Genre

Theorist Steve Neale states that “genres are instances of repetition and difference” which means that although things fitting into one genre have similar things within them, they must also have differences and keep evolving as time goes on, otherwise people will get bored with seeing the same things repeated multiple times. Genres are traditionally fixed forms, however contemporary genres are ever changing.

Genres are believed to give enjoyment to people as the familiarity of what they are seeing is comforting to them and stimulates their mind in often positive ways. However Neale states that their would be no pleasure without difference as the difference in a new film is often what attracts audiences.

Tom Ryall argues that genre can be used as rules or guidelines when creating something new as it gives you a basic plan to stick to along your process. When a genre becomes well recognised and appreciated, it means that film makers can make lots of one genre as it is what is popular at the time. It also means that audiences can enjoy lots of new films from their favourite genre quite quickly in a row as the film makers are churning them out at large speeds. Any theme may appear in a genre, as sub genres allow for films to belong to more than one genre.

Many films from the same genre have connotations and themes that appear through them all. Horror films often have crows to represent death. Rom Coms have a romantic interest and because of Propp's character theory, we can see that in action films like Die Hard there is usually a princess, a hero, a villain, a helper, a donor and a dispatcher. These are not always real people, as in Die Hard the dispatcher is christmas. 

When genre was first introduced, it was highly uncommon for genres to cross over and actors from certain genres couldn't sway between genres as they were seen as being able to tell stories for the genre that they were acustomed to. Most films now can cross between multiple genres. Films often contain drama, no matter what their main genre, and use sub genres to cross over like Comedy Horror. The main genres for film are Horror, romance, comedy and action.


Romance films often have lots of pink and red in them, along with other warm colours to give the impression of contentment and happiness. They are often set on sunny days to make the scenery look pristine. Sometmes they are in lovely countryside towns to portray peacefulness, however film makers also romantacise big cities using the bright lights in the evening.