Thomas Schatz, "Film Genre and Genre Film"

Thomas Schatz's essay makes the distinction between a film genre and genre film, stating that a genre film hold true to the contract that is laid out by a certain film genre. The film genre lays out the particular narrative, formal, and thematic structures of the film, while the genre film implements those characteristics. Schatz makes an interesting comparison between language and genre, claiming that since the cinema is a cultural system that relays meaning, film genre can be viewed as the way in which that meaning is conveyed to the audience. This analogy makes sense when you look at the differences between genre films, such as a Western versus a musical like Moulin Rouge. Genre films all follow a particular set of "rules" that are shared with other films of that same genre. The audience will have different expectations of what they are about to see before even watching the film due to preexisting notions that they may have about certain film genres. The way in which meaning is conveyed, whether that is through language or cinema, is affected by the way in which is it delivered. In language, that can be done through grammar, and in the cinema is can be done through genre.