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Film/genere

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Film/Genre radically revises our notions. It is the first book to fully connect the roles played by industry critics and audiences in making and re-making genre. In a critiques of major voices in the history of genre theory from Aristotle to Wittgenstein, Rick Altman reveals the conflicting stakes for which the genre game has been played. Recognizing that the very term "genre" 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 huge range of films from The Great Train Robbery to Star Wars and from The Jazz Singer to The Player.

Author Biography: Rick Altman is Professor of French and Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. He is the author of The American Film Musical and editor of Cinema/Sound and Sound Theory/Sound Practice.

374 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 1998

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About the author

Rick Altman

49 books11 followers
Rick Altman is a professor of Cinema and Comparative Literature in the Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature, University of Iowa.

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5 stars
39 (21%)
4 stars
84 (46%)
3 stars
49 (26%)
2 stars
8 (4%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Noah.
103 reviews69 followers
January 13, 2018
me he planteado ser menos entusiasta pero la verdad es que estoy bastante entusiasmada con este libro
50 reviews25 followers
December 29, 2018
It's a bit structuralist for my tastes.
Profile Image for Paschalia.
82 reviews10 followers
January 29, 2022
Contains both an overview of film genre theories, a communication model theory and suggests a new film genre approach/ theory. Pretty good
Profile Image for t.
421 reviews5 followers
February 26, 2024
helpful summaries, clearly written! but i can’t bring myself to be very enthusiastic about genre
Profile Image for Constance.
30 reviews
September 30, 2025
J’ai dû lire 12 pages pour mon cours sur la théorie du genre et c’était imbuvable dsl j’ai compris 1/4 de son charabia
Profile Image for Greta.
222 reviews46 followers
August 22, 2008
Talks about genres as complex and changing entities which are mixed and evolve over time and mean different things in different times and to different audiences. Includes historical info and info on how Hollywood films were advertised in the real world. More than just theory, sums up previous genre theory. Pretty good
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

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