Balanga, Patricia Mae B.

162349

COM 106.1 - Ma’am Vaswani

27 February, 2019

TITLE

In a situation, wherein you are expected to choose a movie in a movie house

or even on a streaming site, you are presented with various movies that are organized
in a certain manner. This way of organization is called, genres. The case is similar in
bookstores and music applications, where products of media are organized and
grouped into different categories for easier access.

Genre plays a different role in the different ends of media, the producers and
the audience. Genre is essentially defined as a category that is applied to a product
or material characterized by similarities in form, theme, and style. It is an identity that
is defined or recognized by both producers of media and its consumers or the media
audiences. Similarly, genre identifies specific characteristics that are frequently reused
and applied to a work or a medium. An example would be movie genres namely,
romance, thriller, comedy, and the like. These movie genres are sorted based on their
similarities on theme or subject matter.

Given that definition, genre is deemed to be a more useful concept to media

producers that to media audience. Looking at it, there is a list of pros and cons of
categorizing works into genre for both producers and consumers of media; however,
in my opinion, producers of media are the ones who benefit most from genre,
compared to consumers of media or the media audiences.

Similarly, genre can be compared to a formula that is applied to media. It is

essential for media producers because of the fact that the audience is given
opportunities to form expectations from the media that they consume. Case in point
would be the romance genre for movies, or even books. From this kind of genre, the
audience would anticipate a happy ending. This is according to Altman and Wright’s
theory on genre, wherein genre allows and controls how the audience reacts to an art
form and how the audience interprets it. (Altman, 1998). This is where the so-called
formula comes in and it is used time and time again by media producers.
Role of Genre in Media Production

For producers of media, genre helps in stabilizing the work that they produce.
Stabilizing, in such a way that they are able to produce consistent outputs for
audiences to consume. (Andrew, 1984). With the help of genre, the information
presented in the work produced can be more controllable. Media producers make use
of genre because it is a form of immediate and direct communication with the audience.
Through this, producers are able to form relationships with their audience because
they are producing relatable content. In return, they have the knowledge that the
audience do invest in different genres, therefore they continue to reuse the act of
categorizing their products based on similarities in form, style, and subject matter.

Given that genre has the power to influence consumers in regards to the
choices that they make, it is truly a helpful factor for media producers to consider using
genre in their production process. Although there are advantages in the presence of
genre in media production, there may be a need to also acknowledge the
disadvantages of using genre. Nowadays that the times are changing, media
producers have to adapt to the behavior of audiences in order for them to sell and earn
money. A video by PBS Channel reiterates that genre is great at selling because it
greatly influences what people buy, what people listen to, what movies they watch,
and the like. (Mike Rugnetta, 2012, 2:05).

Mashups, Combining Genres

Media producers today are given opportunities to mix and combine certain
genres due to the rise of cultural cross pollination. An example would be the rising
romance-comedy movies such as Crazy Rich Asians, 500 Days of Summer, and
Breakfast at Tiffany’s. These movies are a combination of, clearly, romance and
comedy. Similarly, PBS Channel discusses the matter on genre and music mashups
or the act of mixing different songs of different styles. (Mike Rugnetta, 2012, 0:28).
The video makes viewers consider the role and importance of genre in today’s time.

The video concerns the mashup, or the act of mixing songs of different genres,
and how it may be putting an end to music genres as we know it; however, this may
be open to question. Mashup makes categorizing genres increasingly difficult as the
subclassification within the genres are increasingly growing. (Mike Rugnetta, 2012,
1:21). The speaker also mentions that in today’s generation, we are at the point of
“essentially permuting combinations of every genre in each art form.” (Mike Rugnetta,
2012, 1:44). For someone who produces music, they said that genres are limiting and
artbitrary. (Mike Rugnetta, 2012, 2:45). This is mainly because media producers feel
that they have to follow specific rules that are defined by both ends of the media. Thus,
they also feel that their creative ideas, that may result to combinations of genres, are
restrained.

