Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: Preface to the Fourth Edition -- Introduction -- Part One: Theory -- 1. Genre (ANDREW TUDOR) -- 2. The Idea of Genre in the American Cinema (EDWARD BUSCOMBE) -- 3. A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre (RICK ALTMAN) -- 4. Cycles and Clusters: The Shape of Film Genre History (LEGER GRINDON ) -- 5. Genre Films and the Status Quo (JUDITH HESS WRIGHT) -- 6. Social Implications in the Hollywood Genres (JEAN-LOUP BOURGET) -- 7. Ideology, Genre, Auteur (ROBIN WOOD) -- 8. "Cinema/Ideology/Criticism" Revisited: The Progressive Genre (BARBARA KLINGER) -- 9. The Structural Influence: New Directions in Film Genre Study (THOMAS SCHATZ) -- 10. Genre Film: A Classical Experience (THOMAS SOBCHACK) -- 11. Experience and Meaning in Genre Films (BARRY KEITH GRANT) -- 12. Genre and Performance: An Overview (RICHARD DE CORDOVA) -- 13. Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess (LINDA WILLIAMS) -- 14. Questions of Genre (STEVE NEALE) -- 15. Hybrid or Inbred: The Purity Hypothesis and Hollywood Genre History (JANET STAIGER) -- 16. Film Genres at the Crossroads: What Genres and Films Do to Each Other -- CELESTINO DELEYTO -- Part Two: Selected Genre Criticism -- 17. The Western (Genre and Movies) -- DOUGLAS PYE -- 18. Apes and Essences: Some Sources of Significance in the American Gangster Film (EDWARD MITCHELL) -- 19. Notes on Film Noir (PAUL SCHRADER) -- 20. Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American Films (JOHN G. CAWELTI) -- 21. Shoot-Out at the Genre Corral: Problems in the "Evolution" of the Western (TAG GALLAGHER) -- 22. The Bug in the Rug: Notes on the Disaster Genre (MAURICE YACOWAR) -- 23. "Surge and Splendor": A Phenomenology of the Hollywood Historical Epic (VIVIAN SOBCHACK) -- 24. Children of the Light (BRUCE F. KAWIN) -- 25. Monsters from the Id (MARGARET TARRATT) -- 26. Immigrants, Aliens, and Extraterrestrials: Science Fiction's Alien "Other" as (Among Other Things) New Latino Imagery (CHARLES RAMÍREZ BERG) -- 27. Tales of Sound and Fury: Observations on the Family Melodrama (THOMAS ELSAESSER) -- 28. Screwball Comedies: Constructing Romance, Mystifying Marriage (DAVID R. SHUMWAY) -- 29. Redressing the "Natural": The Temporary Transvestite Film (CHRIS STRAAYER) -- 30. Friendly Civilians: Images of Women and the Feminization of the Audience in Vietnam War Films (SUSAN JEFFORDS) -- 31. The Family in Action (YVONNE TASKER) -- 32. The Self-Reflexive Musical and the Myth of Entertainment (JANE FEUER) -- 33. The Black Gangster Film (MARK A. REID) -- 34. Teen Films: The Cinematic Image of Youth (TIMOTHY SHARY) -- 35. Re presenting the National Past: Nostalgia and Pastiche in the Heritage Film (ANDREW HIGSON) -- 36. Global Noir: Genre Film in the Age of Transnationalism (DAVID DESSER) -- Bibliography -- Notes on Contributors -- Index.

"Newly revised and expanded nearly a decade after the third edition, Film Genre Reader is the standard reference and classroom text for the study of genre in film, with more than 25,000 copies sold. This fourth edition adds new essays on genre definition and cycles, action movies, science fiction, and heritage films, along with a comprehensive and updated bibliography. The volume includes over thirty essays by some of film's most distinguished critics and scholars of popular cinema, including Charles Ramz Berg, John G. Cawelti, Celestino Deleyto, David Desser, Thomas Elsaesser, Steve Neale, Thomas Schatz, Paul Schrader, Vivian Sobchack, Janet Staiger, Linda Williams, and Robin Wood"-- Provided by publisher.