Film genre - Barry Langford

The definitve guide to a key topic in film studies The most authoritative and up-to-date introduction to the key topic of film genre and genre theory, Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond provides a comprehensive account of genre history and contemporary trends in Hollywood and global cinema, alongside the critical debates they have provoked. The book ranges widely across the field, dealing separately and in detail with not only every classic genre - including the Western, the musical, the war film, film noir, and documentary - but also more recent trends such as body-horror and Holocaust film. Writing in a sophisticated yet jargon-free and accessible style, Barry Langford shows how notions of genre help shape the ways that filmmakers, critics and audiences view films and how the often complex scholarly debates around genre reflect important differences in the ways cinema is understood in relation to its social and historical contexts. Throughout the book, genre is presented as a constantly evolving phenomenon.