A genre is a type/category of art, media or literature. It comes from the French word meaning ‘kind’ or ‘sort’. Genre rests around a relationship between similarities and differences. Genres are very important to institutions and audiences.

“saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and
clichés and all of these limitations were codified in specific genres. This was the very foundation of the studio system and audiences love genre pictures” – Martin Scorcese, a personal journey through American cinema (1995)

Genres are the same, but different at the same time.