CCT 300: Critical Analysis of Media Class 3: Laws of Media/Genre Analysis

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McLuhan - Laws of Media Universal dynamic of media change Represented as tetrad - four intersecting simultaneous influences Grouped into two forces - ground (historical/cultural convention) and figure (emergent forces/media) Possible to understand future of media form by analyzing what it changes and what forces will ground change

Four Forces of Tetrad Enhancement (positive change, amplification) Retrieval (recovery of past forces) Reversal (new or resurgent challenges jeopardizing new media) Obsolescence (erosion of older values/forces) Again, all operate in concert simultaneously – one does not necessarily trump others Examples?

Genre as Community (Agre) Similar people working on similar topics in a similar way Distributed cognition and communities of practice In postmodern world, genres can become quite specific and localized

Breadth Genre definitions can be narrowly or broadly construed Differences between “all print material” and “Canadian political posters of the 19 th century” Generally, focused genres have more analytical value

Breadth in Comics “All sequential art” as broad definition, but not all that useful beyond a general definition of comics as medium Many subgenres of comics that themselves can be dissected (e.g., subtypes of manga) – different subgenres are different literary, artistic and cultural spaces

Genre, Audience and Activity Genre implies community of practice and community of consumption Specific media meets specific audience needs (e.g., reading pulp fiction vs. literature - done for different purposes and in different contexts, even by same consumers…)

Comic Audience/Activity Historical roots of comics - storytelling (e.g., hieroglyphics, temple art, stained glass) Modern history - entertainment, largely child oriented (e.g., newspaper strips, superhero) with underground alternative strain Emerging directions – a broader range of themes and structures (including more serious efforts) in a broader range of forms (e.g., web comics, graphic novels, etc.)

Producer/Consumer Relationship Producer and audience relationship important in defining dynamics of genre One-to-many (mass) vs. decentralized and interactive (public) relationships – dependent on media genre Immediacy and impact of feedback loops – what roles do consumers play in relationship?

Consuming comics Creators create worlds and characters Details filled in by reader (Gestalt principles, specifically closure) lead to engagement Immediate feedback usually absent, although web comics change that

Genre as Grouped Objects One instance does not a genre make - must be multiple incidents for a category to have semantic value (e.g., Family Guy is an instance of a sub-genre (e.g., animated TV sitcom, popular culture satire, etc.), not a genre itself…) Leverages precedents and expectations - norms and routines formed

Comic Genres McC - various subgenres in comics, with distinct idiomatic and structural forms Social expectations can frustrate new efforts (e.g., comics as “kid lit” or radical/perverse constrained mainstream exploration politically and culturally)

Genre Bending Rules and bounds of genre are not absolute When rules are broken, interesting things happen – often new sub-genres emerge When rules are broken, it might be too interesting for the audience to accept Genre bending and economic concerns – innovation vs. risk

Comic Genre Bending Alternative comic genres lead to new applications of craft beyond “men in tights” Serious comics like Maus may become mainstream as form of literature, consequentially allowing space for other serious autobiographical works (e.g., Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis) But – initial iteration of Maus was alternative press work, critically acclaimed in niche market but not at all accepted mainstream

Multiplicity of Genres We are intuitively familiar with many genres We act with multiple genres simultaneously without great confusion – although it can frustrate analytical thinking at times Instances fall into multiple genre categories simultaneously – e.g., Daily Show/Colbert Report wins Emmys in established genre, but can be seen as political/news satire, even (increasingly?) as serious public affairs programming We can integrate genres to create new forms of expression

Comics and multiplicity Comics share relations to similar media (e.g., graphic novels of historical events; movies made from graphic novel roots, relation between manga and anime, etc.) Integration of non-visual information - done figuratively in text-based comics, more potential for integration in web comics?

Genres are historical Change in form evolves over time Influences from inside craft (e.g., changes in craft, form, idiom) and outside (e.g., economics, regulation, other media)

Comic History Comics emerging from “kid lit” to return to more serious pictographic communication New media (as outlined by Manovich last week) = digital creation and distribution create new forms of expression, new opportunities for distribution Still influenced by ground though – e.g., McCloud’s Making Comics is digitally created, but still conforms to style used in analog Understanding Comics

Economics of Genre Money makes the world go round - and certainly does impact how media are structured, how genres evolve Costs involved in maintaining and sustaining producer/consumer community – without some return on investment or covering of costs, community may suffer

Fixed and Marginal Costs Fixed = infrastructural costs, without which genre cannot exist Marginal = costs incurred as audience grows Can apply to both production and consumption McC - costs in distribution chain changes with new technology – potential for more direct interactions with consumers, skipping middlemen Webcomics – relatively cheap fixed costs, but can be expensive marginal if bandwidth charges are an issue

Specialization and Branding Singular creative figures are rare, esp. in complex media Collectively created media and relations to media branding – collectives can create a genre of production in their approach McC - “comic houses” and brand identity - and changes that emerge with more independent creators

Time, Duplication and Value Value of media product often changes over time - some more than others Digital distribution creates own challenges in value of information McC - historical value of comics, the value and problems of sharing, the notion of micropayments to support industry, economic basis of webcomics.

Next week… Unpacking McCloud’s Understanding Comics in depth (it will really, really help if you’ve read the book by then…)