List of genres

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of genres of literature and entertainment (film, television, music, and video games), excluding genres in the visual arts.

Genre is the term for any category of creative work, which includes literature and other forms of art or entertainment (e.g. music)—whether written or spoken, audio or visual—based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

Literary genres

Further information: Literary genre
For a more comprehensive list, see List of writing genres.

Action

An

action story is similar to adventure, and the protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate situations (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc.). Action and adventure are usually categorized together (sometimes even as "action-adventure") because they have much in common, and many stories fall under both genres simultaneously (for instance, the James Bond series
can be classified as both).

  • Military fiction: A story about a war or battle that can either be historical or fictional. It usually follows the events a certain warrior goes through during the battle's events.
  • computer hacking
    . They may or may not work for a specific government.

Adventure

An adventure story is about a protagonist who journeys to epic or distant places to accomplish something. It can have many other genre elements included within it, because it is a very open genre. The protagonist has a mission and faces obstacles to get to their destination. Also, adventure stories usually include unknown settings and characters with prized properties or features.

  • Superhero fiction: a story that examines the adventures of costumed crime fighters known as superheroes, who often possess superhuman powers and battle similarly powered criminals, known as supervillains.
  • Swashbuckler
  • Ruritanian romance: a genre of swashbuckling adventure novels, set in a fictional country, usually in Central Europe or Eastern Europe
  • Picaresque: a genre featuring a roguish protagonist in a series of loosely connected adventures using his wits to get by in a corrupt society.

Comedy

Comedy is a story that tells about a series of funny, or comical events, intended to make the audience laugh. It is a very open genre, and thus crosses over with many other genres on a frequent basis.

  • Much Ado about Nothing
    .
  • Comic fantasy
    : A subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Usually set in imaginary worlds, comic fantasy often includes puns on and parodies of other works of fantasy. It is sometimes known as low fantasy in contrast to high fantasy, which is primarily serious in intent and tone. The term "low fantasy" is also used to represent other types of fantasy, so while comic fantasies may also correctly be classified as low fantasy, many examples of low fantasy are not comic in nature.
  • Dark comedy: A parody or satirical story that is based on normally tragic or taboo subjects, including death, murder, suicide, illicit drugs, and war. So-called "dead baby comedy
    " sometimes falls under this genre.
  • Science fiction comedy: A comedy that uses science fiction elements or settings, often as a lighthearted (or occasionally vicious) parody of the latter genre.
  • Satire: Often strictly defined as a literary genre or form, though in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement. Satire is usually meant to be funny, but its purpose is not primarily humor as an attack on something the author disapproves of, using wit. A common, almost defining feature of satire is its strong vein of irony or sarcasm, but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre all frequently appear in satirical speech and writing. The essential point, is that "in satire, irony is militant;" this "militant irony" (i.e., sarcasm) often professes to approve (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist actually wishes to attack.
  • Absurdist and surrealist: closely related/overlapping genres that challenge casual and rudimentary reasoning and even the most basic purposefulness found within life. There is often, though not always, a connection to comedy.
    • The absurdist genre focuses on the experiences of characters in situations where they cannot find any inherent
      dark humor, incongruity, the abasement of reason, and controversy regarding the philosophical condition of being "nothing".[1]
    • The surreal genre is predicated on deliberate violations of causality, producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Constructions of surreal humour tend to involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational, or absurd situations and expressions of nonsense.
      • Whimsical: this genre has to do with a sense of eccentric or quirky humor. Related styles exaggerate real life in a whimsical, eccentric, quirky or fanciful way, sometimes.

Science Fiction
focuses into hypotethical forms of Biology,Evolution and Zoology.

Crime and mystery

A crime story is often about a crime that is being committed or was committed, but can also be an account of a criminal's life. A mystery story follows an investigator as they attempt to solve a puzzle (often a crime). The details and clues are presented as the story continues and the protagonist discovers them and by the end of the story the mystery is solved. For example, in the case of a crime mystery, the perpetrator and motive behind the crime are revealed and the perpetrator is brought to justice. Mystery novels are often written in series, which facilitates a more in-depth development of the primary investigator.[2][3]

