Genres: Expectations Determining Products

Expectations were what controlled the film industry during the era of classic Hollywood.  Studio executives were obeying the laws of economics by supplying their customers with the products that they wanted, and expected, to see.  More specifically, they released films according to previously set genre expectations.  Films that belonged to a specific genre usually followed the formulas set by their predecessors with very little deviation.

Hollywood still goes about this today, but to a lesser extent.  It is nowhere near as prevalent as it was during those days.  Back then, films within a specific genre were amazingly similar to one another.  They often contained the same stars playing the same character types, the same plots (with minor tweaks), very similar cinematography, and the same endings.  By adhering to these set conventions, the studios were giving the viewers what they wanted, considering that viewers were not as demanding back then as they are today  This seems like an innocent enough business model, but there was a negative side to this system: the lack of variety among the films that were released.  Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of variety present among the different genres.  However, for the films set within a specific genre, differences were rather scarce.  Sure, they contained different character names and settings, but that's about it.  If it were not for such innovators as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and the directors of the French New wave, the studios could have continued in this tradition for a long time.

The perfect example of this is the western genre.  From the late 1930s to the 1970s, the western was one of the most popular genres in existence.  Dozens of western films flooded the market every year (Rio Bravo, The Searchers, High Noon, 3:10 to Yuma, and many more).  People constantly flocked to see them, so they were very successful.  Therefore, more were released.  Yet, despite the vast number of these films in existence, many of them were strikingly similar.  They often had the same stars (John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood) playing the same character types in every film, similar plots (lawmen versus outlaws, misunderstood outlaws do good things, etc.), and they often ended the same way (courageous lawmen triumph, misunderstood outlaw escapes the law).  These similarities were prevalent in many films of this genre, and yet people kept going to see them, so the studios kept making money.  This prompted the studios to continue making them.  The western genre was like this until the 1970s, when its popularity started to wane.  Ever since then, westerns have changed quite a bit.  Now, it's a much darker genre with much different conventions, usually morally challenged characters who do not always triumph (Unforgiven, Appaloosa, Open Range).  They are also not always as cheerful today as they used to be.  Also, not nearly as many westerns made nowadays because so many more genres and sub genres exist.  It's not how it was back in the days when the western reigned supreme.