How to understand what a genre is?

In this article, we will try in a broad sense to describe what a genre is, where it can meet us and on which varieties it is subdivided. Also consider the history of the birth of this term, we will reveal its etymological essence and understand when its application is appropriate both in domestic and in scientific and artificial cases.

The generalized concept

Speaking simply about what a genre is, we come to the following formulation: this is one of the varieties of a work in any art sector . Genres are found in painting, literature, music, theater and cinema. Also they can be found in speech, in relationships, in traditions and other branches of our life. Any of the selected genres is characterized by certain stylistic or plot characters, according to which any work is identified. Simply put, we can say that this is an ordinary style. In each separate branch of art, a specialist can determine the stylistic affiliation of a particular work.

A short list of genres

In order to become clearer, let us try to consider this concept in various forms of art. Mainly, genres are found in the literature, and among them stand out the following:

• Comedy is a ridiculous work, which has a derisive character.
• Drama is a story based on the conflict of the main characters.
• The story is a story in which a series of events are covered.
• The novel is a large form in which the fate of the characters is closely intertwined.
• Tragedy is a work of a sad, often deadly nature.
• The poem can have any meaning, however it is characterized by the presence of rhyme.

This is not a complete list of literary genres. In the past centuries, the separation of literary forms was more rigorous, there were few stylistic orientations. It was also characteristic that each genre could be very easily identified, since all authors strictly adhered to the established framework.

Features of modern genres

Over time, these restrictions have become more flexible, expanded, so to speak, the artistic possibilities in each individual style. Starting around the 19th century, writers and poets began to unite two or more trends in one work. Nowadays, the main literary genres are closely intertwined with cinematism, that is, with those categories that are more relevant to cinema. This is due primarily to the fact that literary works began to be screened in the first half of the 20th century, and in the years to come this tendency not only became an integral part of art, but also had a reverse course of events. That is, some books that you can buy and read today were written according to the script created for the film or series.

What is the genre in the cinema

The basis of styles related to this art form is found in literature and theater. Among the films, the overwhelming majority are occupied by comedies and the opposite tragedies, dramas, epics, melodramas, detectives, musicals and so on. However, due to the rapid development of world cinema in these ranks there is a fair replenishment, and now you can call three to four times more genres that are relevant to different paintings. Let's list a few of them:

• Anime - painted paintings, which consistently create the movements of each painted hero. Among these "cartoons" are pretty meaningful works, the fullness of which can not even understand every adult.
• Action - the clash of the main character most often with the world of crime, where questions are solved by fists and shooting.
• Western and eastern are two opposite genres, which have much in common with the militant. Characteristic is that in the first events are based on the traditions of the Wild West, and in the second - on the "concepts" of the East.
• Suspense - a kind of mixture of horror, detective and action movie, which does not let the viewer for a second from the screen.
• Fantasy - an ordinary story about the heroes, which is accompanied by unreal events and characters.

Musical style and directions

Speaking about what a genre is, you can not lose sight of the music. In this form of art, stylistics is especially pronounced. Proceeding from it, people define their musical tastes, change music in their players depending on their mood. In the past centuries, the works were not divided as such into different genres, but in our days the situation is exactly the opposite. All the ancient music belongs to the classics as the main category. All those works that were recorded in the second half of the 20th century and in recent years are divided into main genres, among which are pop, rock, jazz, blues, rap, indie, chanson, folk music, country and electro. The last musical style has many varieties (ambient, house, trance, EBM, synth-pop, drum-n-bey, techno, dubstep, etc.).

Genres in other arts

Such a concept as a genre occurs in painting, in sculpture, even in everyday speech and in human behavior. Watch yourself and what you say, and you will understand that this term has to be used in direct and figurative meaning more than often.