Film Genres

Origins & Types

Introduction

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.

Genres History: By the end of the silent era, many of the main genres were established: the melodrama, the western, the horror film, comedies, and action-adventure films (from swashbucklers to war movies). Musicals were inaugurated with the era of the Talkies, and the genre of science-fiction films wasn't generally popularized until the 1950s. 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
	Action Films		Biographical Films (or "Biopics")
	Adventure Films		'Chick' Flicks
	Comedy Films		Detective & Mystery Films
	Crime & Gangster Films		Disaster Films
	Drama Films		Fantasy Films
	Epics/Historical Films		Film Noir
	Horror Films		Guy Films
	Musicals (Dance) Films		Melodramas, Women's or "Weeper" Films
	Science Fiction Films		Road Films
	War (Anti-War) Films		Romance Films
	Westerns		Sports Films
			Supernatural Films
			Thriller-Suspense Films

Other Major Film Categories (click here)
	Animated Films
	British (UK Films)
	Childrens - Kids - Family-Oriented Films
	Classic Films
	Cult Films
	Documentary Films
	Serial Films
	Sexual - Erotic Films
	Silent Films

The Major Categories or Classifications of Film: Mega-Genres

There are other major types (or mega-genres), classifications, or general categories of films (defined in this site's glossary of film terms), including:

Contrasting Types of Films
Basis in Reality:	Non-Fictional (or documentary), or biopics; also Reality Films (or Movies) - derived from Reality TV	Fictional Film (also called Narrative Film); there are also Docu-Fiction or Docu-Dramas (part fiction, part documentary) or Semi-documentaries
Length:	Feature-length films	Shorts (or short subjects), anthology films (films with two or more discrete stories), or serials
Audio:	Silents	Talkies
Quality and Funding:	'A' (or first-run) pictures; mainstream (big-budget Hollywood) studio films, sometimes blockbusters; professionally-made films	'B' pictures (and lower), also called B-movies, or even Z-movies; independent (aka indie), avant-garde or experimental-underground films (usually low-budget), or art-house films; amateur films or guerrilla-filmmaking
Visual Presentation:	Regular 2-D	3-D or Stereoscopic
Color:	Black and white or monochrome	Color
Viewing Format:	Widescreen	'Pan and Scan' formats
Type:	Animated films (hand-drawn, CGI, etc.)	Live-action (or un-animated) films
Language:	Domestic films	Foreign-language films (sub-titled or dubbed)
Originality:	Original version	Prequels, sequels, re-releases and remakes
Rating:	Rated films - regarding the degree of violence, profanity, or sexual situations within the film: G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, or X	Unrated films
Purpose:	Message Pictures (usually serious) or Propagandistic Films	Purely for Entertainment Pictures

Main Film Genres

Main Film Genres: Listed below are some of the most common and identifiable film genre categories, with descriptions of each type or category. If you're interested in the chronological history of film by decade - visit the section on Film History or the multi-part section on Milestones in Film History.

Genre Types (represented by icons)	Genre Descriptions
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 'good-guy' 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 sub-genre, 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.
In the lists of recommended genre films, those that have been selected as the 100 Greatest Films are marked with a .

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.

The Auteur System can be contrasted to the genre system, in which films are rated on the basis of the expression of one person, usually the director, because his/her indelible style, authoring vision or 'signature' dictates the personality, look, and feel of the film. Certain directors (and actors) are known for certain types of films, for example, Woody Allen and comedy, the Arthur Freed unit with musicals, Alfred Hitchcock for suspense and thrillers, John Ford and John Wayne with westerns, or Errol Flynn for classic swashbuckler adventure films.

Genre Sub-Sections

Film Sub-Genres: Listed below are some of the most common and identifiable film sub-genre categories, with descriptions of each type or category. These are identifiable sub-classes of the larger category of main film genres, with their own distinctive subject matter, style, formulas, and iconography. Some are them are prominent sub-genres, such as: biopics, 'chick' flicks, detective/mystery films, disaster films, fantasy films, film noir, 'guy' films, melodramas (or 'weepers'), road films, romances, sports films, supernatural films, and thriller/suspense films. There are also minor film sub-genres.

If you're interested in the chronological history of film by decade - visit the section on Film History or the multi-part section on Milestones in Film History.

Film Sub-Genres
Sub-Genre Types (represented by icons)	Sub-Genre Descriptions
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. 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 re-occurred 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 action-thrillers, crime-caper thrillers, western-thrillers, film-noir thrillers, even romantic comedy-thrillers. Another closely-related 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 nerve-wracking tension. The acclaimed Master of Suspense is Alfred Hitchcock. Spy films may be considered a type of thriller/suspense film.

Minor Film

Sub-Genres

Minor Film Sub-Genres: These are some of the most common and identifiable minor film sub-genre categories, categorized by each major genre. Also view various Main Genres, Sub-Genres, or Other Film Categories. If you're interested in the chronological history of film by decade - visit the section on Film History or the multi-part section on Milestones in Film History.