  • Cozy mysteries
  • Detective story: A story about a detective or person, either professional or amateur, who has to solve a crime that was committed. They must figure out who committed the crime and why. Sometimes, the detective must figure out 'how' the criminal committed the crime if it seems impossible.
    • Whodunit: This is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the audience is given the opportunity to engage in the same process of deduction as the protagonist throughout the investigation of a crime. The reader or viewer is provided with the clues from which the identity of the perpetrator may be deduced before the story provides the revelation itself at its climax. The investigation is usually conducted by an eccentric amateur or semi-professional detective.
  • Gentleman thief: Centers around particularly well-behaving and apparently well-bred thieves. They rarely bother with anonymity or force, preferring to rely on their charisma, physical attractiveness, and clever misdirection to steal the most unobtainable objects – sometimes for their own support, but mostly for the thrill of the act itself.
  • Gong'an fiction: A subgenre of historical crime fiction that involves government magistrates who solve criminal cases.
  • Legal thriller: This subgenre of thriller and crime fiction presents stories in which the major characters are lawyers, judges, and/or their employees. Examples include Primal Fear (1993) and Blood Defense (2016).
  • Locked-room mysteries
  • action and adventure
    genres.
  • Noir fiction
    • self-talk
      describing to the reader what he is doing and feeling.

Death game

The death game genre is a race where participants compete against each other for their lives in a series of escalating challenges until the fittest survivor(s) are left.

Mirai Nikki (2012), reality TV shows such as Physical 100 (2023) and Survivor (1992), video games such as Danganronpa (2010) and literature such as Lord of the Flies (1954). The death game genre is a metaphor for the value ascribed to human life against the power dynamics in-play throughout human civilization.[5]

Fantasy

The Whirlwind Seizes the Wreath

A

wizard
, it is referred to only as a fantasy series.

  • Bangsian: A fantasy subgenre that concerns the use of famous literary or historical individuals and their interactions in the afterlife. It is named for John Kendrick Bangs
    , who often wrote in this genre.
  • Contemporary fantasy (aka modern fantasy or indigenous fantasy): A subgenre of fantasy, set in the present day. These are used to describe stories set in the putative real world (often referred to as consensus reality) in contemporary times, in which magic and magical creatures exist, either living in the interstices of our world or leaking over from alternate worlds.
    • Urban fantasy: A subgenre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods, as well as fictional settings. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.
  • Dark fantasy: A subgenre of fantasy that can refer to literary, artistic, and filmic works that combine fantasy with elements of horror. The term can be used broadly to refer to fantastical works that have a dark, gloomy atmosphere or a sense of horror and dread and a dark, often brooding, tone.
  • Fables: A type of narration demonstrating a useful truth. Animals speak as humans, legendary, supernatural tale.
  • Fairy tales: A literary genre about various magical creatures, environments, et cetera. Many fairy tales are generally targeted for children.
  • Fantasy kitchen sink[citation needed]
  • Hard fantasy: Fantasy where the world and its magical elements are constructed in a logical and rational manner.
  • Epic/High fantasy: Mythical stories with highly developed characters and story lines. Examples include Malazan Book of the Fallen and The Lord of the Rings.
  • Heroic fantasy
    : Subgenre of fantasy that chronicles the tales of heroes in imaginary lands. Frequently, the protagonist is reluctant to be a champion, is of low or humble origin, and has royal ancestors or parents but does not know it. Though events are usually beyond their control, they are thrust into positions of great responsibility where their mettle is tested in a number of spiritual and physical challenges.
  • Historical fantasy: A category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into the historical narrative.
  • Legends: Stories, oftentimes of a national hero or other folk figure, which have a basis in fact, but also contain imaginative material.
  • computer RPG
    , usually with ranks or levels in universe.
  • Magical girl: Popular in Japan, this subgenre is of girls who use magic in either their training, idol stardom, or even to fight evil.
  • Magic realism (aka magical realism): literary works where magical events form part of ordinary life. The reader is forced to accept that abnormal events such as levitation, telekinesis and talking with the dead take place in the real world. The writer does not invent a new world or describe in great detail new creatures, as is usual in Fantasy; on the contrary, the author abstains from explaining the fantastic events to avoid making them feel extraordinary. It is often regarded as a genre exclusive to Latin American literature, but some of its chief exponents include English authors. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez, who received the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature, is considered the genre's seminal work of style.
  • Mythic fiction: Literature that is rooted in, inspired by, or that in some way draws from the tropes, themes and symbolism of myth, folklore, and fairy tales.[6] The term is widely credited to Charles de Lint and Terri Windling. Mythic fiction overlaps with urban fantasy and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but mythic fiction also includes contemporary works in non-urban settings. Mythic fiction refers to works of contemporary literature that often cross the divide between literary and fantasy fiction.
  • Portal Fantasy: In portal fantasy, a character travels to the fantastical world from another, usually less-fantastical one.
    • Isekai: A Japanese form of portal fantasy which can typically—though not always—also follow many of the conventions of the LitRPG (such as a character entering into the world of a game).
  • Science fantasy: A story with mystical elements that are scientifically explainable, or that combine science fiction elements with fantasy elements. (Science fiction was once referred to by this name, but that it no longer denotes that genre, and has somewhat fallen out of favor as a genre descriptor.)
  • Shenmo: A genre of fantasy that revolves around the gods and monsters of Chinese mythology
    .
  • Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn, et cetera, is generally acknowledged as the founder of the genre, chiefly through his writings for Weird Tales and other 1920s/30s pulp magazines
    .

