Rick Altman, Conclusion: A semantic/syntactic/pragmatic approach to genre

(In Film/Genre)

So in this final chapter, Altman sums up his argument and distills it into a sort of three-pronged approach, incorporating pragmatics - that is to say use - into his earlier model. Again, he argues that genre is between users and uses, rather than fixed at any one point. Genres (and, as I have noted before, franchises) "serve diverse groups diversely." It is impossible, therefore, for terminology to be neutral when referring to a genre. The terms we use are invariably loaded in a variety of different ways for different audiences.

The process of reintroduction which defines franchise texts, therefore, takes place in many different ways - established as invalid by fans while simultaneously being validated by studio rhetoric, and so on. It is important to incorporate this discursivity into any account of genre, or remakes, or franchises, etc. These (and indeed, all texts and communication systems, Altman argues) are sites of struggle and cooperation among multiple users" and groups of users. This kind of understanding helps us to escape the tyranny of the text, as he puts it.