Film Genre- Origins & Types
http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html 07/05/2012
Film Genres: Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that are
recurring and have similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, syntax, filmic techniques or conventions - that include
one or more of the following: settings (and props), content and subject matter, themes, mood, period, plot, central narrative
events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, recurring icons (e.g., six-guns and ten-gallon hats in Westerns), stock characters
(or characterizations), and stars. Many films are considered hybrids - they straddle several film genres.
. One problem with genre films is that they can become stale, cliche-ridden, and over-imitated. A traditional genre that
has been reinterpreted, challenged, or subjected to scrutiny may be termed revisionist.
Main Film Genres
Film Sub-Genres
Other Major Film Categories
Action Films
Biographical Films
(or "Biopics")
Animated Films
Adventure Films
'Chick' Flicks
British (UK Films)
Comedy Films
Detective & Mystery
Films
Childrens - Kids - Family-Oriented Films
Crime & Gangster
Films
Disaster Films
Classic Films
Drama Films
Fantasy Films
Cult Films
Epics/Historical Films
Film Noir
Documentary Films
Horror Films
Guy Films
Serial Films
Musicals (Dance)
Films
Melodramas,
Women's or
"Weeper" Films
Sexual - Erotic Films
Science Fiction Films
Road Films
Silent Films
War (Anti-War) Films
Romance Films
Westerns
Sports Films
Supernatural Films
Thriller-Suspense
Films
*For Top 100 list of films in different categories go to http://www.filmsite.org/guinness.html
Main Film Genres
Genre Types
Genre Descriptions
(represented by icons)
Select an icon or film genre category below, read about the development and history of the genre, and view chronological
lists of selected, representative greatest films for each one (with links to detailed descriptions of individual films).
Action films usually include high energy, big-budget physical stunts and
chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises
(floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), non-stop motion,
spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous, often two-dimensional 'goodguy' heroes (or recently, heroines) battling 'bad guys' - all designed for pure
audience escapism. Includes the James Bond 'fantasy' spy/espionage series,
martial arts films, and so-called 'blaxploitation' films. A major sub-genre is the
disaster film. See also Greatest Disaster and Crowd Film Scenes and Greatest
Classic Chase Scenes in Films.
Adventure films are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or
exotic locales, very similar to or often paired with the action film genre.
They can include traditional swashbucklers, serialized films, and
historical spectacles (similar to the epics film genre), searches or expeditions
for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts, disaster films, or
searches for the unknown.
Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed
to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by
exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and
characters. This section describes various forms of comedy through cinematic
history, including slapstick, screwball, spoofs and parodies, romantic
comedies, black comedy (dark satirical comedy), and more. See this site's
Funniest Film Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated, and also Premiere
Magazine's 50 Greatest Comedies of All Time.
Crime (gangster) films are developed around the sinister actions of
criminals or mobsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or
ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering
their way through life. Criminal and gangster films are often categorized as
film noir or detective-mystery films - because of underlying similarities
between these cinematic forms. This category includes a description of various
'serial killer' films.
Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic
characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense
character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on
special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film
genre, with many subsets. See also melodramas, epics (historical dramas), or
romantic genres. Dramatic biographical films (or "biopics") are a major subgenre, as are 'adult' films (with mature subject content).
Epics include costume dramas, historical dramas, war films, medieval
romps, or 'period pictures' that often cover a large expanse of time set
against a vast, panoramic backdrop. Epics often share elements of the
elaborate adventure films genre. Epics take an historical or imagined event,
mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish
costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle, dramatic scope, high
production values, and a sweeping musical score. Epics are often a more
spectacular, lavish version of a biopic film. Some 'sword and sandal' films
(Biblical epics or films occuring during antiquity) qualify as a sub-genre.
Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst
fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and
entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films
feature a wide range of styles, from the earliest silent Nosferatu classic, to
today's CGI monsters and deranged humans. They are often combined with
science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of
technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and
supernatural film genres are not usually synonymous with the horror genre.
There are many sub-genres of horror: slasher, teen terror, serial killers, satanic,
Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. See this site's Scariest Film Moments and Scenes
collection - illustrated.
Musical/dance films are cinematic forms that emphasize full-scale scores
or song and dance routines in a significant way (usually with a musical
or dance performance integrated as part of the film narrative), or they are
films that are centered on combinations of music, dance, song or choreography.
