CONTENTS
Preface = ⅶ
1 What's at stake in the history of literary genre theory? = 1
Classical genre theory = 1
Neoclassical genre theory = 4
Nineteenthcentury genre theory = 5
Twentiethcentury genre theory = 7
Ten tendencies of literary genre theory = 11
2 What is generally understood by the notion of film genre? = 13
Genre is a useful category, because it bridges multiple concerns = 14
Genre are defined by the film industry and recognized by the mass audience = 15
Genres have clear, stable identities and borders = 16
Individual films belong wholly and permanently to a single genre = 18
Genres are transhistorical = 19
Genres undergo predictable development = 21
Genres are located in a particular topic, structure and corpus = 22
Genre films share certain fundamental characteristics = 24
Genre have either a ritual or an ideological function = 26
Genre critics are distanced from the practice of genre = 28
3 Where do genres come from? = 30
The musical = 31
The Western = 34
The biopic = 38
Producers as critics = 44
Joel Silver, the 'Selznick of schlock' = 46
4 Are genres stable? = 49
Adjectives and nouns = 50
Genre as process = 54
Noir as adjective and noun = 60
Genrification as process = 62
5 Are genres subject to redefinition? = 69
Postmortem for a phantom genre = 70
Rebirth of a phamtom genre = 72
Critics as producers = 77
Selling The Creature from the Black Lagoon = 78
6 Where are genres located? = 83
A multiplicity of locations = 84
Genre and nation = 86
Genre as textual structure： Semantics and syntax = 87
Genre as institution, institution as genre = 90
More than just a game? = 96
7 How are genres used? = 100
A day at Walt Disney World = 101
Majors and independents = 102
Hollywood and Washington = 107
Genres as good ad and bad objects = 110
Ratings as genre = 110
Namebrand marketing strategies = 113
Brandname movies = 115
Generic discursivity = 121
8 Why are genres sometimes mixed? = 123
Critical investments = 123
Studio strategies = 128
The genremixing game = 130
Hollywood cocktail = 132
Classical versus postmodern = 139
Mixing instructions = 142
9 What role do genres play in the viewing process? = 144
The generic crossroads = 145
Genre films on television = 150
Generic economy = 152
The generic community = 156
How spectators use genres = 164
10 What communication model is appropriate for genres? = 166
The fourhoot call of the barred owl = 166
Modelling generic communication = 169
Saussure revisited = 173
How it works in practice = 175
A new communication model = 178
11 Have genres and genre functions changed over time? = 179
The neoclassical nature of standard genre theory = 180
Audience or 'audience'? = 182
Genre in the age of remote consumption = 184
Pseudomemorials = 188
The passedalong song = 190
Sports, stars and advertising = 192
Genre in the new millennium = 193
12 What can genres teach us about nations? = 195
Hegel's newspaper = 196
Regenrigying the national anthem = 199
The name of the father = 202
Hyphenating the margins = 203
Genre／nation = 205
Conclusion： A semantic／syntactic／pragmatic approach to genre = 207
A semantic／syntactic／pragmatic approach = 208
Reception, opposition, poaching = 211
Planning and using cities and texts = 213
Appendix： 'A semantic／syntactic approach to film genre' = 216
Bibliography = 227
Index = 237
