Genre. It’s a convenient way of classifying forms of culture, be it music, cinema, dance, art etc. Quite helpful shorthand if you want to describe a song or a film to someone – a quick way of conveying the experience, based on shared understanding of the conventions of that form.

But then generic as an adjective is neutral to pejorative – tending towards dismissing something as trite, hackneyed – tab a into slot b, to use a Kermode-ism.

What or who decides genres? Do they have a lifecycle, from fresh merging of existing artforms into something new and self-standing towards imitation, lazy copy pasting, and finally mass-produced ‘generic’ blandness?

Any answers to or reflections on this minor trouble doll of a thought challenge that’s been sitting with me for days are gratefully received.