Major subgenres include the musical comedy or the concert film. See this site's
Greatest Musical Song/Dance Movie Moments and Scenes collection illustrated.
Sci-fi films are often quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative complete with heroes, aliens, distant planets, impossible quests,
improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains,
futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary
monsters ('things or creatures from space'), either created by mad scientists or
by nuclear havoc. They are sometimes an offshoot of fantasy films, or they
share some similarities with action/adventure films. Science fiction often
expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and easily overlaps
with horror films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become
malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s.
War (and anti-war) films acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war,
letting the actual combat fighting (against nations or humankind) on
land, sea, or in the air provide the primary plot or background for the
action of the film. War films are often paired with other genres, such as action,
adventure, drama, romance, comedy (black), suspense, and even epics and
westerns, and they often take a denunciatory approach toward warfare. They
may include POW tales, stories of military operations, and training. See this
site's Greatest War Movies (in multiple parts).
Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry - a
eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are
one of the oldest, most enduring genres with very recognizable plots,
elements, and characters (six-guns, horses, dusty towns and trails, cowboys,
Indians, etc.). Over time, westerns have been re-defined, re-invented and
expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed.
Genre Categories:
They are broad enough to accommodate practically any film ever made, although film categories can never be precise. By
isolating the various elements in a film and categorizing them in genres, it is possible to easily evaluate a film within its genre
and allow for meaningful comparisons and some judgments on greatness. Films were not really subjected to genre analysis
by film historians until the 1970s. All films have at least one major genre, although there are a number of films that are
considered crossbreeds or hybrids with three or four overlapping genre (or sub-genre) types that identify them.
Film Sub-Genres
Sub-Genre Types
Sub-Genre Descriptions
(represented by icons)
Select an icon or sub-genre category below, read about the development and history of the sub-genre, and
view chronological lists of selected, representative greatest films for each one (with links to detailed
descriptions of individual films).
'Biopics' is a term derived from the combination of the words
"biography" and "pictures." They are a sub-genre of the larger drama
and epic film genres, and although they reached a hey-day of
popularity in the 1930s, they are still prominent to this day. These films
depict the life of an important historical personage (or group) from the past or
present era. Biopics cross many genre types, since these films might
showcase a western outlaw, a criminal, a musical composer, a religious
figure, a war-time hero, an entertainer, an artist, an inventor or doctor, a
politician or President, or an adventurer.
Often considered an all-encompassing sub-genre, 'chick' flicks or gal
films (slightly derisive terms) mostly include formulated romantic
comedies (with mis-matched lovers or female relationships),
tearjerkers and gal-pal films, movies about family crises and emotional
carthasis, some traditional 'weepies' and fantasy-action adventures,
sometimes with foul-mouthed and empowered females, and female bonding
situations involving families, mothers, daughters, children, women, and
women's issues. These films are often told from the female P-O-V, and star a
female protagonist or heroine. This type of film became very prominent in
the mid-80s and into the 90s. See also O Magazine's 50 Greatest Chick
Flicks. Their counterpart films for males are termed 'guy' films (see below).
See also this site's compilation of Greatest Tearjerker Films, Moments and
Scenes.
Detective-mystery films are usually considered a sub-type or
sub-genre of crime/gangster films (or film noir), or suspense or
thriller films that focus on the unsolved crime (usually the
murder or disappearance of one or more of the characters, or a theft), and on
the central character - the hard-boiled detective-hero, as he/she meets various
adventures and challenges in the cold and methodical pursuit of the criminal
or the solution to the crime.
Disaster films, a sub-genre of action films, hit their peak in the decade
of the 1970s. Big-budget disaster films provided all-star casts and
interlocking, Grand Hotel-type stories, with suspenseful action and
impending crises (man-made or natural) in locales such as aboard imperiled
airliners, trains, dirigibles, sinking or wrecked ocean-liners, or in towering
burning skyscrapers, crowded stadiums or earthquake zones. Often noted for
their visual and special effects, but not their acting performances. See
Greatest Disaster Film Scenes also.
Fantasy films, usually considered a sub-genre, are most likely to
overlap with the film genres of science fiction and horror, although
they are distinct. Fantasies take the audience to netherworld places (or
another dimension) where events are unlikely to occur in real life - they
transcend the bounds of human possibility and physical laws. They often
have an element of magic, myth, wonder, and the extraordinary. One of the
major categories of fantasy-action films are the super-hero movies, based
quite often on original comic-strip or comic book character. They may appeal
to both children and adults, depending upon the particular film.
