Hybrid genre explained

A hybrid genre is a literary or film genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Hybrid genre works are also referred to as cross-genre, multi-genre, mixed genre, or fusion genre. Some hybrid genres have acquired their own specialised names, such as comedy drama ("dramedy"), romantic comedy ("rom-com"), horror Western, and docudrama.

A Dictionary of Media and Communication describes hybrid genre as "the combination of two or more genres", which may combine elements of more than one genre and/or which may "cut across categories such as fact and fiction".^[1]

Hybrid genres are a longstanding element in the fictional process. An early literature example is William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell, with its blend of poetry, prose, and engravings.^[2] In cinema, the merging of two or more separate genres attracts a broader range of audience type.^{[3] [4]}

Examples

Literature

In contemporary literature, Dimitris Lyacos's trilogy Poena Damni combines fictional prose with drama and poetry in a multilayered narrative developing through the different characters of the work.^[5]

Many contemporary women of color have published cross-genre works, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Giannina Braschi, Guadalupe Nettel, and Bhanu Kapil.^[6] Giannina Braschi creates linguistic and structural hybrids of comic fantasy and tragic comedy in Spanish, Spanglish, and English prose and poetry.^{[7] [8]} Carmen Maria Machado mixes psychological realism and science fiction with both humor and elements of gothic horror.^[9]

Dean Koontz considers himself a cross-genre writer, not a horror writer: "I write cross-genre books-suspense mixed with love story, with humor, sometimes with two tablespoons of science fiction, sometimes with a pinch of horror, sometimes with a sprinkle of paprika..."^[10]

Film

Examples of hybrid genre films include:

• Grease (1978; musical, comedy, romance, coming-of-age)^[11]
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988; live action, animation, mystery)^[11]
• Back to the Future 3 (1990; science fiction and western)^[1]
• Punch-Drunk Love (2002; rom-com, psychological drama, musical, screwball comedy)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004; horror, survival, comedy)^[11]
• Let the Right One In (2008; horror (vampire), romance, coming-of-age, Nordic noir)^[12]
• Drive (2011; art-house drama, B-movie)
• Deadpool (2016; superhero, action, comedy)
• Elle (2016; erotic thriller, Black comedy, satire)^[13]
• Logan (2017; superhero, Western)^{[13] [11]}
• The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017; horror, Greek tragedy, dark comedy)^[14]
• Parasite (2019; comedy, drama, thriller)
• Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022; action, fantasy, sci-fi)

TV series

• Lost (2004-2010; adventure, mystery, science fiction, serial drama, supernatural, survival, thriller)^[15]

List of named hybrid genres

• Action comedy (action and comedy)
• Action drama (action and drama)
• Comedy drama (comedy and drama)
• Comedy-horror (comedy and horror)
• Comic fantasy (comedy and fantasy)
• Comic science fiction (comedy and science fiction)
• Crime drama (crime and drama)
• Crime fantasy (crime and fantasy)^[16]
• Dark fantasy (horror and fantasy)
• Docudrama (dramatised documentary)
• Docufiction (documentary and fiction)
• Ethnofiction (ethnography and fiction)
• Fantasy Western (fantasy and Western)
• Horror Western (horror and Western)
• Romantic comedy (romance and comedy)
• Romantic fantasy (romance and fantasy)
• Science fantasy (science fiction and fantasy)
• Science fiction Western (science fiction and Western)
• Tragicomedy (tragedy and comedy)
• Zombie comedy (zombie fiction and comedy)

See also

• Genre-busting
• Menippean satire
• Northrop Frye

Further reading

• Book: Freedman . Diane P. . An Alchemy of Genres: Cross-Genre Writing by American Feminist Poet-Critics . 1992 . 1st . . Charlottesville, Virginia . 978-0813913773.

External links

• Film Genres at Filmsite

Notes and References

1. Book: Chandler . Daniel . Munday . Rod . A Dictionary of Media and Communication . 2020 . 3rd . hybrid genre . . Oxford, England . 978-0198841838 . 21 July 2023 . Oxford Reference.
2. M. Singer/W. Walker, Bending Genre (2013) p. 21-2
3. Web site: Aldredge . Jourdan . A Guide to the Basic Film Genres (and How to Use Them) . PremiumBeat . . August 29, 2022 . 3 December 2024.
4. Web site: The Psychology of Jumping Genres: Why Audiences Love Hybrid Films . Stylesphere Source . May 8, 2024 . 3 December 2024.
5. Web site: 2011-03-14. Reviews: Z213: Exit by Dimitris Lyacos. Write From Wrong Literary Magazine. 2015-11-07. Writefromwrongmag.wordpress.com.
6. Web site: How I Learned To Love Experimental Fiction As A Brown Girl By Seeking Out Books By Women Of Color. 2020-10-11. Bustle. 25 January 2019 . en.
7. Web site: 2012-08-06. "What to Read Now: Mixed-Genre Literature," Giannina Braschi. 2020-10-11. World Literature Today. en.
8. Marting. Diane E.. 2010. New/Nueva York in Giannina Braschi's "Poetic Egg": Fragile Identity, Postmodernism, and Globalization. The Global South. 4. 1. 167–182. 10.2979/gso.2010.4.1.167. 10.2979/gso.2010.4.1.167 . 1932-8648.
9. Web site: 2019-01-09. 13 Latina Fantasy Books For the Sci-Fi Lover in Your Life. 2020-10-11. Fierce. en-US.
10. Koontz, Dean. "Afterword", Lightning, G.P. Putnam's Sons hardcover edition, January 1988. Berkley Publishing Group, mass market edition, May 1989. p. 360
11. Web site: Tibbs . Ros . 4 August 2022 . 10 essential films that define genre-hybridity . 21 July 2023 . Far Out.
12. Web site: The 20 Best Genre-Hybrid Movies of The 21st Century (1) . Taste of Cinema . Kevin . Ding . 13 July 2017 . 21 July 2023.
13. Web site: The 20 Best Genre-Hybrid Movies of The 21st Century (2) . Taste of Cinema . Kevin . Ding . 13 July 2017 . 21 July 2023.
14. Web site: The 20 Best Genre-Hybrid Movies of The 21st Century (3) . Taste of Cinema . Kevin . Ding . 13 July 2017 . 21 July 2023.
15. Web site: VanDerWerff . Todd . The Lost Interviews . 2024-11-28 . Vox.
16. Web site: 2014-05-15. When crime meets fantasy in fiction. 2022-02-18. the Guardian. en.