Theoretical Evaluation of Genre

Genre also acts as a critical tool that helps us study texts and audience responses to those texts, by dividing them into categories based on common elements. Like most things in society, genre is often theorised in a variety of in-depth ways by social and media theorists. I have included just a handful of theorists below and briefly outlined some of the things which they have to say about genre. 

- Daniel Chandler argues that the word 'genre' comes from the French word for 'kind' or class'. Genre is widely used in literacy theory and media theory, to refer to a distinctive type of text. 

- Barry Keith Grant (1995) suggests that all genres have sub genres, which means that they are all divided up into more specific categories that allow audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and recognisable characteristics. Steve Neale (1995) argued that this is not the case, instead genres are not 'systems', they are processes of systematisation, i.e. they are dynamic and evolve over time. 

- Jason Mitchell (2001) argues that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience and cultural practises as well. Industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Media products use familiar codes and conventions that very often make cultural references to their audiences' knowledge of society. Genre also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure.  

- Rick Altman (1999) argues that genre offers audiences 'a set of pleasures', which are either emotional pleasures, visceral pleasures or intellectual pleasures.

- Christian Metz argued that genres will go through a typical cycle of changes during their lifetime, which he states are the experimental stage, classic stage, parody stage and demonstration stage.