ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the intellectual history, central questions and methods, and key terminology of studying media texts which are linked by their conscious replication of images, characters, settings, and themes. The aim of genre studies is to bring order, structure, and stability to a group of texts sharing similar characteristics so that these texts can be studied collectively and comparatively. At the heart of genre studies is the belief that new meanings can be unlocked when a text is studied in relation to other texts that have similar iconography, conventions, plot formulas, and themes. When using a semantic approach to genre, critics focus on the surface structure of the genre and the characters, plots, and settings that they all share. The explanatory power of genre studies is in its ability to trace a common story, character, or theme to see how that story, character, or theme is translated and communicated at different times for different audiences and purposes.
