Genre vs. Theme
I know what you’re thinking…
“I’ve been studying theme since the
seventh grade.”
True, but let’s review just the same.
Genre vs. Theme
What’s the difference?
Let’s first look at genre…
Genre vs. Theme
Genre is defined as a category of
artistic composition, as in
music or literature, marked by a
distinctive style, form, or
content:
Genre vs. Theme
Think of genre as a category in
literature –
…can you think of any?
Genre vs. Theme
YES!
Tragedy, comedy, farce, fiction,
non-fiction, etc…
these are all genres.
Genre vs. Theme
In film there are similar genres:
tragedy, comedy, farce,
westerns, science fiction, fantasy,
documentary, etc…these are all
genres.
Genre vs. Theme
Now let’s look at theme.
When asked to look at
theme think of “topic”
-what is this about?
Genre vs. Theme
“What’s it about? “
Isn’t plot ‘what it’s about?’”
This is true in terms of the story,
but theme is what it’s really about
like between the characters.
Genre vs. Theme
Theme is defined as a topic
of discussion or discourse;
subject of artistic
representation; an implicit or
recurrent idea; a motif
Genre vs. Theme
Theme is something like
loyalty, vengeance,
unrequited love,
redemption, etc…
Genre vs. Theme
There are universal themes.
You’ll find these themes
reoccurring over and over
again.
Genre vs. Theme
Universal themes
come from emotions
and transcend (cut-through)
culture, gender, age, geography,
historical period and genres.
?????????????
So what does this mean?
Genre vs. Theme
Universal themes come
from such topics or as:
-Acceptance
-Beauty
-Betrayal
-Death
-Deception
-Despair
-Education
-Envy
Genre vs. Theme
More topics from which we
get universal themes:
-Fear
-Family
-Faith
-Freedom
-Friendship -Greed
-Hatred
-Hope
Genre vs. Theme
Even more topics from which
we get universal themes:
-Honesty
-Identity
-Innocence
-Justice
-Law
-Love
-Money
-Nature
Genre vs. Theme
…and more topics from which
we get universal themes:
-Peace
-Poverty
-Pride
-Revenge
-Sacrifice
-Time
-Truth
-War
Genre vs. Theme
Remember genre?
Let’s think about genre again.
Think about a story you know.
Got one?
Genre vs. Theme
What genre
would you place your story in?
What was the theme?
These are separate things and we
need to know the difference.
Genre vs. Theme
Why you ask?
So we can have a decent
conversation with after the movie,
book or play.
Genre vs. Theme
Let’s look at genre again.
Genre vs. Theme
Star Wars
belongs to a
genre. Can
you guess
which one?
Genre vs. Theme
That’s right!:
Science
Fiction.
Genre vs. Theme
Harry Potter
belongs to a
genre. Can
you guess
which one?
Genre vs. Theme
That’s right!:
Fantasy.
Genre vs. Theme
The Simpons
belongs to a
genre. Can
you guess
which one?
Genre vs. Theme
We call it satire,
which is usually
loaded with social
commentary.
Genre vs. Theme
Now let’s look at theme again.
This time in the context of the
genres we were playing with.
Genre vs. Theme
Star Wars
has many
themes. Can
you guess
some?
Genre vs. Theme
That’s right!:
love, loyalty,
persecution,
freedom, and
redemption,
just to name a few.
Genre vs. Theme
Harry Potter
has a theme
or two. Can
you guess
some?
Genre vs. Theme
That’s right!:
family, loss, love,
community, and
friendship, just to
name a few.
Genre vs. Theme
Even the
Simpons has
a theme or
two. Can you
guess some?
Genre vs. Theme
You guessed it: love,
loyalty, persecution,
freedom, redemption,
family, loss, community,
friendship and even
corruption.
Genre vs. Theme
That’s it for this review. Hope
you are clearer on the concepts
of genre vs. theme; and when
asked to identify either one in a
literary analysis won’t be too
confused. Keep reading!