about
genreongenre is an experimental, interactive map of film genre. It starts from a thesis: every genre asks its own question about how to live, and the genres can be set in order along a spectrum of illumination, from Horror to Romance. Then it transforms that thesis. Crossed with itself, the spectrum becomes the spine of a diamond, where every genre meets every other — a single line stretched into a field of pairings to explore.
Data
The diamond is filled live from TMDB, a community-built film database, with 13 of its genre tags standing in for the spectrum’s genres. Each cell draws its films from those tagged with its one genre (a spine) or both of its genres (an intersection). The map is procedural: every visit deals a fresh hand of films from each cell’s pool, and the pattern repeats outward without end. The tags are crowd-sourced and broad, so a film won’t always sit exactly where it belongs on the spectrum. The map isn’t a catalogue of correct answers — it’s the thesis made explorable, close enough to see the spectrum at work.
Print poster
The definitive print is an original work by 40wattdesigns. Where the map is generated, the print is composed: fourteen genres — Myth, Memoir, Coming-of-Age, Gangster and Detective among them — and their 91 pairings, filled with films chosen by hand. Each genre carries its own definition, written for the print.
Credits
Film data and posters from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
The spectrum of illumination and its genre definitions are genreongenre’s own, inspired by John Truby’s The Anatomy of Genres: How Story Forms Explain the Way the World Works (Picador, 2022). genreongenre is an independent work, not affiliated with or endorsed by John Truby or his publisher.
Visual and technical design by 40wattdesigns.