Editing Film genre (section)

==History==
From the [[History of film|earliest days of cinema]] in the 19th century the term "genre" (already in use in English with reference to works of art or literary production from at least 1770<ref>
{{oed | genre}}
</ref>) was used{{by whom|date=May 2020}} to organize films according to type.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Hayward
 | first1 = Susan
 | year = 1996
 | chapter = Genre/Sub-genre
 | title = Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FSNb31TtSy4C
 | series = Routledge Key Guides
 | edition = 3
 | location = London
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2006
 | page = 185
 | isbn = 9781134208920
 | access-date = 29 May 2020
 | quote = As a term genre goes back to earliest cinema and was seen as a way of organizing films according to type. But it was not until the late 1960s that genre was introduced as a key concept into Anglo-Saxon film theory [...].
}}
</ref>
By the 1950s [[André Bazin]] was discussing the concept of "genre" by using the [[Western (genre)#Film|Western film]] as an example; during this era, there was a debate over [[Auteur|auteur theory]] versus genre.<ref name="autogenerated185"/> In the late 1960s the concept of genre became a significant part of [[film theory]].<ref name="autogenerated185"/>
[[File:Little Caesar (1931 film poster - Style A).jpg|thumb|315x315px|Theatrical release poster of the 1931 American film ''[[Little Caesar (film)|Little Caesar]]''.]]
Film genres draw on genres from other forms; [[Western fiction|Western novels]] existed before the Western film, and [[musical theatre]] pre-dated film musicals.<ref>Grant, Barry Keith. ''Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology.'' Wallflower Press, 2007. p. 4</ref> The perceived genre of a film can change over time; for example, in the 21st century [[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|''The Great Train Robbery'']] (1903) classes as a key early Western film, but when released, marketing promoted it "for its relation to the then-popular genres of the chase film, the [[Rail transport|railroad]] film and the crime film".<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Grant
 | first1 = Barry Keith
 | author-link1 = Barry Keith Grant
 | chapter = approaching film genre
 | title = Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tCQOwvI9vsAC
 | series = Short cuts
 | year = 2007
 | volume = 33
 | location = London
 | publisher = Wallflower Press
 | publication-date = 2007
 | page = 6
 | isbn = 9781904764793
 | access-date = 29 May 2020
 | quote = [...] Neale notes that most histories of the western film begin with ''The Great Train Robbery'' (1903), but when released it was promoted not as a western but marketed for its relation to the then-popular genres of the chase film, the railroad film and the crime film; at that time, there was no recognised genre known as the western into which to categorise it.
}}
</ref>
A key reason that the early [[cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] industrial system from the 1920s to the 1950s favoured genre films is that in "Hollywood's industrial mode of production, genre movies are dependable products" to [[marketing|market]] to audiences – they were easy to produce and it was easy for audiences to understand a genre film.<ref>Grant, Barry Keith. ''Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology.'' Wallflower Press, 2007. p. 7–8</ref> In the 1920s to 1950s, genre films had clear conventions and iconography, such as the heavy coats worn by gangsters in films like [[Little Caesar (film)|''Little Caesar'']] (1931).<ref name = grant8>
Grant, Barry Keith. ''Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology.'' Wallflower Press, 2007. p. 8.
</ref>
The conventions in genre films enable filmmakers to generate them in an industrial, assembly-line fashion, an approach which can be seen in the [[List of James Bond films|James Bond]] spy-films, which all use a formula of "lots of action, fancy gadgets, beautiful woman and colourful villains", even though the actors, directors and screenwriters change.<ref name = grant8/>