Foreword by Janet Staiger.

Introduction.

Chapter 1: In the Genre Jungle.

Cinematic Genre: An Empirical Category.

Every Use Has Its Own Typology.

An Impossible Typology?.

Chapter 2: Looking for the Rules of Genre.

Looking for Genre’s Formal Rules.

Genre: An Intertextual Phenomenon.

In Search of the Structures of Genre.

Semantic-Syntactic Definitions of Genre.

Chapter 3: What Is the Purpose of Genres?.

A Production Tool.

The Social Functions of Genre.

The Communicative Function of Genre.

Chapter 4: The Generic Identities of a Film.

The Relations Between Film and Genre.

The Uses of Generic Identity.

The Mixing of Genres: Pluri-generic Attributes.

Chapter 5: How To Conceptualize the History of a Genre?.

To Put an End to the Theory of Generic Evolution.

The Birth of a Cinematic Genre.

Hybridization and Mutation of Genres.

Chapter 6: Genres in Context.

Cultural Identity and the Circulation of Genres.

Generic Regimes.

Conclusion.

Select Bibliography.

Filmography.

Index