Steve Neale’s theory of Repetition and Difference. Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference: Difference is essential to the to the success of the genre.
Neale states that the film ( or tv programme) and it’s genre is defined by two things:
How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes. A film must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre.
How much a film subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film.
Neale states that Hollywood’s generic regime performs two functions:
To guarantee pleasure and meaning for the audience.
To offset financial risks of film production by providing familiarity that ensures there isn't too much innovation and difference.
Popular cinema relies on audiences finding pleasure in difference and repetition i.e. recognition of familiar elements and the way those elements are linked in an unfamiliar way or the way that unfamiliar elements might be introduced.
To the film’s production team (producer, director etc) genre provides a template.
To the film’s distributors genre provides assumptions about which audiences they should be marketing to.
To the film’s audience genre provides certain rules of engagement in terms of anticipation of enjoyment.
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