Rick Altman, What's at stake in the history of literary genre theory? and Where are genres located?

(In Film/Genre)

In this relatively recent book (well, only a decade old, in any case), Altman recasts and expands his earlier, highly influential work on genre as part of a broader theory of communication, much as Steve Neale has done with his 1980s writings. The first chapter provides a very general overview of the history of literary genre criticism, and identifies the assumptions behind most thinking on genre, which have their genesis as far back as Aristotle. Altman, like Verevis, criticizes the pseudo-science of genre taxonomy, and is highly skeptical that any kind of work on genre can be as rigid and apolitical as some critics seem to believe.

Perhaps most damning is the assumption that genres exist in some kind of fixed, tangible, already-defined way, and not as fluid, multifarious cultural constructs. These are the kinds of assumptions I need to avoid when discussing franchises, by directly addressing this ambiguous nature. I must also avoid overemphasizing internal characteristics of franchise texts, for as Altman suggests, this kind of semantic/snytactic approach cannot be pursued alone without context. Too many theorists locate genre in one facet, whether textual, industrial or what have you, rather than examining how these facets intersect in order to establish what we call genre.