What is the importance of Genre and/or Narrative in creating meaning and generating response in film?

What is the importance of Genre and/or Narrative in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

Both 'City of God' and 'La Haine' use a circular narrative in their films, this helps comment upon issues in French Society. In 'City of God' it shows that character like 'Lil Ze' always exist, and there are greater threats and are an on-going issue. He's just one of the many threats in the criminal environment. In 'La Haine', the circular narrative highlights on-going problems, not easily fixed, but that have been on-going for sometime. The story begins and ends with the death of an ethnic minority at the hands of the police. This shows the endless cycle of violence present in French society at the time. The passage of time in 'La Haine' can be shown by clock, as 'La Haine' is only set over a short period of time (24 hours) so this becomes really important to the audience. I think the film is set over a twenty four hour period because it shows how commonly the events actually occur; police corruption, racism, and abuse are all common things in French society at that time. Whereas 'City of God' is set over a 20 year period to emphasise the cycle of violence message and make it more clear, it also shows us of the differences in the location over different periods of time, and shows the impact of crime on the environment.