Genre theory- Exam practice

"Audiences feel safe with the idea of genre". How far do you feel this statement is true?

Audiences feel safe with the idea of genre, because it's something they understand. They understand iconographies of a genre such as guns, horses, desserts and cowboy hats signifying that its a western. In some ways society likes the boundaries of genre as by knowing the genre, they know what to expect from the text. For example they know that at some point there will be a fast paced fight scene or dramatic explosion in a action film.

Secondly, genre is culturally dependant in the society it's created in. This allows audiences to identify with characters, events and the genre itself. For example the reality genre is very much apart of British culture and is known as Reality TV by its audiences, although its a hybrid genre of soap opera, game shows and cinema verite something that audiences may not know.

This idea of hybrids becoming new genres is where boundaries get mixed and may confuse audiences. With a new genre, audiences might not know what to expect as they are unaware of the codes and conventions it adopts. This however is based on audiences being very unaware of the media which is unlikely and in somecases audiences might like the mystery of a new genre- they want to explore where the genre is going. And as the more recent reality TV and Docusoap genres have become so popular, it suggests that audiences do like new genres and changes to TV.

Therefore, I think audiences do feel safe with genre and should do because producers use genre as a way of strongly communicating to their audiences- like stereotyping. Producers wouldn't do something extremely out of place as they might lose audiences. However, there are examples of changes in genres have been successful as they adopt from existing genres.