Genre - Typecasting

Genre is the categorization of film, a film fits into a certain genre depending on whether it hits the criteria of said genre. Similarities in films, or conventions, are what forms new genres. Therefore films of the same genre are similar in narrative, style, and contain iconography associated with the genre.

A films genre can be identified quickly if there is a iconic member of the cast who are known for repeatedly working within the same genre of film. This is known as "star association" and is very helpful in the film industry as the mere use of an actor/actress can boost revenue and many fans will go to see the film even if the plot has been done again and again.

An example of this would be actress Jennifer Aniston, she is very well known for her role in "Friends", however once this show finished she moved on to starring in films with a lot of initial success. The film genre linked to her is romantic comedies, and so each film has a predictive plot, yet fans will continue to see her film. That is a positive to being type cast, however negatives include that actors fall into the trap of not being able to leave the genre and explore other areas of work.


As mentioned before, a key part of identifying genre would be seen in the iconography used in the film, these are obvious give-aways to what category the film falls in. For example if we were to look at science-fiction iconography, there would be the expectation of being set in the future, with advanced technology, possible spaceships or aliens, odd landscapes and robots, the plot driven by some advance in science. If we look at some science-fiction films we can see many of this within one film.