Historical

A story about a real person or event. There are also some

text book
format, which may or may not focus on solely that.

  • Biography: The details of the life story of a real person, told by someone else.
    • Autobiography: Essentially the same as a biography, with the exception that the story is written by the person who is the subject of the story.
    • nonfiction
      works.

Historical fiction

Main article: Historical fiction

The

fantasy fiction or science fiction may play a part, as is the case for instance with the novel George Washington's Socks, which includes time travel
elements.

  • Napoleonic Era
    ).
    • Counterfactual history (aka virtual history): This is a recent form of historiography that attempts to answer counterfactual "what if" questions. It seeks to explore history and historical incidents by means of extrapolating a timeline in which certain key historical events did not happen or had a different outcome. This exercise ascertains the relative importance of the event, incident or person the counter-factual hypothesis negates.
  • Period piece: This type features historical places, people, or events that may or not be crucial to the story. Because history is merely used as a backdrop, it may be fictionalized to various degrees, but the story itself may be regarded as "outside" history. Genres within this category are often regarded as significant categories in themselves.

Horror

An Illustration of Poe's 'The Raven' by Gustav Dore
An Illustration of Poe's 'The Raven' by Gustave Doré

A horror story is told to deliberately scare or frighten the audience, through suspense, violence or shock. H. P. Lovecraft distinguishes two primary varieties in the "Introduction" to Supernatural Horror in Literature: 1) Physical Fear or the "mundanely gruesome;" and 2) the true Supernatural Horror story or the "Weird Tale". The supernatural variety is occasionally called "dark fantasy", since the laws of nature must be violated in some way, thus qualifying the story as "fantastic".

  • Ghost story: A story about the intrusion of the spirits of the dead into the realm of the living. There are subgenres: The Traditional Haunting, Poltergeists, The Haunted Place or Object (i.e. the hotel in Stephen King's The Shining), or the etching in "The Mezzotint" by M. R. James,[9] etc. Some would include stories of Revenants such as "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs.[10]
  • Gothic fiction: An atmospheric supernatural tale centered on a fear of the taboo and unknown. Lurid secrets and personal tragedies are common in stories in which the past returns to haunt the present, thematically reflected in the genre's crumbling, decayed architecture. The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole exemplifies the heightened emotion and foreboding tone of the genre.
  • Zombie
    .
  • Jiangshi fiction: Stories about jiangshi, the hopping corpses under the control of Taoist priests derived from Chinese literature and folklore.
  • Occult stories: Stories that touch upon the adversaries of Good, especially the "Enemies" of the forces of righteousness as expressed in any given religious philosophy. Hence, stories of devils, demons, demonic possession, dark witchcraft, evil sorcerers or warlocks, and figures like the Antichrist would qualify. The nature of such stories presupposes the existence of the side of Good and the existence of a deity to be opposed to the forces of Evil.
  • Survival horror: A horror story about a protagonist in a risky and life-threatening situation that they must endure, often as a result of things such as zombies or other monsters, and the rest of the plot is how the main characters overcome this.

Romance

Main article:
Romance fiction
See also: Mills & Boon imprints and Harlequin Enterprises romance imprints

The term romance has

historical romances like those of Walter Scott would use the term to mean "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents".[11]

Most often, however, a romance is understood to be "love stories", emotion-driven stories that are primarily focused on the relationship between the main characters of the story. Beyond the focus on the relationship, the biggest defining characteristic of the romance genre is that a happy ending is always guaranteed,[12][13] perhaps marriage and living "happily ever after", or simply that the reader sees hope for the future of the romantic relationship.[13]

Due to the wide definition of romance, romance stories cover a wide variety of subjects and often fall into other genre categories in addition to romance.[12][13] Subgenres include:

Satire

In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement.

Satire is usually meant to be funny, but its purpose is not primarily humour as an attack on something the author disapproves of, using wit. A common, almost defining feature of satire is its strong vein of irony or sarcasm, but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre all frequently appear in satirical speech and writing. The essential point, is that "in satire, irony is militant". This "militant irony" (or sarcasm) often professes to approve (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist actually wishes to attack.

