Genre

A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=genre&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=YCQGToiyI4LX8gO_xszLDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CBsQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=a8a55e593a51cf94&biw=1072&bih=455

The Term Genre is a French word meaning ‘type’ and was initially used to specify a form of Art and/or Literature. Media Theorists Shepherds and Watters said that Genre provides a means of ‘recognising similarities even in the midst of great diversity’. As Media and Media technology evolves so does the scope for different Genres. This belief was backed by Ericksson in 1997 as he believed that the Evolution of media can also evolve Genre. Yates and Orlikowski came to the conclusion in 1998 that Genres are produced, reproduced and changed over time. For example 50 years ago the Genres available to the Film Industry were quite limited; Romance, Action, Horror and Musicals were the main Genres applied to movies at the time. However we now have a mixture of Genres to choose from such as Animation, RomComs and Sci-fi. Subgenres such as Zombcoms (Shaun of the dead) are still in the early stages of evolution and are expected to become genres of their own in times to come.

The same theory can be applied to music genres and fashions, where particular Genres/Styles are modified thus leading to their own classification e.g. in Music Hip-hop, Rap and R n B. Therefore it may be concluded that the evolution of a Genre is a continuously modifying process which will probably continue until the end of time or Media… whichever comes first J

Any quotes from this post were found from the website below

http://tesugen.com/archives/05/03/genre-theory-notes 

Here is a video from YouTube which explains well-known Genres using popular thoughts/stereotypes/symbols/connotations. Enjoy!