Genre film
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
A simple example of the inherent meaning of genre in an art form is that of a western film where two men face each other on a dusty and empty road; one dons a black hat, the other white. Independent of any external meaning, there is no way to tell what the situation might mean, but due to the long development of the "western" genre, it is clear to the informed audience that they are watching a gunfight showdown between a good guy and a bad guy.
Illustration: screen shot from L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat
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Much like genre fiction, genre film is a term for films made with the intent of fitting into a specific cinematic genre in order to appeal to the fans of that genre. In contemporary film-producing, genre is an elastic term used to group works sharing similarities of character, theme, and setting—such as mystery, romance, or horror—that have been proven to appeal to particular groups of viewers. Genres continuously evolve, divide, and combine as viewers' tastes change and directors search for fresh ways to tell stories. For a number of reasons, genre film is often regarded as the lower-quality opposite of A-list films. The genres of genre film action film, adventure film, crime film, detective film, erotic film, fantastic film, horror film, mystery film, romance film, science fiction film, thriller film, western film.
As was the case with the French cinephilia of the post-war era, the international cinephilic community that has developed on the Internet often emphasizes films and figures that do not have strong critical or popular recognition, including many directors who work within genre film. These include Abel Ferrara, Bela Tarr, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Philippe Garrel and Pedro Costa.
See also
Related: B-movies - exploitation film - low budget
Film festivals dedicated to genre cinema: BIFFF
Connotations: bad taste, conventional, kitsch, low culture
Contrast with: mainstream film, auteur theory, art film
By country: Italian genre cinema
See also
- Genre, the generic term referring to all forms of art and entertainment
- B movie, a generic film with minimal artistic ambitions