Often strictly defined as a

performing arts
.

Science fiction

Main article: Science fiction

Science fiction (once known as

alien life-forms; genetic engineering
; or other such things. The science or technology used may or may not be very thoroughly elaborated on.

  • end of civilization, either through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in an agrarian, non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of technology remain. There is a considerable degree of blurring between this form of science fiction and fiction that deals with false utopias or dystopic societies
    .
  • Hard science fiction: stories whose scientific elements are reasonably detailed, well-researched and considered to be relatively plausible given current knowledge and technology. Examples include Jurassic Park (1990) and Prey (2002).
  • Soft science fiction: stories in which the science involved is not detailed, typically dealing more with cultural, social, and political interactions.
    • Comic science fiction: exploits the genre's conventions for comic
      effect.
    • Military science fiction: in essence, the addition of science fiction elements into a military fiction story. These stories are told from the point of view of the military, or a main character who is a soldier in the military. It usually includes technology far superior to that of current day, but not necessarily implausible. (Some military science fiction stories fit at least somewhat into the "hard science fiction" subgenre as well.)
    • dystopias
      to explore worlds in which gender inequalities are intensified, thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue.
    • pulp magazines were reaching their peak at the same time as fascism and communism. While this environment gave rise to dystopian novels such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, in the pulps, this influence more often give rise to speculations about societies (or sub-groups) arising in direct opposition to totalitarianism
      .
    • Social science fiction: concerned less with the scientific background and more with sociological speculation about human society. In other words, it "absorbs and discusses anthropology", and speculates about human behavior and interactions. Exploration of fictional societies is one of the most interesting aspects of science fiction, allowing it to perform predictive and precautionary functions, to criticize the contemporary world and to present solutions, to portray alternative societies and to examine the implications of ethical principles.
  • Space opera: a story characterized by the extent of space travel and distinguished by the amount of time that protagonists spend in an active, space-faring lifestyle.

Cyberpunk and derivatives

dystopian (hence the "punk" portion of the name). This is often confused or placed with techno-thriller
, which is actually a separate and less specialized genre.

  • Postcyberpunk: a sub-subgenre that some critics suggest has evolved from cyberpunk. Like its predecessor, postcyberpunk focuses on technological developments in near-future societies, typically examining the social effects of a ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, genetic engineering, modification of the human body, and the continued impact of perpetual technological change. Unlike "pure" cyberpunk, the works in this category feature characters who act to improve social conditions or at least protect the status quo
    from further decay.

A category of several different subgenres have been derived from cyberpunk, normally characterized by distinct technologies and sciences. The themes tend to be cynical or dystopian, and typically involve a person, or group of people, fighting the corruption of the government.

Speculative

Main article: Speculative fiction

Speculative fiction speculates about worlds that are unlike the real world in various important ways. In these contexts, it generally overlaps one or more of the following: science fiction,

alternate history
.

Suppositional fiction is a subcategory in which stories and characters are constrained within an internally consistent world, but this category is not necessarily associated with any particular genre.[14][15][16] A work of suppositional fiction might be science fiction, alternate history, mystery, horror, or even suppositional fantasy, depending on the intent and focus of the author.

Thriller

A common theme in thrillers involves innocent victims dealing with deranged adversaries, as seen in Hitchcock's film Rebecca (1940), where Mrs. Danvers tries to persuade Mrs. De Winter to leap to her death

A

action, adventure or mystery genres, but the level of terror makes it borderline horror fiction at times as well. It generally has a dark or serious theme, which also makes it similar to drama
.

Isekai

Isekai (

video games that revolve around a displaced person or people who are transported to and have to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world, or parallel universe. Isekai is one of the most popular genres of anime, and Isekai stories share many common tropes – for example, a powerful protagonist who is able to beat most people in the other world by fighting. This plot device typically allows the audience to learn about the new world at the same pace as the protagonist over the course of their quest or lifetime.[17]

Other

American West, between the time of the Civil war and the early 20th century.[18] The setting of a wilderness or uncivilized area is especially important to the genre, and the setting is often described richly and in-depth. They focus on the adventure of the main character(s) and the contrast between civilization or society and the untamed wilderness, often featuring the characters working to bring civilization to the wilderness.[18][19]

This genre periodically overlaps with historical fiction, and while a more traditional definition of westerns is that of stories about lone men facing the frontier, more modern definitions and writings are often expanded to include any person or persons in this time period that feature a strong tone of the contrast between civilization and wilderness and emphasize the independence of the main character(s).[18]

Film and television genres

Further information: Film genre

While many genres of film and television originally derive from literature, genres in film and TV are also distinctly informed by audiovisual qualities, budgets, formats, and technologies. For that reason, film and TV genres may include additional categorical characteristics to consider, even diverging in some way from their literary counterparts altogether at times.

