Breathless (1960) could be considered film noir;
Woody Allen’s Annie Hall(1977) is a romantic com-
edy; John Ford’s The Searchers(1956) is a Western,
as is Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(1966); Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in
the Rain(1952) is a musical; David Lean’s Lawrence
of Arabia(1962) is a biography and a war movie and
an epic.
But audiences don’t like just the classic films
that transcend genre conventions. Genre films have
been prevalent since the earliest days of cinema
because, contrary to popular perceptions, most
movie viewers value predictability over novelty.
Elements of certain genres appeal to us, so we seek
to repeat an entertaining or engaging cinema expe-
rience by viewing a film that promises the same
surefire ingredients. There is a certain pleasure
that comes from seeing how different filmmakers
and performers have rearranged and interpreted
familiar elements, just as there is an exhilarating
pleasure to be found in an unexpected deviation
from the anticipated path. To put this relationship
into gastronomic terms: the most common pizza
features a flour-based crust topped with tomato
sauce and mozzarella cheese, but it’s the potential
variety within that familiar foundation that has
made pizza one of America’s favorite foods.
A less obvious but perhaps more profound
explanation for the persistent prevalence of genre
lies in the deep roots genre has in our society.
Remember that any given genre naturally emerges
and crystallizes not because Hollywood thinks it’ll
sell, but because it gives narrative voice to some-
thing essential to our culture. The film industry
may ultimately exploit a genre’s cultural resonance,
but only after cultural conditions motivate enough
individual artists and viewers to create the genre in
the first place. No studio executive or directors’
club decided to invent horror movies out of thin air.
Horror movies exist because of our collective fear
of death and the human psyche’s need for catharsis.
Westerns enact and endorse aspects of American
history and the human condition that Americans
have needed to believe about themselves. We go to
these movies not only to celebrate the familiar, but
to enforce fundamental beliefs and passively per-
form cultural rituals. As our world evolves and
audience perspectives change, genre movies adapt
to reflect these cultural shifts. A Western made
during the can-do patriotism of World War II is
likely to express its themes differently than one
produced at the height of the Vietnam War.Genre Conventions
Movie genres are defined by sets of conventions—
aspects of storytelling such as recurring themes
and situations, setting, character types, and story
formula, as well as aspects of presentation and
visual style such as decor, lighting, and sound. Even
the movie stars associated with a particular genre
can be considered one of these defining conven-
tions. Keep in mind that these conventions are not
enforced; filmmakers don’t follow mandated genre
checklists. While every movie within any particular
genre will incorporate some of these elements, few
genre movies attempt to include every possible
genre convention.Story Formulas The way a movie’s story is
structured—its plot—also helps viewers determine
what genre it belongs to. For example, gangster
films—from Howard Hawks’s Scarface(1932) to
Ridley Scott’s American Gangster(2007)—tend to
share a plot structure in which an underprivileged
and disrespected immigrant joins (or forms) an
organized crime syndicate, works his way to the
top with a combination of savvy, innovation, and
ruthlessness, becomes corrupted by his newfound
power and the fruits of his labors, and, as a result,
is betrayed, killed, or captured.
Romantic comedy plots are structured around
characters in love as they couple, break up, and
reconnect. When they first meet, the two charac-
ters (usually a man and a woman) are at odds. They
fall in love in spite of—or sometimes because of—
this seeming incompatibility, then must overcome
obstacles to their relationship in the form of mis-
understandings, competing partners, social pres-
sures, or friction caused by the aforementioned
incompatibility. Eventually the romance will
appear doomed, but one half of the couple will real-
ize they are meant for each other and make a grand
gesture that reunites the romantic duo.GENRE 87