Genre Theory, Hybridity and Intertextuality
Genres are not fixed boxes. Learn how media texts use genre conventions, how they mix genres into hybrids, and how they refer to each other through intertextuality.
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Genres are not fixed
A **genre** is a type of media text, such as horror or romance, that audiences recognise from its shared features. But genres are not sealed boxes. They **repeat** familiar features and **vary** them, they **mix** together into hybrids, and they **refer** to one another. This module unpacks all of that.
Four key ideas
These four words run through genre theory.
Match the genre
- Horror
- Romance
- Science fiction
- Comedy
- Darkness, tension and a villain
- A developing love story
- Futuristic technology or space
- Jokes designed to make you laugh
What is a hybrid genre?
What does it mean to call a media text a hybrid genre?
- It mixes two or more genres together
- It has no genre at all
- It is simply the most popular genre
- It is a genre that never changes
Repetition and variation
Genres survive by balancing the familiar with the fresh.
Match the hybrid
- Rom-com
- Sci-fi horror
- Musical comedy
- Action thriller
- Romance and comedy
- Science fiction and horror
- Music and comedy
- Action and thriller
Why genres blend
Producers mix and evolve genres to keep audiences interested and to reach new ones. A hybrid can offer the pleasures of two genres at once, which can also help a product sell to a wider audience.
Complete the theory
A _____ is a type of media text with shared _____. Genres repeat familiar features but add _____ to stay fresh. When a text mixes two genres it is a _____ genre. When one text refers to another, that is _____.
True about genre
Which of these statements about genre are true? Choose all that apply.
- Genres share recognisable conventions
- Genres can mix to form hybrids
- Genres change and evolve over time
- Every text belongs to only one fixed genre
- Genres never use familiar features
Spot the hybridity
An interactive activity.
How a genre evolves
An interactive activity.
Spot the technique
A new film includes a scene that clearly refers to a famous older film. What is this an example of?
- Intertextuality
- Hybridity
- Denotation
- A single genre
Classify the text
An interactive activity.
Your turn
An interactive activity.