Narrative and Genre introduces students to these key concepts in media studies, complementing Image and Representation published in 1998. It covers the major narrative theorists including Todorov, Propp, Levi-Strauss, Barthes and applies their ideas via case examples ranging from The X Files to newspaper reporting. It then moves on to offer an extensive analysis of the basic schema and conventions of genre, drawing on the film noir, the TV cop genre and science fiction for examples, and showing how the repertoire of elements of each ranges across setting, character, narrative, iconography, style and stars. Fresh, down-to-earth and well-structured, this is an excellent text for all those in post-16 education, whether in school, college or university.

NICK LACEY is the Curriculum Leader of Film and Media Studies at Benton Park School in West Yorkshire. He has worked in a variety of media institutions, including Times Newspapers, EMAP and Yorkshire Television. He is the popular and respected author of Image and Representation, Media Institutions and Audiences and Introduction to Film.