Genre vs. Style: What's the Difference?
Edited by Aimie Carlson || By Janet White || Published on November 16, 2023
Genre categorizes artistic works based on shared themes or conventions. Style refers to the distinctive manner of expression or execution within an artistic work.
Key Differences
Genre and style, while both integral to artistic expression, hold distinct meanings. Genre is a classification system, grouping works based on similarities in form, theme, or subject matter. For instance, in literature, genres might include mystery, romance, or science fiction. On the other hand, style pertains to the individual manner or technique an artist employs in their work.
Discussing music provides a clear differentiation between genre and style. The genre might encompass broad categories like rock, jazz, or classical. Yet, within these genres, the style of individual musicians or groups can vary widely. For instance, two rock bands might both belong to the rock genre but have significantly different styles based on their instrumentation, vocal techniques, or songwriting methods.
In visual arts, genre can classify works into categories like portrait, landscape, or still life. However, style will delineate how an artist paints a landscape — whether they use broad, impressionistic strokes, precise, realistic detail, or abstract forms. Thus, while genre sets the broad category, style provides the unique fingerprint of the artist.
Films also offer insights into the distinctions between genre and style. A movie might belong to the horror genre, indicating specific thematic elements. Yet, the director's style might be seen in the film's pacing, camera angles, and lighting, which collectively create a unique viewing experience, distinct from other films in the same genre.
Architectural designs, too, illuminate the differences between genre and style. Buildings might be categorized into genres like Gothic, Renaissance, or Modernist. Yet, individual architects bring their own style to these genres, selecting particular materials, adding unique design elements, or integrating specific functional features.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Category based on shared themes or conventions
Distinct manner of expression or execution
In Music
Broad categories like rock, jazz
Individual techniques or methods
In Visual Arts
Classifications like portrait, landscape
Individual artistic techniques or approach
In Literature
Types like mystery, romance
Author's unique voice, tone, or method of storytelling
In Films
Categories such as horror, comedy
Director's specific approach to storytelling and filming
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Genre and Style Definitions
Genre
A style or category of art, music, or literature.
The fantasy genre often features magical elements and mythical creatures.
Style
The manner in which something is expressed or performed.
Her writing style is descriptive and engaging.
Genre
A category of artistic works sharing common characteristics or themes.
The mystery genre often involves a detective solving a crime.
Style
The technique or approach adopted by an artist, writer, or designer.
The director's style is known for long, uninterrupted shots.
Genre
A classification of artistic compositions by form, content, or other criteria.
The romance genre focuses on relationships and emotional connections.
Style
The way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed
A style of teaching.
Genre
A type or kind, especially of literary or musical composition.
Science fiction is a genre that explores futuristic concepts.
Style
The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era.
Genre
A grouping based on similar subject matter or form within artistic domains.
The documentary genre aims to present factual information.
Style
Sort; type
A style of furniture.
Genre
A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content
"his six String Quartets ... the most important works in the genre since Beethoven's" (Time).
Style
A quality of imagination and individuality expressed in one's actions and tastes
Does things with style.
Genre
A realistic style of painting that depicts scenes from everyday life.
Style
A comfortable and elegant mode of existence
Living in style.
Genre
A type or class
"Emaciated famine victims ... on television focused a new genre of attention on the continent" (Helen Kitchen).
Style
A mode of living
The style of the very rich.
Genre
A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.
The still life has been a popular genre in painting since the 17th century.
This film is a cross-genre piece, dark and funny at the same time.
The computer game Half-Life redefined the first-person shooter genre.
Style
The fashion of the moment, especially of dress; vogue
Clothes that are in style.
Genre
Kind; genus; class; form; style, esp. in literature.
French drama was lisping or still inarticulate; the great French genre of the fabliau was hardly born.
A particular demand . . . that we shall pay special attention to the matter of genres - that is, to the different forms or categories of literature.
Style
A particular fashion
The style of the 1920s.
