Working definition: way of categorising a particular media text according to its content and style.

Genre does not rely simply on what's in a media text but on the way it is put together (important when distinguishing eg between a horror movie and a thriller, which often deal with the same subject matter but belong to clearly separate genres). A media text is said to belong to a genre, in that it adopts the codes and conventions of other texts in that genre, and behaves in roughly the same way. Text from different mediums may belong to the same genre (eg some tv programmes & graphic novels can all be classified as science fiction).

How do you tell which genre something belongs to?

Content

Eg Westerns always have cowboys You have a set of expectations as to what a genre text will contain in terms of transportation, costume, character, setting, mise en scene, soundtrack, stars etc.

Style

Eg women's magazines present an attractive model on the front cover who may have very little to do with the contents of the magazine Media texts follow sets of conventions in the way that they are constructed. You have contents pages in a magazine immediately inside the front cover. A romantic comedy always ends with a wedding. Often content and style are closely interlinked.

Does belonging to a genre mean that a text has to be exactly the same as other texts within that genre?

No — genres are described as dynamic, ie their boundaries are constantly changing. Individual texts can challenge conventions, and defy certain parts of the genre categorisation — for instance Scream brought a lot of parody and humour into horror films of the late 1990s. Genre texts would get very boring and predictable if they all followed exactly the same conventions — no audiences would want to consume them, they'd just keep revisiting the old ones.

Why is genre important for ...

Producers of media texts?

• Gives a pattern for construction, a template
• Genre pieces have an established audience
• Certain personnel can develop their skills working within a particular genre
• Stars can associate themselves with a particular genre
• Fans of a genre know the codes, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel all the time

Distributors?

• Clear channels for marketing and distribution — easily targetable audience
• Concentration of distribution resources — no point in trying to get eg football matches to a non-sports audience
• Fans of a genre as a whole can easily be persuaded to buy other texts in the same genre eg dance music compilation cds
• Provides a structure for retail outlets (HMV!)