Scripted

Action and adventure

  • Action: works in this genre are generally defined by risk and stakes. Action films tend to feature a resourceful character struggling against life-threatening situations which generally conclude in victory for the hero. Subgenres include:
  • Adventure: features the hero in action scenes that display and explore exotic locations. Main plot elements include quests for lost continents, a jungle or desert settings, characters going on a treasure hunts and heroic journeys into the unknown. Adventure films are mostly set in a period background and may include adapted stories of historical or fictional adventure heroes within the historical context. Kings, battles, rebellion or piracy are commonly seen in adventure films. Adventure films may also be combined with other movie genres such as, science fiction, fantasy and sometimes war films. Subgenres of adventure films include:

Animation

Further information: Animation

Although animation is listed under "genres" and is classified as a genre by many film critics and streaming services, there is an ongoing debate between the animation community and the general public whether animation is a genre or a medium; and that the genres in the "Live-action scripted" genre can also be portrayed in an animated format, and the below kinds of animation are not types of stories, but simply types of ways that a film can be animated.

The American Film Institute defines animated as "a genre in which the film's images are primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced by actors".[20] This classification includes:

  • Traditional animation (aka cel animation): A way of animating a cartoon by drawing and painting pictures by hand. Examples include: Beauty and the Beast and Spirited Away.
  • Animated series: A work created or adapted with a common series title, usually related to one another and can appear as much as up to once a week or daily during a prescribed time slot. Animated cartoon series are also sometimes created outside of broadcast television, as was the case for the Tom and Jerry short films that appeared in movie theaters from 1961 to 1962. Series can have either a finite number of episodes like a miniseries, a definite end, or be open-ended, without a predetermined number of episodes. Examples include: SpongeBob SquarePants, The Simpsons, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • Computer-generated imagery (CGI): A genre of animation that includes animating a cartoon on a computer modeling program. Models of characters or props are created on the computer, and then programmed to do something specific. Then, when the animation is completely programmed, the computer can play a completely computer generated movie. CGI is often used for the visual effects in Live Action films as well. Examples include: Up (2009) or Toy Story (1995).
  • Stop motion: similar to traditional animation; instead of using hand drawn pictures, stop motion films are made with small figurines or other objects that have their picture taken many times over a sequence of small movements to create animation frames. Examples include: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Coraline (2009), and Corpse Bride (2005).
    • Claymation: A form of stop motion animation, except the subjects used are built specifically out of clay. Examples include: Chicken Run (2000) and Early Man (2018)
  • Puppetry: It is technically live action, but puppetry is a different way of "animating" a movie, and puppets are often used in lieu of live actors. Usually, there are small figurines or figures (similar to stop motion), but these are controlled and filmed in real time. Like CGI, puppetry can be found in live-action films as a method of achieving a special effect. Examples include: The Muppets, The Dark Crystal, and Thunderbirds.

Comedy

Main articles: Comedy film and Television comedy

Devotional

Also known as bhakti films, these are based on the lives of historical or legendary devotees.[25][26] A sub-type of this genre is the amman film, revolving around characters' worship to Amman, an incarnation of Shakti.[27]

Drama

Main article: Drama (film and television)

Within film, television, and radio (but not

semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone,[28] focusing on in-depth development of realistic characters who must deal with realistic emotional struggles. A drama is commonly considered the opposite of a comedy, but may also be considered separate from other works of some broad genre, such as a fantasy
.

Given the broad definition of the genre, listed below are subgenres of drama that are not as likely to be associated with an additional genre (such as

comedy-drama
befitting the comedy genre).

Hindu mythology

Refers to films based on Hindu mythology, literature and the Puranas. Also known as the puranic genre. Up to 1923, 70% of Indian films belonged to this genre. However, after a number of such films started failing, the film industry began experimenting with other genres such as historical dramas and "socials" – films with contemporary settings.[29][30][31]

Historical

Main article:
Historical film

This genre includes works that deal with historical accounts or fictional narratives placed inside a historical setting. Subgenres include:

Horror

Main articles:
Horror television

Horror is a genre in which works seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears.

