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Update the genres

Hessa Volunteer Staff

I noticed that Zombies, Vampire, and  School are always duplicated in the genres and tags when users send in submissions. Moreover, since we have included tags now, some of the genres should be moved to tags since they are technically not genres.

Genres to keep and 4 new to add:

  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Comedy
  • Crime
  • Documentary
  • Drama
  • Family
  • Fantasy
  • Historical
  • Horror
  • Law
  • (add) LGBTQ+
  • Life (Updating the name to "Slice of Life" would be better)
  • Mature  (Updating the name to "Adult" would be better)
  • Martial Arts
  • Medical
  • Melodrama
  • Music
  • (add) Musical
  • Mystery
  • Political
  • Psychological
  • Romance
  • Sci-Fi
  • Sitcoms
  • Sport
  • Supernatural
  • Thriller
  • Tokusatsu
  • War
  • Wuxia
  • (add) Xianxia (explanation #1 and #2)
  • (add) Xuanhuan (explanation #1)

12 to be removed from genres and moved to tags:

  • Animals (this is a theme, not a genre)
  • Business (Falls under drama and life)
  • Detective (Falls under mystery or action)
  • Food (this is a theme, not a genre)
  • Friendship (Falls under drama)
  • Investigation  (Falls under mystery)
  • Military  (Falls under war or drama)
  • School (Falls under drama and life)
  • Suspense (sub-genre of thriller)
  • Tragedy (should be in the tags marked as a spoiler)
  • Vampire  (Vampire films generally fall into the horror monster sub-genre, some cross over into other genres, such as comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. )
  • Youth (Falls under drama)
  • Zombies (zombie films generally fall into the horror monster sub-genre, some cross over into other genres, such as comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. )

2 to delete:

  • Manga: should be replaced with the tags Adapted from a Manga/Manhwa/Manhua/Webtoon.
  • Western: This has never been used, ever. We are an Asian film/drama database. There are hardly any Asian cowboy films.

Update (2021): Maybe move some genres to become sub-genres instead of tags.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_genre

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genres

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_formats_and_genres#Genres

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Film_genres

Example of genres and their subgenres that I could find on the internet, we can discuss and refine the list):

Update: For people who don't know why it is important not to have duplicate genres and tags, is because those 2 lists would be the same if we have too many duplicates.

https://mydramalist.com/profile/Hessa/stats

In a different suggestion, I actually asked for genres to be removed from variety shows. Genres should be removed since they are not compatible with variety shows and we should instead have types; which make it easier for people to search for different types of TV shows. Also, we should be able to choose multiple types just like the genre box works. Types I'm suggesting:

  1. Beauty and Makeup Shows
  2. Comedy Sketch Show (Example: Gag Concert)
  3. Social Commentary Show (Example: Hello Counselor)
  4. Documentary Show
  5. Game Show
  6. Variety Show
  7. Music Show
  8. Survival Competition Show
  9. Travel Show
  10. Talk Show
  11. Food and Cooking Show
  12. Fashion and Style Shows
  13. Sport Shows
  14. Reality Show
  15. Talent Show (Example: Star King)

 https://mydramalist.com/discussions/suggestions/31730-upgrading-the-variety-show-section 

184votes
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Soju

I give all three of my votes to you. Makes perfect sense. I agree. 

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Yuanwei Volunteer Staff

Bump up! 

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Ji-N Admin

Thanks for bumping. I did not see this before.

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Yuanwei Volunteer Staff
 Ji-N:

Thanks for bumping. I did not see this before.

Welcome ^~^

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cityhunter VIP

i agree with 99.9% of this accept that Family is a genre of tv/ film that doesn't necessarily fall under drama.   now of course i acknowledge that this might just be the way TV or films are classified in the US, but here goes. 

in the US we talk about 2 kinds of "family" entertainment, the 1st being shows and movies that are specifically created to appeal to a whole family.  it's appropriate and enjoyable for the kids but the adults would like it too.  a good example of this in Asian cinema would be Monster Hunt.  the "family" designation with monster hunt is important b/c it lets the adults know it's not singing radishes played down to an audience of children.   

the 2nd kind of show that i would classify as a family show (that might not necessarily fall under drama) are family comedies.  these can be appropriate for all ages or adults only.  The Sound of Your Heart is a show that comes to mind.  


 

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NoirRoseHeart

I agree with almost all of this, but I think that Family, Friendship and School should all still be under the genre section.

As for the Business one, I'm torn on if it should be a tag or genre.

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Hessa Volunteer Staff

Please help give your feedback or any suggestions as to how to improve this.

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Kate VIP

totally agree, many entries in genre are not genres at all, but simply tags. would be good to clean it up 

That said, I am not sure about Law  and Business. They both should either be in tag OR in genre. I just don't see why one should be seen as genre and the other as a tag. They both describe a shows that are set in a specific environment etc. 

