Genre (French for 'kind, sort')[1] is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time.[2] In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, based on some set of stylistic criteria.[3] Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. The proper use of a specific genre is important for important for a successful transfer of information (media-adequacy).[4]
Critical discussion of genre perhaps began with a classification system for ancient Greek literature, as set out in Aristotle's Poetics.[5] For Aristotle, poetry (odes, epics, etc.), prose, and performance each had specific features that supported appropriate content of each genre. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, for example, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best.
Genres proliferate and develop beyond Aristotle's classifications— in response to changes in audiences and creators.[6] Genre has become a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictability through artistic expression. Given that art is often a response to a social state, in that people write, paint, sing, dance, and otherwise produce art about what they know about, the use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings.