What is Genre?

According to media theorist Daniel Chandler, genre is widely used to refer to 'a distinctive type of text'. He states that genre creates order to simplify the mass of information available; he believes that creating categories appeals to our needs to categorise the chaos around us. Another media theorist, John Fiske, agrees with Chandler's theory of creating order through categorising texts. He believes these categories are based on common elements and conventions within the texts such as locations, actors, mis-en-scene, etc, and this is convenient for both the producers and the audience. Barry Keith Grant, another media theorist, studied hybridity and sub-genres; often texts do not fit into just one category but have elements of many genres, known as hybridity. The genres placed within other genres are known as sub-genres. Grant argued that these allow audiences to identify them specifically by their recognisable and familiar characteristics. The repertoire of characteristics works like a short-hand communication with the audience. Steve Neale argued that genre is created through repetition and difference. He believed that key conventions such as location and actors are repeated to create a certain genre.