Film noir (meaning 'black film') is a distinct branch of the
crime/gangster sagas from the 1930s. Strictly speaking, film noir is not
a genre, but rather the mood, style or tone of various American films
that evolved in the 1940s, and lasted in a classic period until about 1960.
However, film noir has not been exclusively confined to this era, and has reoccurred in cyclical form in other years in various neo-noirs. Noirs are
usually black and white films with primary moods of melancholy, alienation,
bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral
corruption, evil, guilt and paranoia. And they often feature a cynical, loner
hero (anti-hero) and femme fatale, in a seedy big city. See this site's special
tribute to Greatest Femmes Fatales in Classic Film Noir.
Composed of macho films that are often packed with sophomoric
humor, action, cartoon violence, competition, mean-spirited putdowns
and gratuitous nudity and sex. Gal films or 'chick' flicks are their
counterpart for females. This category of film is highly subject to opinion,
although there are many classic, testosterone-laden 'guy' films that most
viewers would agree upon, as shown in this site's Greatest 'Guy' Movies of
All-Time (illustrated). See also the "100 Greatest Guy Movies Ever Made" by
Maxim Magazine compiled in 1998 or Men's Journal's 50 Best Guy Movies of
All Time list compiled in 2003.
Melodramas are a sub-type of drama films, characterized by a plot to
appeal to the emotions of the audience. Often, film studies criticism
used the term 'melodrama' pejoratively to connote an unrealistic,
pathos-filled tales of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical
characters that would directly appeal to feminine audiences ("weepies" or
"woman's films"). See the post-modern version of the "woman's film" - gal
films or 'chick' flicks. See also this site's extensive compilation (illustrated) of
Greatest Tearjerker Films, Moments and Scenes.
Road films have been a staple of American films from the very start,
and have ranged in genres from westerns, comedies, gangster/crime
films, dramas, and action-adventure films. One thing they all have in
common: an episodic journey on the open road (or undiscovered trail), to
search for escape or to engage in a quest for some kind of goal -- either a
distinct destination, or the attainment of love, freedom, mobility, redemption,
the finding or rediscovering of onself, or coming-of-age (psychologically or
spiritually).
A sub-genre for the most part, this category shares some features with
romantic dramas, romantic comedies, and sexual/erotic films. These
are love stories, or affairs of the heart that center on passion, emotion,
and the romantic, affectionate involvement of the main characters (usually a
leading man and lady), and the journey that their love takes through courtship
or marriage. Romance films make the love story the main plot focus. See
Greatest and Most Memorable Film Kisses Scenes.
Films that have a sports setting (football or baseball stadium, arena, or
the Olympics, etc.), event (the 'big game,' 'fight,' 'race,' or
'competition'), and/or athlete (boxer, racer, surfer, etc.) that are central
and predominant in the story. Sports films may be fictional or non-fictional;
and they are a hybrid sub-genre category, although they are often dramas or
comedy films, and occasionally documentaries or biopics.
Supernatural films, a sub-genre category, may be combined with other
genres, including comedy, sci-fi, fantasy or horror. They have themes
including gods or goddesses, ghosts, apparitions, spirits, miracles, and
other similar ideas or depictions of extraordinary phenomena. Interestingly
however, until recently, supernatural films were usually presented in a
comical, whimsical, or a romantic fashion, and were not designed to frighten
the audience. There are also many hybrids that have combinations of fear,
fantasy, horror, romance, and comedy.
Thrillers are often hybrids with other genres - there are actionthrillers, crime-caper thrillers, western-thrillers, film-noir
thrillers, even romantic comedy-thrillers. Another closelyrelated genre is the horror film genre. Thriller and suspense films are
virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations. They are types of
films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of
anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nervewracking tension. The acclaimed Master of Suspense is Alfred Hitchcock.
Spy films may be considered a type of thriller/suspense film.
