Genre

Some theories:

The Ideological Approach
Defines genres as ‘the generalized, identifiable structures through which Hollywood’s rhetoric flows […] Hollywood uses Genre as a tool for stamping beliefs and values onto audiences.’ -ALTMAN

I.E. Director: "I say that this is a thriller film because I am the one producing it. Whatever messages I want to put into the film I can."

OTHER Critics and Theorists who like this approach are
Cahiers Du Cinema Critics (France) and the Frankfurt School (Germany)




The Ritual Approach
Attributes ultimate authorship to the audience ie the people watching it are the ones who decide what genre it is based on their previous experiences. This approach sees Hollywood as responding to societal pressure and thus expressing audience desires.

Critics and theorists who like this position are:
John Cawelti, Leo Braudy, Frank McConnel, Micheal Wood, Will Wright and Tom Schatz



•Semantic- Like ingredients or building blocks- helps us to identify the genre.
•As Altman states‘ the primary, linguistic elements of which all texts are made’


•Synactic- Like recipes or architectural structures- helps us to explore meanings and values. As Altman states - ‘The secondary textual meanings that are constructed[…] between primary elements.’

I.E. The semantics would be the individual conventional elements of a genre and the syntactics would be the result of their use - e.g. a horror film.