Film/Genre

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects Cinema & Media studies Cinema studies

by Rick Altman

British Film Institute

Due/Published August 1999, 272 pages, paper

ISBN 0851707173

Altman radically revises our notions of film genre. It is the first book to connect fully the roles played by industry critics and audiences in making and re-making genre. Critiquing major voices in the history of genre theory from Aristotle to Wittgenstein, Altman reveals the conflicting stakes for which the genre game has been played. Recognizing that the very term ėgenreî has different meanings for different groups, he bases his new genre theory on the uneasy competitive yet complimentary relationship among genre users and discusses a wide range of films from The Great Train Robbery to Star Wars and from The Jazz Singer to The Player.