Subgenres include:

Horror subgenres originating from specific countries include:

Science fiction

Main articles: Science fiction film and Science fiction television

Subgenres include:

Western

Main article: Western (genre)

This genre set in the

American West and embody the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier.[20]

Subgenres include:

Unscripted

By format and audience

  • hobbyist art of film practised for passion and enjoyment and not for business purposes. A notable historical example is the Zapruder film
    (1963).
  • Children's series: Aimed at children and families.
  • Documentary: A feature-length or near-feature-length film depicting a real-world event or person, told in a journalistic style. (If told in a literary narrative style the result is often a docudrama.) Examples: Hoop Dreams and The Thin Blue Line (1988).
  • Educational: helps kids learn their basics to go through school.
  • Factual television: non-fiction television programming that documents actual events and people. These type of programs are also described as documentary, television documentary, observational documentary, fly on the wall, docudrama, and reality television. The genre has existed in various forms since the early years of television, but the term factual television has most commonly described programs produced since the 1990s.
  • Infomercials and Direct response TV (DRTV): These are television commercials that generally include a phone number or website. Long-form infomercials are typically between 15 and 30 minutes long, and short-form infomercials are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds long. Infomercials are also known as paid programming (or teleshopping in Europe). This phenomenon started in the United States where infomercials were typically shown overnight (usually 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.), outside of prime time commercial broadcasting peak hours. Some television stations chose to air infomercials as an alternative to the former practice of signing off. As of 2009, most US infomercial spending is during early morning, daytime, and evening hours.
  • public, educational, and government access
    (PEG) cable TV organization.
  • emotional reactions
    , or unusual occurrences. The genre has numerous widely varying subgenres.
    • defendants
      , which are presided over by a pseudo-judge. Court shows first arose in the United States, and are still predominantly found in the country today.
    • television drama and reality television genres (e.g., the soap opera The Only Way Is Essex).[32][33][34]
  • Talk show: A television show in which one person (or a group of people) discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host. Usually, guests on a talk show consist of a group of people who are learned or who have great experience in relation to whatever issue is being discussed on the show for that particular episode. There are several major formats of talk shows, each subgenre generally predominating during a specific programming block during the broadcast day which informs the shows' overall style and themes. (Spoof talk shows are excluded from this list, as they are primarily scripted.)
    • Breakfast television: morning shows that generally alternate between news summaries, political coverage, feature stories, celebrity interviews, and musical performances.
      • Sunday morning talk shows: generally focus on political news and interviews with elected political figures and candidates for office, commentators, and journalists.
    • Daytime television: a block of TV shows that take place during the late-morning and afternoon on weekdays. Examples include The Ellen Degeneres Show.
      • "Lifestyle" or self-help: programs that generally feature a host or hosts of medical practitioners, therapists, or counselors and guests who seek intervention, describe medical or psychological problems, or offer advice. One example is The Dr. Oz Show.[35]
    • group therapy".[36] These shows typically air during the day, though such criteria are not necessary for a talk show to be considered "tabloid". Examples include The Jerry Springer Show, Dr. Phil, and Maury
      .
    • Panel-discussion shows: evening (or late-night) programmes involving a group of people (often celebrities, comedians, politicians, experts, or other public figures) and usually a host/moderator, gathered to discuss a topic in front of an audience, usually with a focus on news, politics, and/or popular culture. Examples include After Dark, Real Time with Bill Maher, Loose Women.[37]
    • stand-up comics
      .
    • Aftershows: feature in-depth discussion about a program that aired just before on the same network. These shows often have guests, who can include cast members and crew of the given show, as well as fans of the show. Example: Talking Dead (follows The Walking Dead).
  • Variety show: Also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, this is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts (hence the name), especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling and ventriloquism. Variety shows were a staple of anglophone television from its early days into the 1970s, and lasted into the 1980s. In several parts of the world, variety TV remains popular and widespread.
  • Television special

By subject

  • Concert film
  • Cooking show: A television program that presents food presentation in a kitchen television studio. Over the course of the program, the show's host, who is usually a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of the episode. The chef takes the viewing audience through the food's inspiration, preparation, and stages of cooking.
  • Celebrity Name Game
    .
  • Music television: where viewers listen to music on the television, commonly having a visual or complete music video. It is similar to a radio station apart from the visual components.
  • News program: television news broadcasting
    depicting real, up-to-date events
  • Political commentary
    • Public affairs: This refers to radio or television programs that focus on politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time. Public affairs television programs are usually broadcast at times when few listeners or viewers are tuned in (or even awake) in the US, in time slots known as graveyard slots; such programs can be frequently encountered at times such as 5–6 a.m. on a Sunday morning.
  • Religious: produced by religious organizations, usually with a religious message. It can include church services, talk/variety shows, and dramatic movies. Within the last two decades, most religious programming is found on religious television networks.
  • Stand-up comedy: A style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian or simply a stand-up. In stand-up comedy the comedian usually recites a fast-paced succession of humorous stories, short jokes called "bits", and one-liners, which constitute what is typically called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in comedy clubs, bars, neo-burlesques, colleges, and theaters. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, and the internet.
  • Sports TV
    : The coverage of sports as a television program, on radio and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one or more sports commentators describing the events as they happen, which is called "colour commentary".

