An Introduction to Genre Theory

An Introduction to Genre Theory
Daniel Chandler
1. The problem of definition
A number of perennial doubts plague genre theory. Are genres really 'out there ' in the world, or are they merely the constructions of analysts? Is there a finite taxonomy of genres or are they in principle infinite? Are genres timeless Platonic essences or ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culturebound or transcultural?... Should genre analysis be descriptive or proscriptive? (Stam 2000, 14)
The word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'kind ' or 'class '. The term is widely used in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory, and more recently linguistics, to refer to a distinctive type of 'text '*. Robert Allen notes that 'for most of its
2,000 years, genre study has been primarily nominological and typological in function. That is to say, it has taken as its principal task the division of the world of literature into types and the naming of those types - much as the botanist divides the realm of flora into varieties of plants ' (Allen 1989, 44). As will be seen, however, the analogy with biological classification into genus and species misleadingly suggests a 'scientific ' process.
Since classical times literary works have been classified as belonging to general types which were variously defined. In literature the broadest division is between poetry, prose and drama, within which there are further divisions, such as tragedy and comedy within the category of drama. Shakespeare referred satirically to classifications such as 'tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comicalhistorical-pastoral... ' (Hamlet II ii). In The Anatomy of
Criticism the formalist literary theorist Northrop Frye
(1957) presented certain universal genres and modes as the key to organizing the entire literary corpus.
Contemporary media genres tend to relate more to specific forms than

References: and suggested reading Abercrombie, Nicholas (1996): Television and Society Allen, Robert (1989): 'Bursting bubbles: "Soap opera" audiences and the limits of genre '. In Ellen Seiter, Hans Borchers, Gabriele Kreutzner & Eva-Maria Warth (Eds.): Remote Control: Television, Audiences and Cultural Power Altheide, D L & R P Snow (1979): Media Logic. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Barthes, Roland (1975): S/Z Bignell, Jonathan (1997): Media Semiotics: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press Bordwell, David (1989): Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema Brooks, Cleanth & Robert Penn Warren (1972): Modern Rhetoric (Shorter 3rd Edn.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Buckingham, David (1993): Children Talking Television: The Making of Television Literacy TV: Categorization and Genre ', pp. 135-55) Casey, Bernadette (1993): 'Genre ' Chandler, Daniel (1997): 'Children 's understanding of what is "real" on television: a review of the literature ', Journal of Educational Media 23(1): 65-80 Corner, John (1991): 'Meaning, genre and context: the problematics of "public knowledge" in the new audience studies '. In James Curran & Michael Gurevitch (Eds.): Mass Media and Society Derrida, Jacques (1981): 'The law of genre '. In W J T Mitchell (Ed.): On Narrative. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Fairclough, Norman (1995): Media Discourse Feuer, Jane (1992): 'Genre study and television '. In Robert C Allen (Ed.): Channels of Discourse, Reassembled: Television and Contemporary Criticism Fiske, John (1987): Television Culture. London: Routledge (Chapter 7: 'Intertextuality ') Fowler, Alastair (1982): Kinds of Literature Fowler, Alastair (1989): 'Genre '. In Erik Barnouw (Ed.): International Encyclopedia of Communications, Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 215-7 Freedman, Aviva & Peter Medway (Eds.) (1994a): Genre and the New Rhetoric Freedman, Aviva & Peter Medway (Eds.) (1994b): Learning and Teaching Genre. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Frye, Northrop (1957): The Anatomy of Criticism Gledhill, Christine (1985): 'Genre '. In Pam Cook (Ed.): The Cinema Book. London: British Film Institute Hayward, Susan (1996): Key Concepts in Cinema Studies Hodge, Robert & Gunther Kress (1988): Social Semiotics. Cambridge: Polity Jaglom, Leona M & Howard Gardner (1981a): ‘Decoding the worlds of television’, Studies in Visual Communication 7(1): 33-47 Jaglom, Leona M & Howard Gardner (1981b): ‘The preschool television viewer as anthropologist’. In Hope Kelly & Howard Gardner (Eds.): Viewing Children Through Television (New Directions for Child Development 13) Jensen, Klaus Bruhn (1995): The Social Semiotics of Mass Communication. London: Sage Knight, Deborah (1994): 'Making sense of genre ', Film and Philosophy 2 [WWW document] URL http://www.hanover.edu/philos/film/vol_02/knight.htm Konigsberg, Ira (1987): The Complete Film Dictionary Kress, Gunther (1988): Communication and Culture: An Introduction. Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press Langholz Leymore, Varda (1975): Hidden Myth: Structure and Symbolism is Advertising Lichter, S Robert, Linda S Lichter & Stanley Rothman (1991): Watching America: What Television Tells Us About Our Lives. New York: Prentice Hall Livingstone, Sonia M (1990): Making Sense of Television: The Psychology of Audience Interpretation. London: Pergamon An Introduction to Genre Theory 15 Livingstone, Sonia M (1994): 'The rise and fall of audience research: an old story with a new ending '. In Mark R Levy & Michael Gurevitch (Eds.) Defining Media Studies: Reflectiions on the Future of the Field McQuail, Denis (1987): Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction (2nd Edn.). London: Sage Miller, Carolyn R (1984): 'Genre as social action ', Quarterly Journal of Speech 70: 151-67; reprinted in Freedman & Medway (1994a, op. cit.), pp. 23-42 Morley, David (1980): The 'Nationwide ' Audience: Structure and Decoding Neale, Stephen (1980): Genre. London: British Film Institute [solely concerned with film]; an extract can be found in Tony Bennett, Susan Boyd-Bowman, Colin Mercer & Janet Woollacott (Eds.) (1981): Popular Television and Film University Press Neale, Stephen ([1990] 1995): 'Questions of genre ' London: Arnold, pp. 460-72 O 'Sullivan, Tim, John Hartley, Danny Saunders, Martin Montgomery & John Fiske (1994): Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge Sobchack, Thomas & Vivian C Sobchack (1980): An Introduction to Film Solomon, Stanley J ([1976] 1995): Extract from Beyond Formula: American Film Genres. In Oliver Boyd-Barrett & Chris Newbold (Eds.) Approaches to Media: A Reader Stam, Robert (2000): Film Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Swales, John M (1990): Genre Analysis Thwaites, Tony, Lloyd Davis & Warwick Mules (1994): Tools for Cultural Studies: An Introduction. South Melbourne: Macmillan (Chapter 5) Tolson, Andrew (1996): Mediations: Text and Discourse in Media Studies. London: Arnold (Chapter 4: 'Genre ') Tudor, Andrew (1974): Image and Influence: Studies in the Sociology of Film Wales, Katie (1989): A Dictionary of Stylistics. London: Longman Wellek, René & Austin Warren (1963): Theory of Literature Williams, Raymond (1977): Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press Daniel Chandler : August 1977 The preferred form of citation for the online version of this paper is as follows: Chandler, Daniel (1997): 'An Introduction to Genre Theory ' [WWW document] URL