meaning of content will be distinctive of the intended meaning. Viewers will analyze a scene based on their background, education, competence, culture, history and personal experiences. What may seen funny to some can be racist and degrading to the people of the culture in question.

Problem of Definition

Similar to books in Library or in the works of theorists, film scholars define genres for the purposes of convenience, critical analysis and interpretation, while producers and publishers use as a means of descriptive tool for the audiences comfort.

Genre cannot be fixed in any art form, especially Cinema, which portrays stories that are larger than life and so extravagant that include elements of various emotions that are meant to be interpreted and seen differently.

The capitalists use genre as means to attract more audiences, and circulate their “films in industrial, critical, and popular discourse”.

He use’s Derrida concept for highlighting how one word can define or categorize many diverse aspects, changing its original meaning. With technology the approach to genres in literature and movies has changed overtime. It is important to demarcate sameness and difference while defining or categorizing genres.

Just like the reading experience is different for everyone, the movie experience is also different for each individual who analyze the story, and depiction based on their knowledge, culture, and literary background. Just like any other form of art, movies can be seen via different lights, making selection of genre an open ended discussion.

Romantic Genre can include a variety of films which may be dominated with other aspects like comedy, horror or action. The production houses use the genre that does the job of attracting more consumers. In this context, in cinema genre is used more as an economic tool than for the convenience of users.

With time the definition of genre has become vague as instead of categorizing different types of works it create a complex collection.

Genre criticism firstly began from the notion that there are many kinds of literature, with different contexts. The essay raises the question of what justifies a genre, its systems of plausibility, motivation, and justifications of belief. It is these systems of expectation which the spectator brings to the cinema, in which to interact with the film, while viewing, providing the spectator with means of recognition and understanding.

While the similarity in moods of genre helps render individual films of their generic corpuses, allowing the audience to work out the significance of what is taking place on screen, why characters are dressed the way they are, why they are acting in a certain style: It also confuses them, when they are unable to interpret the movie based on the genre.

Viewers enter the cinema, with expectations as the movies are marketed according a specific genre, however, their individual experience may turn out to be different from what they were promised. This again raises the argument that is it even possible to define genre. Or has it lost its meaning and have become a political and economical tool for making more sales.

For example if a character bursts into song, the viewer will recognize that this particular film is a musical. Its plot is liable to follow certain directions rather than others, so these systems of expectation involve knowledge of Verisimilitude which the viewer takes with them to the cinema. And discussed above genre is an open ended concept which may change according viewers experience and understanding, making one genre incompetent of defining all the dominant aspects of a film.

Audiences have a dual minded approach, and the symbolism, and celebrity culture in the films tries to play with it for influencing the audiences on multiple levels.

Based on the concept of Iconography, the audience might be drawn the movie based on its cast (celebrities). Audiences can also build an image of an actor and associate him with specific genre. The existence of Genre in films can be seen as “the film industry’s attempt to overcome the problem of uncertainty, that is, of not knowing the future tastes of mass audience.”

They sell their movies, by tagging their films as specific popular genre at particular time for attracting the masses.

With advancement in technology as the movies become more artistic, experimental and extravagant, the existence of pure genre has collapsed.

Politics of Genre

Society is driven by political consciousness. Even when an individual is not consciously aware of being political, his/her words and actions can reflect his/her political ideology.

The same way these political ideologies can change with time, what was considered offensive can be acceptable today. It creates a conflict, as the meaning of genre will change with time.

When a movie is categorized comedy, it may cross the line and make offensive jokes, but such actions can be justified under name of parody or comedy, or in the genre in which it has been released.

The capitalists use genre for targeting the masses, offering content that shapes their idea in one way or another via movies.

The way people watch a commercial film is very different from when they see a documentary or an indie film, the specific categorization also makes the individual more conscious of his interpretation.

The danger in this dominance, since it follows from his view that reality cannot be captured within one genre of discourse or representation of events as it will miss aspects of emotions or narrative knowledge that has been captured in the movie.

With experimentation, cinema became more realistic, depicting struggles and real life documentary that help spread awareness and allowed audiences to approach truth of certain individuals through a prism with multiple sides and multiple layers of meanings. Criticism also became double edged, as people became conscious of the fact that films can also educate. Politics of genre can be debated in every movie, as it is a representation of the time.

Genre is therefore essential, but it limits and builds the expectations of the viewer and often used for profit and wider circulation. It is a matter of “high seriousness”, as films impact society, and culture, and its engagement is different linked with the use of genre.