Film Sub-Genres Types (and Hybrids)
Main Film Genres
Film Sub-Genres Types (and Hybrids)
(represented by icons)
(a vast sampling)
Select any of the links below, and read about the development and history of the genre or sub-genre, and view
chronological lists of selected, representative greatest films for each one (with links to detailed descriptions of
individual films).
and
Action or Adventure
Comedy
Action/Adventure Drama
Alien Invasion
Animal
Biker
Blaxploitation
Blockbusters
Buddy
Buddy Cops (or Odd
Couple)
Caper
Chase Films or Thrillers
Comic-Book Action
Confined Space Action
Conspiracy Thriller (aka
Paranoid Thriller)
Cop Action
Costume Adventures
Crime Films
Desert Epics
Disaster or Doomsday - See
Greatest Disaster Film
Scenes
Epic Adventure Films
Erotic Thrillers
Escape
Espionage
Family-oriented Adventure
Fantasy Adventure
Futuristic
Girls With Guns
Guy Films
Heist - Caper Films
Heroic Bloodshed Films
Historical Spectacles
Hong Kong
James Bond Series
Jungle and Safari Epics
Literature/Folklore Adventure Heroes
Martial Arts Action
Man or Woman-In-Peril
Man vs. Nature
Mountain
Period Action Films
Political Conspiracies, Thrillers
Poliziotteschi (Italian)
Prison
Psychological Thriller
Quest
Rape and Revenge Films
Road
Romantic Adventures
Sci-Fi Action/Adventure
Samurai
Sea Adventures
Searches/Expeditions for Lost
Continents
Serialized films
Space Adventures
Spy
Straight Action/ Conflict
Super-Heroes
Surfing or Surf Films
Survival
Swashbuckler
Sword and Sorcery (or "Sword and
Sandal")
(Action) Suspense-Thrillers
Techno-Thrillers
Treasure Hunts
Undercover
War Adventure
Women in Prison
Absurd
Action Comedies
Anarchic Comedies
Animals
Black Comedies (Dark
Humor)
British Humor
Buddy
Classic Comedies
Clown
Comedy Thrillers
Comic Criminals
Coming of Age
Conceptual
Crime/Caper Comedies
'Dumb' Comedies
Fairy Tale
Family Comedies
Farce
Fish-out-of-water Comedies
Gross-out Comedies
Horror Comedies
Lampoon
Mafia Comedies
"Meet-Cute" Screwball or
Romantic Comedies
Parenthood Comedies
Parody
Political Comedies
Populist
Pre-Teen Comedies
Re-Marriage Comedies
Road
Romantic Comedies
Satire
School Days
Screwball Comedies
Sex Comedies
Slacker
Slapstick
Social-Class Comedies
Sophisticated Comedies
Spoofs
Sports Comedies
Stand-Up
Stoner Comedies
Supernatural Comedies
Teen/Teen Sex Comedies
Urban Comedies
War Comedies
Western Comedies
Zombie Comedies
Military Comedies
Mock-umentary (Fake
Documentary)
Musical Comedies
'Bad Girl' Movies
Blaxploitation
Buddy Cop
Caper Stories
Cops & Robbers
Courtroom Drama
Crime Comedy or Drama
Detective/Mysteries
Espionage
Femme Fatales
Film Noir
Hard-boiled Detective
Heist
Hood Films
Juvenile Delinquency
Law and Order
Lovers on the Run Road
Films
Mafia (Gangster), Organized Crime,
Mob Films
Mysteries
Neo-Noir
Outlaw Biker Films
Police/Detective
Post-Noir
Procedurals
Prison
Private-Eye
Suspense-Thrillers
Trial Films
True Crime
Vice Films
Victim
Who-dun-its
Women's Prison Films
Any genre or sub-genre may be considered a "Cult Film"
Adaptations, Based upon
True Stories
Addiction and/or Alcoholism
Adventure Drama
Adult
African-American
Americana
Autobiographies/Biographies
Biopics (Biographical)
British Empire
Buddy Film
"Chick" Flicks or "Guy-Cry"
Films
Childhood Dramas
Christmas Films
Coming-of-Age
Costume Dramas
Courtroom or Crime Dramas
Dance
Diary Films
Disease/Disability
Disaster
Docu-dramas
Ensemble
Erotic Drama
Espionage
Ethnic Family Saga
Euro-Spy Films
"Fallen" Women
Fantasy Drama
Feminist
Film a Clef
Literary Adaptation
