Description
Book SynopsisGenre - 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.
Trade Review“This is a sharp and incisive book on film genre … .Moine brings a great deal of fresh insight to her discussion of the mechanics of genre movies in this tight, ably translated little volume, which includes a deft introduction from Janet Staiger. Moine has something absolutely new to say, and her book stands out in a crowded field. It is accessible yet elegantly theoretical, and superbly written and researched. Highly recommended.” (
Choice Reviews, December 2008)
Table of ContentsTranslators’ 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
