We live in a post-generic age; no film can be set down by one style. For example: Lynne Ramsay's second film Morvern Callar would be naturally distinguished as social realist to some, yet to myself it is so much more - as with many other films. Chris Morris' debut Four Lions is another example, is this just satire and satire alone; or is it deeper? Surely you should call it black comedy, coming of age film, drama, thriller, social realist - if all of these terms can be used, what's the point in pining it all down to one; what's the point in genre?
What shall become of this format? Can we really carry on using it as a critical structure or has the time come to say goodbye. The old style of cinema had a perfect relationship with genre; a film noir was a film noir, a comedy was a comedy, a drama was a drama - but now there is so much more. With film noir comes neo-noir, gangster film, crime film, drama and so on. You could easily make one film and fit every possibly genre within it - what would you call this? There is no way a film such as that could be squeezed down into one simple style, it's much more complex. If you abolish genre a filmmaker could go anywhere and do anything, but sadly corporate companies shall always use genre as a strategy for marketing; it's such a perfect way to make money.
