Genre — or ‘type’ — is a core concept in both film
production and the history of film. Genres play a key role in how
moviegoers perceive and rate films, and is likely to determine a
film’s production values and costs.
Written in a clear, engaging, jargon-free style, this volume
offers a cutting-edge theoretical overview of the topic of genre as
practiced in British, American and French film criticism. Organized
by a series of simple but fundamental questions, the book uses
numerous examples from classic Hollywood cinema (the western,
drama, musical comedy, and film noir) as well as some more
contemporary examples from European or Asian cinema that are so
often neglected by other studies in the field. How do we
characterize genre and what are its various functions? In what ways
does genre give a film its identity? How do genres emerge? What is
the cultural significance of genre and how does it circulate within
and across national boundaries? Informative and user-friendly,
Moine’s book is accessible to general readers and adapts
easily to a wide range of teaching approaches.
Содержание
Translators’ Note.
Foreword by Janet Staiger.
Introduction.
1. In the Genre Jungle.
Cinematic Genre. An Empirical Category.
Every Use Has Its Own Typology.
An Impossible Typology?.
2. Looking for the Rules of Genre.
Looking for Genre’s Formal Rules.
Genre: An Intertextual Phenomenon.
In Search of the Structures of Genre.
Semantic-Syntactic Definitions of Genre.
3. What Is the Purpose of Genres?.
A Production Tool.
The Social Functions of Genre.
The Communicative Function of Genre.
4. The Generic Identities of a Film.
The Relations Between Film and Genre.
The Uses of Generic Identity.
The Mixing of Genres: Pluri-generic Attributes.
5. How to Conceptualize the History of a Genre?.
To Put an End to the Theory of Generic Evolution.
The Birth of a Cinematic Genre.
Hybridization and Mutation of Genres.
6. Genres in Context.
Cultural Identity and the Circulation of Genres.
Generic Regimes.
Conclusion.
Select Bibliography.
Filmography.
Index
Об авторе
Raphaëlle Moine is Professor of Cinema Studies
at Université Paris X-Nanterre.
Hilary Radner is Professor of Film and Media Studies at
the University of Otago.
Alistair Fox is Professor of English at the University of
Otago.