"Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology" offers a concise evaluation of
film genre, discussing genre theory and sample analyses of genre films, from
the western, science fiction and the musical through to horror, comedy and the
thriller. This volume introduces the topic in an accessible way to entry-level
undergraduates, and includes sections on the first principles of studying and
understanding 'the idea of genre', genre and popular culture, the narrative and
stylistic conventions of specific genres, and the relations of genres to
culture and history, race, gender, sexuality, class and national identity, and
the complex relations between genre and authorship. Among the case studies
explored throughout the book are "42nd Street", "Pennies from Heaven", "Red
River", "All That Heaven Allows", "Night of the Living Dead", "Die Hard",
"Little Big Man", "Blue Steel", and "Posse".