Why do we instinctively classify stories, films, music, and artistic experiences into genres? What makes a horror film feel like horror, or a detective novel immediately recognisable as crime fiction? And why do genres constantly evolve, fracture, and reinvent themselves?

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore Genre Theory as a powerful framework for understanding literature, cinema, music, and popular culture. Moving from Aristotle’s early classifications to Franco Fabbri’s theory of musical genres, from film genre theory to Derrida’s philosophical critique of genre boundaries, this conversation examines how genres shape both artistic production and audience expectation.

The episode discusses narrative conventions, audience psychology, genre hybridity, postmodern experimentation, and the role of digital platforms in reshaping cultural categories. Along the way, we explore thinkers such as Tzvetan Todorov, Rick Altman, Steve Neale, Northrop Frye, John Frow, and Jacques Derrida.

Far from being rigid labels, genres emerge here as dynamic cultural systems constantly transformed by technology, ideology, commerce, and creative experimentation.

This episode will be especially valuable for students of literary theory, film studies, cultural studies, media studies, and UGC NET English preparation.

Genre theory ultimately asks a profound question: how do societies organise imagination itself?