Abstract: The study of Western genre films started after World War II, pioneered by Bazin who initiated the research of the genre of American westerns. In the 1970s, Thomas Schatz took genre only as a synchronic system, leading to predicaments. After the 1980s, an integrated approach came into being, upholding that genre films must be regarded as the synthesis of synchronic system and diachronic process. In the late 1990s, Film/Genre by Rick Altman and Hollywood Genres by Steve Neale were almost published at the same time, signifying the maturity of the integrated approach. Up till now, the two representative works have still been the most frequently cited books in the study of Western genre films, indicating that it is the classical approach to studying Western genre films from the dual perspectives of synchronic system and diachronic process. Its formation process is a clearer and more profound choice for western researchers to understand genre film as a complex research object, which can also shed light on China’s genre film research. In the current era of intertwining factors of literature, arts, commerce, science, technology and media, the genre film research has still much room to expand.

Key words: synchronic system, diachronic process, synthesis, genre film