Genre Difference, Repetition and Similarity

                             Steve Neale - Genre Theory

Steve Neale states that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference' and 'genres are not systems, they are processes of systemisation'. He also say's that, definitions of genre are historically relative and are therefore historically specific. Believed that there was a system of expectation and that by using own knowledge and applying conventions of the genre, the audience should be able to infer the narrative and storyline of the music video. He also declares that difference is essential to the economy of genre; mere repetition would not attract the audience. 

                                                      Genre Difference

In spite of the fact that films have the same genre, they can be very different from each other. For example, the thriller 'The others' differs a lot from thriller 'Jaws'. First of all, we can observe a huge differences through muse-en-scene as in 'The Others' the setting is the giant mansion on an almost empty island. The plot is about a woman named Grace who live with her two children Anne and Nicholas in this dark and scary mansion. Grace's husband is a soldier in the second World War and Grace has given her husband up for dead. Everything seems peaceful for her, but when three mysterious servants are given jobs at the house, terrifying secrets are unlocked even Grace can not handle. The setting of the second thriller is peaceful and pretty beach an Amity Island in a hot summer. The plot is about new Sheriff Martin Brody who discover the remains of a shark attack victim, his first inclination is to close the beaches to swimmers. This doesn't sit well with Mayor Larry Vaughn and several of the local businessmen. Brody backs down to his regret as that weekend a young boy is killed by the predator. The dead boy's mother puts out a bounty on the shark and Amity is soon swamped with amateur hunters and fisherman hoping to cash in on the reward. A local fisherman with much experience hunting sharks, Quint, offers to hunt down the creature for a hefty fee. Soon Quint, Brody and Matt Hooper from the Oceanographic Institute are at sea hunting the Great White shark. As Brody succinctly surmises after their first encounter with the creature, they're going to need a bigger boat. Therefore, we can see two absolutely different films in terms of miss-en-scene, characters, plot and narrative events however they are both relates to the genre of thriller. There are two trailers to see more carefully these differences between two movies of the same genre.

                                                Genre Similarity

However, these two films have some the same points. Firstly, they both aiming to create suspense and tension through different ways e.g. music, actor's movement, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. In both films storytellers have always employed suspense and adventure to thrill and captivate their audiences. These both  thrillers provides the sudden rush of emotions, excitement, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace. It keeps the audience on the "edge of their seats", akin to a sensation of hanging from a cliff, as the plot builds towards a climax, literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively.

                                               Genre Repetition
Much content and treatment of films and other media texts is basically the same.
If the content of a media treatment of product is repeated often enough it is accepted as the right way to handle the material. Producers will recognise this as a formula to use and this will set up expectations for the audience.
The main reason why we have repetition of content and treatment is because it sells. But, it stll has to be based on something that is attractive to the audience (the media conventions).
Burton suggest that the cause of this repetition are:

• Different types of media texts - and what is popular
• The content of that product (the character)
• The treatment it is given - it is plot and narrative structure for example.

A genre is a type or category of media product, like a spy thriller. It is the predictability and repeated elements that define a film genre and how it is different from other genres. When two genres are mixed together in a film it is called a hybrid. These elements include a combination of protagonist/antagonist, the use of stock character - archetypes, plots - the familiarity of storylines or parts of them that are predictable and recognisable. This also includes the use of iconography, setting and thematic variations, such as outta space for sci-fi fans or a crime being committed in a thriller.