Subgenres are subcategories within a specific genre, used in literature, music, film, theatre, video games and other art forms. They help to organize and classify works of art into more defined subjects, making it easier to find specific material. The concept emerged around 300 BC with Aristotle and Plato organizing written works into three categories. Literature was one of the first subjects to be listed under separate genres and sub-genres. Music has also been categorized into types and subgenre further specifies these types. Film and theater often have similar categories as literature because both are based on written works.
A subgenre is a subcategory of a specific genre and can apply to literature, music, film, theatre, video games, or other art forms. Genres were created to classify works of art into descriptive categories, and a subgenre breaks those categories into more defined subjects. This concept emerged around 300 BC when Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato organized various written works into three categories. Numerous genres have since been added and the list of topics continues to grow. Due to the amount of art material in today’s world, subcategories of the main topics make it easier to find the material because it is a well-organized format.
Literature became one of the first subjects to be listed under separate genres and sub-genres. Prior to the introduction of the subgenre there were only a select number of categories to choose from, including romance, horror, thriller, science fiction, and mystery. These broad terms covered the general concept of the written work, but lacked the in-depth description of a sub-category. For example, romance is now split into a number of categories, including contemporary, erotica, romantic comedy, and young adult. Horror fiction has adopted categories such as historical, psychological and supernatural and the thriller genre has added new sub-categories including action, disaster, erotic, legal and forensic.
Music has also been categorized into types and subgenre further specifies these types. The major genres of music generally include classical, blues, country, dance, rap, alternative, and easy listening, and the subgenre helps further explain the different types of music in each category. This concept is extremely useful when a person is looking for a highly specific type of music. Blues music, for example, has added subgroups that include Chicago blues, country blues, classic blues, and contemporary blues. Most shops and internet sites use sub-categories to improve accessibility, which also speeds up the search process by allowing the customer to jump directly to the type of music they are interested in.
Film and theater often have similar categories as literature because both are based on written works. Modern technology has also contributed to the growing popularity of sub-genres and movies can be easily found by specific descriptions as opposed to very generalized categories. Popular movie sites and machines use subgenre as their primary search format where a customer can choose a category like dark humor or rom-com action to find a specific movie.
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