Genre Theory

"Genres are created through a process of repetition and recognition leading to anticipation and expectation."
"The familiar and the expected" - (G.Burton, 2000)
"Same but different." (Nick Lacey, 1999)

How typical are you three main texts of their genre?

• Key Signifiers and iconography
• Story-lines and plots
• Characters and their functions
• Stars/celebrities
• Use of camera, sound and editing
• Use of dialogue, language and music

Genre texts are successful because...

- Audiences like familiarity

- They give us an informed choice

Genre Change - avoids boredom

- Hybridity

- New techniques

- Modern social issues (Fish Tank)

- Different characters

FILM NOIR

'The Spirit' - made 3 years after 'Sin City' by the same writer

- Private eye

- Female police officers; links with 'Sin City' and the women's fight for power

- Voice over

- Femme Fatale