Descriptive and Functional approaches to Genre

Deborah Méndez ©

	Film Noir	Gangster	Horror	Western	War	Science-fiction	Monster
Themes	Mystery, investigation, isolation in city	Organized crime, MOB, family values, violence	Revenge, supernatural	Injustice, heroes, power, honour	Fights, death, conflicts, violence, man vs. man, honour	Action, adventure, discovering unknown, man vs. technology/unknown	Unknown places, violence
Mood	Worried	Contrast	Loneliness, scary, terror, suspense	Frustration, agitated, adventure, dramatic, fear	Obedience duty, respect, suffering, patriotism	Sadness, action	Action, suspense, fear
Setting	Naturalistic, urban, B&W, driving scenes	Rich houses, parties, poor houses, rural/urban	Isolated places, haunted houses	Towns, desert	Battle field, trenches, destroyed terrains, real places	The “Future”, big spaces/cities, spaceships, forbidden areas	Empire States Building, islands, cities
Other			Music, different shots	Typical Western movie/music	Epic music	Robot prototype
Examples	The Big Sleep	The Godfather	The Shining	The Magnificient Seven	Paths of Glory	Metropolis	King Kong