Genre Theory

Definition of Genre is kind, sort, or class, from this an audience can depict what will be contained within a piece of text. genres have characteristic features that are known to and recognised by audiences, this formula is reused and reproduced continuously.

Audiences and genres: why do audiences find genres satisfying?

audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations may be fulfilled and may find pleasure in predicting what will happen next.

Audiences recognise the key elements or conventions of a genre and respond accordingly, these elements are called paradigms, for example within a music video, a music video will contain paradigms such as lip syncing, instruments, dance, and scenic views, within my music video there are lip syncs, instruments and scenic views.

Two types of paradigms have been identified within texts genres: these are Iconographic and Structural.

Iconographic paradigms consists of signs and symbols, i.e, the costume, props and setting within a western. in my music video things such as guitars, alcohol and urban location are iconographic to my music video.

Structural paradigms are the ways a text is put together and the shape it takes and how structures in the text deal with issues such as ideology and gender, e.g, how gender is represented in a rom-com, in my music video it is how the protagonist is portrayed, being weakened by the situation, making the audience see that the protagonist is heartfelt, sincere and passionate, these are the structural paradigms that are present in my music video.

Genres tend to become overused and Christian Metz discovered in essence the life cycle of a genre, characterised into four phases; the initial phase (first of its kind), the classical phase (the peak film of the genre), the declining phase (the decline in appeal), the parody phase (the film created to mock the genre).

Institutions and producers use genre of generic narratives depend on a certain amount of immediate communication with the audience, they want the narrative to be easily comprehensible, genres that use key components that are easily recognisable are particularly important.

Audience know what to expect from a genre but at the same time want some variations to prevent dissatisfaction and even boredom, thus any text in genre