Genre
A style of painting, sculpture, or other imitative art, which illustrates everyday life and manners.
Style
A customary manner of presenting printed material, including usage, punctuation, spelling, typography, and arrangement
A manual of style.
Genre
A kind of literary or artistic work
Style
A name or title
Businesses under the style of Wilson and Webber.
Genre
A style of expressing yourself in writing
Style
An implement used for etching or engraving.
Genre
An expressive style of music
Style
A slender pointed writing instrument used by the ancients on wax tablets.
Genre
A class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique
Style
The needle of a phonograph.
Style
The gnomon of a sundial.
Style
(Botany) The usually slender part of a pistil, connecting the ovary and the stigma.
Style
(Zoology) A slender, tubular, or bristlelike process
A cartilaginous style.
Style
(Medicine) A surgical probing instrument; a stylet.
Style
(Obsolete) A pen.
Style
To design or fashion in a certain way
Styled the new model after the classic sports cars.
Style
To arrange (hair) in a certain way, as by cutting, coloring, or curling.
Style
To call or name; designate
George VI styled his brother Duke of Windsor.
Style
To make consistent with rules of style
Style a manuscript.
Style
Senses relating to a thin, pointed object.
Style
(historical) A sharp stick used for writing on clay tablets or other surfaces; a stylus; an instrument used to write with ink; a pen.
Style
A tool with a sharp point used in engraving; a burin, a graver, a stylet, a stylus.
Style
The gnomon or pin of a sundial, the shadow of which indicates the hour.
Style
(botany) The stalk that connects the stigma(s) to the ovary in a pistil of a flower.
Style
(surgery) A kind of surgical instrument with a blunt point, used for exploration.
Style
(zoology) A small, thin, pointed body part.
Style
(by extension from sense 1.1) A particular manner of expression in writing or speech, especially one regarded as good.
Style
A legal or traditional term or formula of words used to address or refer to a person, especially a monarch or a person holding a post or having a title.
Monarchs are often addressed with the style of Majesty.
Style
A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art.
Style
A particular manner of acting or behaving; (specifically) one regarded as fashionable or skilful; flair, grace.
As a dancer, he has a lot of style.
Backstabbing people is not my style.
Style
A particular way in which one grooms, adorns, dresses, or carries oneself; (specifically) a way thought to be attractive or fashionable.
Style
(computing) A visual or other modification to text or other elements of a document, such as boldface or italics.
Applying styles to text in a wordprocessor
Cascading Style Sheets
Style
A set of rules regarding the presentation of text (spelling, typography, the citation of references, etc.) and illustrations that is applied by a publisher to the works it produces.
The house style of the journal
Style
(transitive) To design, fashion, make, or arrange in a certain way or form (style)
Style
To call or give a name or title to.
Style
To create for, or give to, someone a style, fashion, or image, particularly one which is regarded as attractive, tasteful, or trendy.
Style
To act in a way which seeks to show that one possesses style.
Style
An instrument used by the ancients in writing on tablets covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of making erasures by smoothing the wax.
Style
Hence, anything resembling the ancient style in shape or use.
Style
A pen; an author's pen.
Style
Mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or written; especially, such use of language in the expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression.
High style, as when that men to kinges write.
Style is the dress of thoughts.
Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style.
It is style alone by which posterity will judge of a great work.
Style
A sharp-pointed tool used in engraving; a graver.
Style
Mode of presentation, especially in music or any of the fine arts; a characteristic of peculiar mode of developing in idea or accomplishing a result.
The ornamental style also possesses its own peculiar merit.
Style
A kind of blunt-pointed surgical instrument.
Style
Conformity to a recognized standard; manner which is deemed elegant and appropriate, especially in social demeanor; fashion.
According to the usual style of dedications.
Style
A long, slender, bristlelike process, as the anal styles of insects.
Style
Mode or phrase by which anything is formally designated; the title; the official designation of any important body; mode of address; as, the style of Majesty.
