Genre labels determine genre corpora and histories. They guide the reading. Starting from this premise, Peter Scheinpflug questions the discourses and practices of the cultural adoption of genres. To this end, he expands the Genre Theory of film studies around a media and cultural studies perspective. By making reference to films classified at the cinema as crime thrillers, on VHS as horror/slasher, and on DVD as giallo, Scheinpflug brings the interdependencies of texts, media, their reception, and the opening of a discourse around them to a focus. The Genre Theory achieved in this way is transferable to genres across all media and disciplines.