Love
Marital Drama
Medical
Melodramas ("Women's Pictures,"
Tearjerkers, or "Weepies")
Message Movie
Musical Drama
Newspaper
Nostalgia
Odd Couple
Period Film
Police Drama
POW Drama
Presidential Politics or Political
Dramas
Prison Drama
Propaganda
Prostitution
Psychological Drama
Race Relations, Inter-racial Themes
Religious
Resistance
Reunion
Road Movie
Romantic Dramas
Rural Drama
Sexual/Erotic (Steamy Romantic
Dramas)
Shakespearean
Showbiz Dramas
Slice of Life
Gay and Lesbian
Generation Gap
Hagiographies (Religious
Figures)
Heavenly Drama
High School
Holiday Film
Holocaust
Hood Films
Inspirational
Investigative Reporting
Legal/Courtroom
Life Story
Soap Opera
Social Problem Film, Social
Commentaries
Small-town Life
Sports Dramas or Biopics
Supernatural drama
Teen (or Youth) Films
Tragedy
True Crime Drama
Urban Drama
War-Military Dramas
Women's Friendship
Youth Culture
Biblical
British Empire
Dark Ages
Greek Myth
Hagiographies
Historical or Biographical
Epics (Biopics)
Indian History
Literary Adaptation
Medieval (Dark Ages)
'Period Pictures'
Religious
Roman Empire
Romantic Epic
Sword and Sandal
War or Westerns (Epic)
B-Movie Horror
Cannibalism or Cannibal
Films
Classic Horror
Costume Horror
Creature Features
Demonic Possession
Dracula
Erotic
Frankenstein, other Mad
Scientists
Ghosts
Giallo (European, Italian
specifically)
Gore
Gothic
Haunted House, other
Hauntings
Halloween
Horror Comedy
Macabre
Monsters
Natural Horror
Older-Woman-In-Peril Films
("Psycho-Biddy", aka 'Hag Horror' or
'Hagsploitation')
Psychic Powers
Psychological Horror
Reincarnation
Sadistic Horror
Satanic Stories
Sci-Fi Horror
Serial Killers
Sex Horror
Slashers or "Splatter" Films
Supernatural Horror
Teen Terror ("Teen Screams")
Terror
Vampires
Witchcraft
Wolves, Werewolves
Zombies
Animated
Backstage Musicals
Ballet
Beach Party Films
Musical Biographies
Broadway Show Musicals
Comedy Musicals
Concert Films
Dance Films
Dramatic Musicals
Fairy-tale Musicals
Fantasy Musical
Film-Opera
Folk Musicals
Hip-Hop Films
Operettas
Rock-umentary
Romantic Musicals
Show-Biz Comedy
Stage Musicals
Western Musicals
Action or Adventure Sci-Fi
Alien Invasion
Aliens, Extra-Terrestrial
Encounters
Anime
Atomic Age
Classic Sci-Fi
Creature Films
Cyber Punk
Disaster - See Greatest
Disaster Film Scenes also
Dystopia
End of World
Fairy Tales
Fantasy Films
50's Sci-Fi
Futuristic
Lost Worlds
Mad Scientists
Monsters and Mutants
Natural Horror
Other Dimensions
Outer Space
Post-Apocalyptic
Pre-historic
Psychological Sci-Fi
Robots, Cyborgs and Androids
Sci-Fi Comedies
Sci-Fi Horror
Sci-Fi Thrillers
Space Opera
Space or Sci-Fi Westerns
Star Trek
Super-Hero Films (e.g., Supermen
and Others)
Supernatural
Tech-Noir
Time or Space Travel
Virtual Reality
Action Combat
Aerial Combat, Aviation
Afghanistan-Iraq Conflict
Anti-War
Civil War
Combat
Escape
Gulf War
Historical
Korean War
Military
Military Comedy
Prisoner of War (POW)/Escape
Propaganda
Resistance
Revolutionary War
War-Spy
Submarine
Vietnam War
War Adventure
War Epic
War Romance
World War I
World War II
Animal
B-Western
Biographies
Cattle Drive
Cavalry
Comedy Westerns
Epic Westerns
Euro-Westerns
Frontier
Gunfighters
Historical
Hybrid Westerns (with
horror, noir, road movie,
martial arts, etc.)
Indian War or Indian
Westerns
Issue Western
Military
Modern Western
Musical Western
Outlaws
Psychological Westerns
Revisionist
Road-Trail Journeys
Romantic Westerns
Science-Fiction Westerns
Shoot-outs
Space Westerns
'Spaghetti' Westerns
Spoof Westerns
Traditional