Media Theories: GENRE

Genre :

• is a process of classification
• relies on repetition and difference
• is categorised into 'major', 'subgenre' and 'hybrid'.

A media text is classified in a genre through the identification of key elements.  These elements can be referred to as paradigms (meaning pattern) and range from costume to music to plot points etc. that the audience can recognise.

Genre paradigms can be grouped into 3 categories:

• Iconography - the signs and symbols you see and hear
• Structure - the way the media text is put together
• Theme - the issues and ideas it deals with

"Genre is a set of expectations" - Neale (1980:51)