The Genre Debate

Do you think genres are timeless? Can we still label films?
Genres do have the ability to stay timeless depending on the reputation and reaction of the films in it; if these films are all good and have fan bases than they may be able to stay timeless. However if the genre is full of niche market made films than this could make it seem cheap and repetitive giving the genre no cutting edge when it comes to new releases therefore it does not coincide with Janet Steiger's four ways of defining a film because it will not be accepted by cultural expectation or predetermined standard, more specifically compared to other films in the genre.

We can label films, in relation to Robert Stam theory; about how genres are defined through the performer or persona acting; an example of this is  Jean-Claude Van Damme films as they are usually involving the same type of character and then the audience no exactly what to expect.


Why do you think hybrid genres are developing so much?
I think hybrid genres are developing a lot because films need to meet audience expectations and preferences.  It is no longer that an audience expects to see one type of genre in a film, they expect a genre within a genre so that is why they are developing so much.  An example of this is Avatar, there are many genres in this film so it is hard to label one specific genre.  This film was extremely popular with the viewing public all over the world due to having a hybrid genre.


Choose one of your products and choose how it does or doesn't conform to a genre?


I think that our thriller project only works as a thriller because it contains very little other characteristics that could be related to other genres. This also means that is does not really work as a hybrid genre as it can only really be linked to a thriller type of movie.