Running head: GENRE ANALYSIS

GENRE ANALYSIS
Frida A. De la torre
University of Texas at El Paso

GENRE ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT
The Vietnam War is the longest war the United States has ever been involved in. It was a
very costly in both monetary resources and human resources. There are different types of genres
from which the writer can pick to develop a research. Typography and iconography are the main
focuses. Both genres are analyzed to identify their purpose and to help the audience pick apart
the information and create an opinion regarding the pieces.

GENRE ANALYSIS

The Vietnam War was a long and expensive conflict that served to prevent communism
from spreading throughout Asia. By 1965, after a year of bombings in North Vietnam rumors and
critics began to lure between the American public, it sparked the beginnings of the Antiwar
Movement. The main arguments during the protests regarded topics such as the opposition of the
draft and all the moral and legal violations, it however grew in purposes and opinions. Soon
thousands of protestors joined the war for peace. There are two sources that provide a wide array
of information that will be useful at the time of drafting the report regarding this topic. The first
source is from the typography genre, an article from History.com Vietnam War Protests it
informs the reader of the causes and effects of the Antiwar Movement. The second source is an
iconography genre type, it is a documentary film called The Day the 60s Died by director
Jonathan Halperin. The film focuses on the consequences of the Antiwar movement and what
was the response of the government and society.
In the article Vietnam War Protests structures its narration of events following a
timeline so the information can be easily followed by the audience. The audience that this article
targeted are adults with interest in history. The purpose is to inform the reader of some basic
information regarding the Vietnam War and to create an interest in the war protest happening at
the time. The article has an emphasis in both data and statistical facts. However, it does have
some sections that appeal to the audience emotions such as the picture in the beginning of the
article where a protestor places a flower on top of a guards rifle, which may signify innocence or
the approach of the protestors. Another section of the article that has an emphasis in pathos is
when it mentioned that the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War joined the protests,
many veterans in that have been disabled during the war in Vietnam, this won various new

GENRE ANALYSIS

protestors. The article gains its credibility not only by being written by the official History.com
staff but because of the use of language throughout the piece and the confidence in delivery.
In the film documentary The Day the 60s Died the message that the director is trying to
spread is captured in the footage, images, and commentary sections through the whole film. The
film does approach the issues from the protestors and students point of view, for the most part.
The audience of this film can be for the general public, however, it does have a few hints
throughout the film that empowers the young audience. The film evokes an emotional response
of the audience such as anger or sadness, it very relevant throughout the whole timeline of the
film. It emphasis on the struggle of the student body at universities trying to make use of their
freedom of speech and to their right to protest and yet the government, the authorities, and
society tried to push them down. Another section that got in touch with the audience emotions
was the footage and the commentary from witnesses from the shootings directed to the students,
incidents like the one in Kent State University. The film shows logic through the evidence shown
of governmental statements and by the keeping track of the dates and statistics of the events.
Lastly, it shows credibility because it used primary resources of the events throughout the
Antiwar Movement period, as well as being created by PBS a very well-known broadcasting
channel.
Both genres complemented themselves to create a complete summary and analysis of the
antiwar activism period. There are similarities between the typography and the iconography
genre types. Both progress in the same timeline structure and share opinions such as the
negligence of the government to recognize that the protests if not addressed would turn into a
revolution, they addressed as well the government had no intention to stop the war, instead
President Nixon extended the war. This connections will help the researcher develop a better

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opinion about the topic and it can be translated to his/her own words at the time of drafting a
research paper.
There are some very significant differences between the article Vietnam War Protests
and the film The Day the 60s Died. The main one would have to be that they come from
different genres, typographic and iconographic, this affects the way the audience receives the
information and therefore changing the way in which they analyze it. Regarding the content they
are both different as well. In the article which is a summary of events that includes several facts
of organizations that supported and opposed the protests. On the other hand, the film defines
from the very first minutes in the film a story telling type format, in which the president, the
government and opposing citizens are the bad guys, and the protestors and those who were sent
to war without a valid purpose were the victims.
In conclusion, both genres are effective in their own way of sharing information to the
public. Either through typography that focuses on the more technical matters such veteran unions
or how the President Nixon was able to extend the war in Vietnam into further South Asia. Or
through the use of film in the iconographic documentary The Day the 60s Died in which as the
storyline progresses the reader becomes more invested emotionally and in interest in the story of
how the protestors were trying to state their opinion and how yet society pushed them down for
it. Therefore, I feel like I have a have a great base to continue researching and analyzing different
texts and genres.

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REFERENCES
History.com Staff (2010). Vietnam War Protests. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests
Jonathan Halperin, PBS (2015). The Day the 60s Died. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from
http://www.pbs.org/program/day-60s-died/