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Media Crit Spr2010 Session11

Jane Feuer, in the Allen text, identifies several different approaches to genre analysis that share this general model:
1. Theoretical
  - Types are deduced from a preexisting theory of content within the medium
  - For example, attempting to overlay television content with the literary categories established by Aristotle or Frye
2. Aesthetic
  - Focus on finding recurring conventions that characterize a genre
  - often issues of language choices
    - semantics and syntax
  - Syntagm (Syntactic Choices)
    - Narrative structure
    - Character types
    - Episode length
    - Episode frequency
  - Paradigm (Semantic Choices)
    - Languages used
    - Genre specific jargons
      - Sign selections
        Shots
        Use of Time
        Lighting
        Iconography
  - Focus on the patterns with the genre
  - More focal to our examination of Genre than the "Theoretical" approach
3. Ritual
  - like Aesthetic approach, draws on semiotic/structural methods
  - Focus on cultural themes that are specific to genre
    - references to mythic archetypes
      - caring mother
      - bumbling father
      - inflexible boss
      - intrusive in-laws
      - insensitive sons
      - insecure daughters
    - attention to cultural tensions
      - dualities and dialectics
    - rules of behavior
    - role-driven behavior
  - Associated with the Cultural approach to media criticism, which we will cover later in the semester.
4. Ideological
  - like Aesthetic and ritual approach, draws on semiotic/structural methods
  - Focus on ways in which content supports status quo
    - inequities in economic, social, and/or political power
    - Inequitable distribution of resources
  - Explore how texts celebrates existing social, political, economic, and cultural status quo
  - Explore how texts advocate a desired status quo
  - Associated with the ideological approach to media criticism, which we will cover later in the semester

-- Last edited March 17, 2010

Unless otherwise noted, the contents of this page were written by participants on the Media Space Wiki, operated by Davis Foulger, and should be cited accordingly. For example (APA):
Foulger, D. and other participants. (March 17, 2010). Media Crit Spr2010 Session11. MediaSpaceWiki. Retrieved on from http://evolutionarymedia.com/wiki.htm?MediaCritSpr2010Session11.