Foreword by Janet Staiger.

Introduction.

1. In the Genre Jungle.

Cinematic Genre. An Empirical Category.

Every Use Has Its Own Typology.

An Impossible Typology?.

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.

3. What Is the Purpose of Genres?.

A Production Tool.

The Social Functions of Genre.

The Communicative Function of Genre.

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.

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.

6. Genres in Context.

Cultural Identity and the Circulation of Genres.

Generic Regimes.

Conclusion.

Select Bibliography.

Filmography.

Index