Minor Film Sub-Genres
Main Film Genres (represented by icons)	Minor Film Sub-Genre Types (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 Alien Invasion Animal Action Films Biker Blaxploitation Blockbusters Buddy Buddy Cops Caper Chase Films or Thrillers Comic-Book Action Conspiracy Thriller (aka Paranoid Thriller) Costume Adventures Crime Films Desert Epics Disaster or Doomsday - See Greatest Disaster Film Scenes also Epic Adventure Films Erotic Thrillers Escape Espionage Futuristic Girls With Guns Guy Films Heist - Caper Films Heroic Bloodshed Films Historical Spectacles Hong Kong James Bond Series Jungle and Safari Epics Martial Arts Man or Woman-In-Peril Man vs. Nature Mountain Period Action Films Political Conspiracies, Thrillers Prison Psychological Thriller Quest Rape and Revenge Films Road Romantic Adventures Sci-Fi Action 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 Women in Prison
	Action Comedies Anarchic Comedies Animals Black Comedies (Dark Humor) British Humor Buddy Classic Comedies Clown Comedy Thrillers Comic Criminals Coming of Age 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 Military Comedies Mock-umentary (Fake Documentary) Musical 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 Supernatural Comedies Teen/Teen Sex Comedies Urban Comedies War Comedies Western Comedies Zombie Comedies
	Bad Girl Movies Blaxploitation Buddy Cop Caper Stories Cops & Robbers Detective/Mysteries Espionage Femme Fatales Film Noir Hard-boiled Detective Heist Hood Films Law and Order Lovers on the Run Road Films Mafia, Organized Crime, Mob Films Mysteries Neo-Noir Outlaw Biker Films Police Procedurals Prison Private-Eye Suspense-Thrillers Trial Films 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 Adult African-American Autobiographies/Biographies Biopics (Biographical) British Empire "Chick" Flicks or "Guy-Cry" Films Childhood Dramas Christmas Films Coming-of-Age Costume Dramas Crime Dramas Diary Films Disease/Disability Docu-dramas Espionage Ethnic Family Saga Euro-Spy Films "Fallen" Women Gay and Lesbian Generation Gap High School Holocaust Hood Films Investigative Reporting Legal/Courtroom Life Story Literary Adaptation Love Medical Melodramas ("Women's Pictures," Tearjerkers, or "Weepies") Newspaper Nostalgia Presidential Politics or Political Dramas Prostitution Race Relations, Inter-racial Themes Religious Romantic Dramas Sexual/Erotic (Steamy Romantic Dramas) Shakespearean Showbiz Dramas Soap Opera Social Problem Film, Social Commentaries Small-town Life Sports Dramas or Biopics Teen (or Youth) Films Tragedy War-Military Dramas Women's Friendship Youth Culture
	Biblical Dark Ages Greek Myth Historical or Biographical Epics (Biopics) Indian History Literary Adaptation Medieval (Dark Ages) 'Period Pictures' Religious Roman Empire
	B-Movie Horror Cannibalism or Cannibal Films Classic Horror Creature Features Demonic Possession Dracula Erotic Frankenstein, other Mad Scientists Ghosts Gore Gothic Haunted House, other Hauntings Halloween Macabre Monsters Older-Woman-In-Peril Films ("Psycho-Biddy", aka 'Hag Horror' or 'Hagsploitation') Psychic Powers Psychological Horror Reincarnation Satanic Stories Serial Killers Slashers or "Splatter" Films Supernatural Horror Teen Terror ("Teen Screams") Terror Vampires Witchcraft Wolves, Werewolves Zombies
	Ballet Beach Party Films Musical Biographies Broadway Show Musicals Comedy Musicals Concert Films Dance Films Dramatic Musicals Fairy-tale Musicals Folk Musicals Hip-Hop Films Operettas Rock-umentary Romantic Musicals Stage Musicals Western Musicals
	Action Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Aliens, Extra-Terrestrial Encounters Atomic Age Classic Sci-Fi 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 Other Dimensions Outer Space Post-Apocalyptic Pre-historic Robots, Cyborgs and Androids Sci-Fi Thrillers Space Opera Space or Sci-Fi Westerns Star Trek Super-Hero Films (e.g., Supermen and Others) Supernatural Time or Space Travel Virtual Reality
	Action Combat Aerial Combat, Aviation Anti-War Civil War Historical Korean Military Prisoner of War/Escape Revolutionary War Submarine Vietnam War Epics World War I World War II
	Biographies Cattle Drive Epic Westerns Frontier Gunfighters Historical Indian War Military Outlaws Psychological Westerns Road-Trail Journeys Romantic Westerns Science-Fiction Westerns Shoot-outs Space Westerns 'Spaghetti' Westerns Spoof Westerns

http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

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