The Film Genre Book

A comprehensive introduction to film history, The Film Genre Book allows the reader to create their own narrative of film through history by focusing on seven genres, highlighting a key film from each genre over a ninety-year period--sixty-three films discussed in detail. The reader can trace the developments in a particular genre over time or compare films in a particular decade from the different genres. Each case-study considers issues of historical context, representation and the close textual analysis of significant scenes. Analysing films as diverse as Bambi and Pan's Labyrinth, the book immerses its reader into the full range of film experience. Its breadth of study, and the way in which it bridges the gap between commercial film guides and academic studies, makes it invaluable to teacher, student, and cineaste alike.

This is a concise evaluation of film genre, discussing genre theory and sample analyses of the western, science fiction, the musical, horror, comedy, and the thriller. It introduces the topic in an accessible way and includes sections on the principles of studying and understanding "the idea of genre"; genre and popular culture; the narrative and stylistic conventions of specific genres; the relations of genres to culture and history, race, gender, sexuality, class and national identity; and the complex relations between genre and authorship. Case studies include: 42nd Street, Pennies from Heaven, Red River, All That Heaven Allows, Night of the Living Dead, Die Hard, Little Big Man, Blue Steel, and Posse.

Film/Genre revises our notions of film genre and connects the roles played by industry critics and audiences in making and re-making genre. Altman reveals the conflicting stakes for which the genre game has been played and recognises that the term 'genre' has different meanings for different groups, basing his new genre theory on the uneasy competitive yet complimentary relationship among genre users and discussing a huge range of films from The Great Train Robbery to Star Wars and from The Jazz Singer to The Player.

This book provides a detailed account of genre history and contemporary trends in film genre, alongside the critical debates they have provoked.

In this book, Kaminsky and other scholars use the sophisticated critical tools of contemporary literary and film analysis to examine popular American television genres. Critical approaches ranging from historical to anthropological to structural and psychoanalytic are clearly presented and then used to analyze a variety of shows including soap operas, police dramas, game shows, and news programs. Throughout the book the authors explore the ways in ehich the genres of popular television regularly viewed by millions are significant on a cultural and social level. These explorations reveal that popular television can be understood as a rich and complex art form. This book will provide the student with a detailed introduction to the art of television criticism.

From reviews of the third edition: “Film Genre Reader III lives up to the high expectations set by its predecessors, providing an accessible and relatively comprehensive look at genre studies. The anthology’s consideration of the advantages and challenges of genre studies, as well as its inclusion of various film genres and methodological approaches, presents a pedagogically useful overview.” —Scope Since 1986, Film Genre Reader has been the standard reference and classroom text for the study of genre in film, with more than 25,000 copies sold. Barry Keith Grant has again revised and updated the book to reflect the most recent developments in genre study. This fourth edition adds new essays on genre definition and cycles, action movies, science fiction, and heritage films, along with a comprehensive and updated bibliography. The volume includes more than thirty essays by some of film’s most distinguished critics and scholars of popular cinema, including Charles Ramírez Berg, John G. Cawelti, Celestino Deleyto, David Desser, Thomas Elsaesser, Steve Neale, Thomas Schatz, Paul Schrader, Vivian Sobchack, Janet Staiger, Linda Williams, and Robin Wood.

An Introduction to Film Genres, written by leading film scholars specifically for undergraduates who are new to the study of film, provides an introduction that helps students see thirteen film genres in a new light---to help them identify the themes, iconography, and distinctive stylistic traits of each genre.

Film Genre for the Screenwriter is a practical study of how classic film genre components can be used in the construction of a screenplay. Based on Jule Selbo’s popular course, this accessible guide includes an examination of the historical origins of specific film genres, how and why these genres are received and appreciated by film-going audiences, and how the student and professional screenwriter alike can use the knowledge of film genre components in the ideation and execution of a screenplay. Explaining the defining elements, characteristics and tropes of genres from romantic comedy to slasher horror, and using examples from classic films like Casablanca alongside recent blockbuster franchises like Harry Potter, Selbo offers a compelling and readable analysis of film genre in its written form. The book also offers case studies, talking points and exercises to make its content approachable and applicable to readers and writers across the creative field.