Critical perspectives in media and research into genre...

Genre basically means type or classification. Industries use genre to sell products to audiences. In terms of genre, there are narrative and performance, some combine both - based videos are very often purely intertextual. They often pastiche/parody films or offer commentary on social events. Others include themes which may fit around the lyrics of the song or society, this is a medium known for being experimental and controversial. Genre examines the structural elements that combine in the telling of a story and finds patterns in collections of stories. When these elements begin to carry inherent information, a genre is emerging.
Any theme may appear in any genre, some music videos have themes for a more youthful audience such as:
-teen angst
-rebelion
-romance
-sex/losing your virginity
-nostalgia: for the innocence of youth
-nihilism: the belief that there is no future.
Other themes that you may find in music videos could be war, crime, poverty, capitalism and racism etc...!

Jason Mittel argues that genres are cultural categories surpouss the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry audience and cultural practices as well.

Kristen H. Perry’s argues that genres are social constructions that represent specific purposes for reading and writing within different social activities, created by social groups who need them to perform certain things. They change over time, reflecting essential shifts in social function performed by that text. Genres also represent constellations of textual attributes: some attributes are necessary and other attributes are optional.

Conventions of genre:
Conventions of a genre: Conventions are phrases, themes, quotes, or explanations that we expect to find in a certain genre. They could be considered 'stereotypes' of that genre.

Theorist Rick Altman (1999) argues that genre offers audiences 'a setof pleasures':

• Emotional pleasures: the emotional pleasures offered to audiences of genre films and music videos are particularly significant when they generate a strong audience response.
• Visceral pleasures: are 'gut' responses. This can be a feeling of revulsion, kinetic speed or a 'roller coaster ride'.
• Intellectual puzzles: genre such as thriller or the 'who dunnit' offer pleasure to unravel a mystery, solving a murder 'midsomer murder'.

Strengths of genre theory: there are many strengths of genre theory such as that everybody uses it and understands it, also it helps the media industry to decide what texts to consume.

It's also the potential for the same concept to be understood by producers, audiences and scholars which makes genre useful as a critical tool. It's accessibility as a concept also means that it can be applied across a wide range of texts.