In the early fifties for example, forty percent of Hollywood's annual output were westerns - a figure which is hard for us to believe today. Other genres, such as the musical, continue only in mutated form. Unforgiven Genre mixing or recombination is very common in contemporary popular film. Their humor in part derives from their ability to comment upon and make us aware of the elements of formula and manner in a generic text. Genre is an attractive concept for film and TV scholars.
Some film historians use it to explain the formulaic nature of the classic studio system.
Genre-based production was a way to reconcile product standardization and differentiation. Some cultural studies scholars, grounding their work in anthropology, view genres as formalized sign systems which grow out of cultural consensus. We collectively agree on shared stories, iconographies, values and symbols. Some scholars view generic conventions and predictable narratives as a way for society to ritually work through a series of issues or concerns. See the second assignment in Projects for your homework.