Other television-related topics

  • Specialty channels are commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel that focus on a single genre, subject, or targeted television market at a specific demographic. The number of specialty channels has increased during the 1990s and 2000s while the previously common concept of countries having just a few (national) TV stations addressing all interest groups and demographics became increasingly outmoded, as it already had been for some time in several countries. About 65% of today's satellite channels are specialty channels.

Video game genres

Main articles: Video game genre, List of video game genres, and Game classification

Genres in video games are formulated somewhat differently than other forms of media. Unlike film or television, which are typically distinguished by visual or narrative elements, video games are generally categorized into genres based on their gameplay interaction, since this is the primary quality from which one experiences a video game.[38][39][40] In other words, the narrative setting does not impact gameplay; a role-playing game is still a role-playing game, whether it takes place in a magical kingdom or in outer space.[41][42]

Most genres from all other types of media can be applied to video games, but are secondary to the genre types described below, which are those unique to video games.

Action and adventure

Action

Further information: Action game

Action games are those defined by physical challenges, including

reaction-time
.

  • Beat 'em ups
  • Fighting: games in which two or more playable characters fight, each character usually having their own unique moves. Often, the goal of the game is to be the last man standing. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are generally credited with popularizing the fighting game.
  • Platform: games in which the core objective is for the player character to move (including jump and climb) between points in a rendered environment and avoid obstacles. These games tend to feature much uneven terrain, vertical environments, and player characters able to jump many times their own height. Some of the most well-known examples of this genre are the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog
    franchises.
    • platform-adventure
      )
    • Run-and-gun platform
  • Shooter: Where the main purpose is to fight using guns.
    • First-person shooter (FPS): A variant of the shooting game. In the game, the camera is actually in place of the character's eyes, so that you are playing the game from the character's view, looking down the barrel of a gun.
      • Massively multiplayer online First-person shooter
        (MMOFPS): An online gaming genre set in a persistent world with a large number of simultaneous players in a first-person shooter fashion. These games provide large-scale, sometimes team-based combat.
    • Hero
    • Light gun
    • Shoot 'em up
      • Run-and-gun
    • Arma
      .
    • Third-person shooter: A shooting game where the camera angle is actually hovering behind the playable character as you play.
  • Stealth: The player must proceed through an environment or complete an objective without being seen, as in the Metal Gear series of games.
  • Survival

Adventure and action-adventure

Further information: Adventure game and Action-adventure game

Role-playing game

Further information: Role-playing game

Role-playing game (RPG) is one in which the player controls the actions of a character or characters immersed in some well-defined world. This is also similar to non-video game forms of gaming that involve roleplaying, including

tabletop roleplaying games. Most of these games cast the player in the role of a character that grows in strength and experience over the course of the game. The most exemplary of this genre are the Pokémon and Final Fantasy
franchises.

  • Action RPG
  • First-person party-based RPG (or Dungeon RPG): RPGs in which the player (
    Etrian Odyssey, and Elminage
    series.
  • Massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG): similar to a regular RPG, but it is a multiplayer game played via the internet. During this game, thousands of players from around the world can play the same game at the same time and chat with each other. Players sign onto the game and complete quests while exploring the virtual world. Many MMORPGs are free-to-play, the most popular of which include RuneScape and TERA, while the most popular "pay-to-play" game is World of Warcraft
    .
  • Open-world RPG: Where the object of the game is to dominate a virtual system (often a simulated natural system), wherein enjoyment is derived through self-expression imposed upon the virtual system. Example: Minecraft
    .
  • Roguelike
  • Tactical RPG

Simulation

Further information: Simulation video game

Simulation games are designed to closely simulate real-world activities.

Strategy

Strategy: A game centered around controlling or commanding a large group of characters, such as an army. Gameplay is centered around getting them to perform tasks or build structures so as to increase their power or numbers. Often the player's opponent has an army of their own, and in order to win the player needs to use their abilities in a strategic way so as to capture rival territory or destroy enemy structures.

