What are genre conventions?
All of the books and films you study have different elements, themes and some unique features. Each genre has a set of elements that will distinguish them from other genres. See our guide below:
| Genres | Elements | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adventure | : | A heroic protagonist | A journey or quest | Unusual locations | Sense of danger | An injustice | ||||
| Bildungsroman | : | A struggle for identity | A societal conflict | A loss of innocence | A journey | Maturity | ||||
| Comedy | : | Substance | Expression and communication | The originality of humour | Timing and rhythm | Intelligent writing | Setting | |||
| Crime | : | Conflict | Time(Unfolding the text within a tight time frame) | Foreshadowing, atmosphere and mood | High stakes | Contract with the reader. | Strong characters | Other limits | Red herrings | |
| Dystopian | : | Government control | Environmental destruction | Technological control | Survival | Loss of individualism. | The totalitarian state | The use of propaganda | ||
| Fantasy | : | A magic system | A well-developed setting | A cast of complex characters | A central conflict | A power structure/system of government | ||||
| Fiction | : | Plot | Setting | Character | Conflict | |||||
| Horror | : | Fear | Surprise | Suspense | Mystery | Spoilers | Creepy, crawly things. | Scary places | ||
| Magical Realism | : | Fantastical elements | Real-world setting | Authorial reticence | Plenitude | Hybridity | Metafiction | Heightened awareness of mystery | Political critique | |
| Realist Literature | : | Realistic characters and setting | Plausible plot | Real dialects of the area | Character development important. | Importance in depicting social class | Comprehensive detail about everyday occurrences | |||
| Science Fiction | : | Time travel | Teleportation | Mind control, telepathy, and telekinesis | Extraterrestrial lifeforms | Space travel | Interplanetary | Parallel universes | ||
| Thriller | : | Ransoms | Captivities | Heists | Revenge | Kidnappings | ||||
| Western | : | Cowboys | Sheriffs | Native Americans | References to the American Civil War | Bad guys like criminals, outlaws, or bandits | Descriptions of wilderness and vast landscapes | Shootouts |
