The idea of genre as an enabling mechanism to attract audiences based around predictable expectations. He suggests that genres are structured around a repertoire of elements which creates a corpus or body of similar texts, which could all belong to the same category.

Genre is a process, that genres change as society and culture changes. As such, genres are historically specific and reflect / represent changing ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs of society at any particular moment in history. This may explain, why genres are often blurred across different conventions and expectations, creating sub-genres, or hybrid genres

Genre is repetition of familiar conventions and difference to other media products within the genre

Key terms

predictable expectations– viewers can suggest what they think is going to happen based on the general conventions of a genre

reinforced– strengthen an idea

amplify– add detail or expand upon a story

repertoire of elements– features of a film that are repeated within a genre

corpus– a collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular author or a body of writing on a particular subject

verisimilitude– seems realistic and the story has details, subjects, and characters that seem similar or true to real life, or mime convincing aspects of life in important or fundamental ways

realism– the way in which a media representation is seen to relate to. real-world experience

construction of reality– the way in which media influences how we view real-life situations

historically specific– the genre will reflect / represent changing ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs of society at any particular moment in history

sub-genres– One of several categories within a particular genre

hybrid genres– share the conventions of more than one genre