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Patches

I agree with some things mentioned here, but some of it doesn't make sense to me, such as friendship, youth or school.  If I want to watch a drama in a school setting, I would have to search through multiple other dramas under 'drama' and 'life' that have nothing to do with schools.  Also, if I want to watch a sad drama, it's convenient having a tragedy tag to search for them.  Changing some from tags to genres is indeed understandable, but I less like the idea of removing tags altogether just because they are similar to something or can be combined under a larger umbrella.  Wuxia for example, most Wuxia indeed have fantasy elements, but not all fantasy dramas are Wuxia.  So why delete the Wuxia tag?  

^_^

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Kate VIP
 Patches:

I agree with some things mentioned here, but some of it doesn't make sense to me, such as friendship, youth or school.  If I want to watch a drama in a school setting, I would have to search through multiple other dramas under 'drama' and 'life' that have nothing to do with schools.  Also, if I want to watch a sad drama, it's convenient having a tragedy tag to search for them.  Changing some from tags to genres is indeed understandable, but I less like the idea of removing tags altogether just because they are similar to something or can be combined under a larger umbrella.  Wuxia for example, most Wuxia indeed have fantasy elements, but not all fantasy dramas are Wuxia.  So why delete the Wuxia tag?  

^_^

Most of the things you are saying are not suppose to be removed all together, but moved from genres to tags: school, youth, friendship and wuxia for example. Right now they are under genres, and the idea it to move them to tags. 

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Dojemi10 VIPCommunity Manager

I agree with the suggested changes that were mentioned, however imo sitcoms should be moved to tags.

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Wandering_Queen

Most of them should definitely be turned into tags except for the following: 

  • Friendship:  While it works as a tag, too many people tag it making it hard to find it unless it is a genre. Making it the main genre means it is primarily or heavily a friendship drama. 
  • Investigation: Should be Police Procedural because it is very specific. Unlike Crime (which can just be about gangst and not about police or solving something) and Mystery (is too broad and has too many subgenres ) this will make it easier. There is a lot of police procedural drama about solving cases.
  • Military: is also something I would recommend to keep as a genre while making War a  tag. There aren't many dramas/movies about wars but there are a good amount of dramas set in the military.
  • Suspense: This is not the same as a thriller and should be kept as its own genre. Suspense is about excitement or anxiety being built up which doesn't mean it will be a thriller or mystery. Hence it should be kept separate.
  • Tragedy: There are quite a lot of people who prefer knowing a drama will be primarily a tragedy. It isn't necessarily a spoiler, oftentimes it is already in the synopsis of the drama/movie. Best to keep it separate.
  • Vampire & Zombie: Should be under the Supernatural genre that is where they were created. Even if Zombie often is with the horror genre it is mainly a supernatural category.
  • Youth: Youth is defined as 0 - 25 age range which will involve school and a slice of life but the primary focus is on the age there so keep it separate with school falling under it. It could be changed to Coming of Age but that is long.

A Call for removing:

  • Wuxia: This is a genre but is based on solely Chinese dramas it is heavily matched if not always put with historical, martial arts, and fantasy anyway. I think it should be used as a tag instead  (this is coming from someone who uses it).
  • Tokusatsu: I don't think this needs to be a genre and should be moved to tags. It is just an action type of drama with special effects that are in all dramas.

Another reason I wish to get rid of these two is that they are the only two specific their countries. I think it would be better to have all the genres to be neutral for users especially since both of these aren't actually necessary on their own.

Add a genre:

  • Variety Show/Reality Show: This is completely its own thing and under a non-fiction category. It shouldn't be under the tag and there are a lot of variety shows in every country on MDL list. It would make it easier for users to find them if made into a genre as there is a main focus aside from comedy, a slice of life (which is mostly a fiction genre thing).

Notes: I would consider that not many users actually use Tags to find dramas/movies but they do use genres. 

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Clueless Sensei

So glad I see this suggestion, it bugged me before and I do agree with most of them. The thing is, the war between what is a genre or not is never ending in the literary and film worlds. Not certain we'll have a consensus at the end xD
That being said, I'm not quite sure what to do with these :

  • Crime - Law - Investigation.
    Which one is  the genre, which one is the tag ? I'm perplex.
    If Business is under the Life/Drama genres, then does not Law enter in the Crime or Life/Drama genres ?
  • Life.
    It feels like most of the genres can fall under it. But for me, Slice of Life dramas are specifically not event/drama driven but focus on the "plain" and realistic normal life. So I don't know if many of these genres such as Business, Law or School fall under it as they're most of the time not character driven but very dramatic (with exceptions of course).
  • School - Youth.
    I do feel there's a need for a genre here. These stories portray the transformative years and experiences of teens and young adults. Their youth often times is the main focus of the plot so it should be regarded as a genre imo.
    But I agree that it can't be School. Why not Coming-of-Age ? Or just Youth, it is simple but to the point.
  • Music - Sport
     Shouldn't they be tags like Food and Animals ?

Here's my two cents.

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Wandering_Queen

Crime - Law - Investigation.
Which one is  the genre, which one is the tag ? I'm perplex.
If Business is under the Life/Drama genres, then does not Law enter in the Crime or Life/Drama genres ?

Haha, I felt the same way. Crime is one thing but Investigation should definitely be its own thing but under Police Procedural or Procedural in general if you want to take out the Law genre, it can be combined with Police and go under Procedural dramas.

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