  • 4X
  • Auto battler
  • Multiplayer online battle arena
  • Real-time strategy (RTS): where everybody moves at the same time, and races to think of a better strategy than the other players. Most of these video games are about military.
    • Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy
      (MMORTS): An RTS game that is played online. Many players can sign on a play at the same time, creating empires and battling each other.
  • Real-time tactics
  • Turn-based strategy: Where everybody takes turns. Once everybody has placed their units and military characters in the right spot they can't move again until the next turn begins. This structure is prominently used in RPGs.
  • Turn-based tactics
  • Tower defense: Where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers, usually achieved by placing defensive structures on or along their path of attack.
  • Wargame: emphasize strategic or tactical warfare on a map. Wargames generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon military strategy or tactics
    .
    • Grand strategy wargame
    • Military simulation: wargames with higher degrees of realism compared to other wargames and set in a fantasy or science fiction environment. These attempt to simulate real warfare at either a tactical or strategic level.[47]

Other

Technical categories

By platform and interface

Further information: Video game platform

Platforms are particular combinations of hardware and associated software through which video games are operated. As such, games are sometimes categorized by platform or interface, as differences in technology can lead to distinct gameplay and aesthetic features, etc. (Games are typically designed to be played on a limited number of platforms.)

By mechanics or other feature

Though some terms generally describe game mechanics rather than referring to a specific genre, they are often used to describe games as if it were in fact a defining genre.

By intent

Though video games are typically developed for the function of entertainment, there are some games developed for additional purposes. These include:

Music genres

Main articles:
List of music styles

Popular music

Popular music: any musical style accessible to the general public and disseminated by the mass media.

  • Blues: A somewhat somber, quieter style of music whose name refers to the unhappiness of the performer. These became popular in the early 20th century alongside jazz, and influenced the early development of rock music. A major genre within R&B, and one of its earliest genres as well.
  • Country music: American popular music that began in the rural regions of the Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from southeastern American folk music and Western music. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles, and harmonicas. The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music; it came to encompass Western music, which evolved parallel to hillbilly music from similar roots, in the mid-20th century. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute in the United States.
    • stringed instruments
      .
  • Electronic music: employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. It consists of a number of separate genres, many of which are still evolving. One major category within this form of music is electronic dance music (EDM), with its own multitude of genres and subgenres, which is primarily associated with the dance and club scene.
  • Hip hop and rap: more rhythmically based, mostly African-American urban-derived genres, with a wide array of subgenres between them.
  • Jazz: originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. Jazz has, from its early 20th-century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, from New Orleans Dixieland dating from the early 1910s, big band-style swing from the 1930s and 1940s, bebop from the mid-1940s, a variety of Latin jazz fusions such as Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz from the 1950s and 1960s, jazz-rock fusion from the 1970s and late 1980s developments such as acid jazz, which blended jazz influences into funk and hip-hop.
  • Pop: once referred to any popular music during the time period, though the term has slowly gained use as a more specific (yet still somewhat vague) genre descriptor for music with a catchy, relatively consistent melody, among other aspects. It is commonly placed as having started in the mid-20th century, alongside rock music. Much dance music falls under this genre, and much modern rock music is considered to include elements of it as well, since bands such as the Beatles were a significant stylistic influence on what is now considered pop.
  • Rock: originated from folk and blues. It used newer electrical instruments instead of relying solely on the classical woodwinds and stringed instruments. It first became popular in the mid-20th century because of famous bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
    • Folk rock
    • Heavy metal: Similar to rock, and generally considered a subgenre of it. It usually uses the same electrical instruments, but the music is more intense and less "pop" in style (see below) such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Metallica.
    • Punk rock: developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as proto-punk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. Includes work by The Adverts, the Sex Pistols and The Clash.
  • Rhythm and blues (R&B) and Soul music: an evolving range of genres of popular African-American music that first began to develop in the early 20th century.

Latin and Caribbean-influenced

  • Calypso: developed in the mid-20th century out of Kaiso music. The genre became a worldwide hit in the 1950s when the 1956 album titled Calypso was the first full-length record to sell more than a million copies.
  • Reggae: first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by accents on the off-beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally slower than ska. Reggae usually accents the second and fourth beat in each bar. Reggae song lyrics deal with many subjects, including religion, love, sexuality, peace, relationships, drugs, poverty, injustice and other social and political issues.
  • Reggaeton
  • Tango
  • Tropical
    • Mambo
    • Merengue: first developed in the Dominican Republic in the mid-19th century and has become very popular since then. The style of the genre uses the accordion usually as the lead instrument, the guitar and/or saxophone as the melody, tambora and güira percussion instruments and at intivals the marimba usually joining the combination.

Other

By time period

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External links

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