One style to a gracious benefactor, another to a proud, insulting foe.
Style
The pin, or gnomon, of a dial, the shadow of which indicates the hour. See Gnomon.
Style
A mode of reckoning time, with regard to the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
Style
The elongated part of a pistil between the ovary and the stigma. See Illust. of Stamen, and of Pistil.
Style
To entitle; to term, name, or call; to denominate.
How well his worth and brave adventures styled.
Style
A particular kind (as to appearance);
This style of shoe is in demand
Style
How something is done or how it happens;
Her dignified manner
His rapid manner of talking
Their nomadic mode of existence
In the characteristic New York style
A lonely way of life
In an abrasive fashion
Style
A way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period;
All the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper
Style
Distinctive and stylish elegance;
He wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer
Style
The popular taste at a given time;
Leather is the latest vogue
He followed current trends
The 1920s had a style of their own
Style
(botany) the narrow elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma
Style
Editorial directions to be followed in spelling and punctuation and capitalization and typographical display
Style
A pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving;
He drew the design on the stencil with a steel stylus
Style
A slender bristlelike or tubular process;
A cartilaginous style
Style
Designate by an identifying term;
They styled their nation `The Confederate States'
Style
Make consistent with a certain fashion or style;
Style my hair
Style the dress
Style
Make consistent with certain rules of style;
Style a manuscript
Style
A distinctive appearance or manner of expression.
The painter's style is characterized by vibrant colors.
Style
A unique mode of expression, execution, or performance in any art.
The musician's style blends jazz with classical elements.
Style
A characteristic way of presenting ideas or concepts.
His storytelling style is both humorous and poignant.
FAQs
Is style unique to each artist?
While artists may have distinct styles, some styles can be shared or influenced by others.
Are genres fixed or can they evolve?
Genres can evolve over time, and new genres can emerge.
Can a work belong to more than one genre?
Yes, a work can blend elements from multiple genres.
Does style only refer to visual characteristics?
No, style can refer to techniques, approaches, and expression across various arts.
Is the style more subjective than genre?
Style is often more open to interpretation, while genre has more defined characteristics.
Can style influence genre?
While style is more about execution, a prevalent style can sometimes birth a new genre.
Can a single work have multiple styles?
Yes, especially in collaborative works, multiple styles can be evident.
Can a genre dictate the style of a work?
While genre can influence style, it doesn't dictate it. Artists can bring diverse styles to a single genre.
How do critics determine the genre of contemporary works?
Critics use established criteria, but as genres evolve, there can be debates about categorization.
Are there sub-genres within main genres?
Yes, main genres can have various sub-genres that offer more specific categorizations.
Can an artist be recognized solely by their style?
Many iconic artists have distinct styles that make their work instantly recognizable.
How does culture impact genre and style?
Culture can shape both the thematic content (genre) and manner of expression (style) in arts.
Can the style of an artist change over time?
Absolutely, many artists evolve their styles throughout their careers.
Is genre more about content and style about execution?
Broadly, yes. Genre often categorizes content, while style pertains to the manner of execution.
Does every artist have a defined style?
Most artists develop a style, but it can be fluid and change over time.
Can two artists have the same style?
While two artists might share similarities, each artist's style has unique nuances.
Are there definitive lists of genres in arts?
While there are widely recognized genres, arts are dynamic, leading to the emergence of new genres.
Does the medium (e.g., paint, digital) influence an artist's style?
The medium can influence technique, which is a component of style.
How does one identify the genre of a work?
Through thematic, structural, and form-based characteristics typical to that genre.
Can a genre fall out of popularity?
Yes, genres can ebb and flow in popularity based on cultural and societal changes.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Aimie CarlsonAimie Carlson, holding a master's degree in English literature, is a fervent English language enthusiast. She lends her writing talents to Difference Wiki, a prominent website that specializes in comparisons, offering readers insightful analyses that both captivate and inform.
