Genre Criticism Prof. Nick Burnett Wednesday, Feb. 22 ComS 169—Television Criticism

Some issues with the papers Manual proofreading Spell and grammar checking through word processing Their, there, they’re Whose, who’s It’s, its

Editing Marks on Papers AWK WC NAS Reverse P, extra slash Colloquialisms Goofball, cheesy, don’t get it Standards of academic prose

Considering television genres Definition: Genres are complex fusions of formal, stylistic, and substantive features which over time become familiar frameworks capable of arousing and satisfying the expectations of audiences and producers While individual elements may appear in other genres, they are defined by their unique combination of elements that appear in all members of the genre Each member of a genre is both familiar and unique (ex. A baseball game)

Why critics do genre analysis… To explain a problematic text To compare and contrast two genres To evaluate the artistic or aesthetic qualities of members of a genre To trace historical patterns to see parallels between the genre and society and explaining recurring tendencies

Some history Borrowed from film and radio Westerns Serialized soap operas Why? Build loyal audience Control production costs Early critical works Horace Newcomb’s TV: The Most Popular Art

Three approaches to genre criticism Aesthetic approach Focus on innovation and constraint Ritual approach Focus on genre as an expression of shared beliefs and values Looks at the enduring popularity of a certain genre Ideological approach Sees genres as instruments of power and control which help to reproduce dominant ideologies or systems of belief

Two methodological orientations to genre work Deductive genre analysis Work from an established genre, look at specific show, focus on innovations, postulate the importance of the innovations for the genre and society Inductive genre analysis Start from several TV texts, postulate a new or identifiable sub-genre or hybrid genre