One of the critical aspects of the studio system was the use of reoccurring genres to which audiences repeatedly flocked to. A genre discerns a specific type of film with a fingerprint formula to which the audience can form a fixed preconception of the film before ever setting foot in the movie house. Like the star system with its use of familiar stars to promote movies, a film’s specific genre gave the audience member a drive to see a movie that was similar to a movie they had already seen.
Through this aspect of the studio system, such genres of comedy, drama, action, horror, science fiction, classics, family, westerns, animation, documentary, and foreign have given rise and developed into the bread and butter of the movie industry. Because the movie industries had these reproducible templates, mass production of similar movies with similar themes became the norm. The genres affected the kinds of movies produced by giving a simple way for making movies that were generally widely accepted by the audience and the movie industries did not have to worry about the risk of not having appeal to get the viewer to the theater.
A prime example of a genre appealing to an audience is the persistence of the John Wayne’s eighty-four westerns. From the 20s to the 70s, westerns were a staple for the average moviegoer as John Wayne’s massive empire portrays. The dominance of this genre is an example of how this part of the studio system worked toward capturing the attention of audience members to go to a movie that was familiar yet still a new experience.
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