Role of Genre in Media Audiences

As previously mentioned, genres provide an avenue for audience to expect

certain things from the media that they consume. Given this, genre is also deemed
useful to media audiences because they develop a sense of reassurance that the
things that they expect will be fulfilled. For instance, in a comedy genre movie, there
is an expectation made by the audiences that they will be entertained, they will laugh,
or they will feel happy after consuming or watching this movie genre. Therefore,
audiences find genres satisfying because these enable them to predict what will
happen next. (Altman, 1998).
The audience’s choice to consume different media products are aided by the
genre. With the use of genre, choosing makes it easier for the audience because of
the type or category presented. Living in today’s world, with the culture of cross
pollination rising, it makes it difficult to separate certain works into different categories
On the other hand, genre may also be considered limiting for the media
audiences. Given that genre is categorizing works into groups based on particular or
similar characteristics, the audiences may also feel that they are restrained to explore
mixed genres.

Conclusion

Genre separates media products into groups that have recognizable types.
Genre is a helpful tool for media production and media audiences as it greatly
influences how they make and consume media. With that, genre has both its
advantages and disadvantages for both consumers and producers.

In my opinion, genre makes media production feasible because the act of

categorizing different forms of media into genre allows to form relationships between
the consumer and producer; however, there is a need to acknowledge that genre is a
combination of the familiar and the unexpected. This combination may be problematic
for genre to be used in the world of media. For instance, a consumer who frequently
watches horror movies continues to consume that genre because it is something
familiar or predictable for him/her. Along with that, he/she may also choose to watch
because there is a desire to explore thus, producers are challenged to, despite having
categories or genres, create unique output under that genre. In the final analysis,
genre is indeed a more helpful concept to media producers than to media audiences.

Video:
 Classifying something as jazz than classifying something as music is much
more useful
 The subclassification within these genres just continues to grow, and grow, and
grow.
 At this point of extreme cultural cross pollination, we’re essentially permuting
combinations of every genre in each art form
 Which makes the act of separating works into genre very (increasingly) difficult
and very unhelpful
 Genre is great at selling - influence what people listen to, what they read, what
movies they watch, what they do and do not spend their money on
 Genre is great at defining communities
 There is a huge culture of self identification aided by music genre
 Musical genres describe a system of orientations, expectations, and
conventions that bind together industry, performers, critics, and fans in making
what they identify as a distinctive sort of music
 Musicians find genre designations arbitrary and limiting
 We always have distinct labels for musical styles, but it stands to reason that if
you can do this (mashup) the distinction’s probably useless

[Watch: PBS Idea Channel. (2012, June 27). Are mashups the end of music genres
as we know them? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LiOIJ-M9F4.]

For audiences
  Helps them to choose easier
 Familiar to them
 Relates to them
For producers:
 Helps to sell more


SOURCES:
https://studfiles.net/preview/5116368/

Concepts in Film Theory - Dudley Andrew

https://www.questia.com/library/2752571/concepts-in-film-theory

Works Cited:

https://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Genre

- Producers market texts according to genre because a niche audience

has already been identified as taking pleasure in that type of text.
- However, a genre is not static – it changes all the time – resulting in
hybrid (or sub-) genres and changing codes and conventions. There is
also a relationship between genres and the societies in which they are
created.

http://www.markedbyteachers.com/university-degree/media-studies/how-useful-is-
the-concept-of-genre-to-media-producers-and-audiences-discuss-with-reference-to-
specific-examples.html

https://studfiles.net/preview/5116368/

https://prezi.com/jchfvc07hljn/rick-altmans-theory/

https://www.slideshare.net/robertclackmedia/genre-theory-7086744

https://www.slideshare.net/rachaelyoung/genre-and-its-importance

https://studfiles.net/preview/5116368/
https://www.slideshare.net/simonwright85/genre-theory-16645574
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/film-studies/using-genre-theory-in-studying-
hollywood-movies-film-studies-essay.php

Genre in media production by Hanne Bruun

 Two main obstacles

o Production analysis -- minor player in media studies compared to other
disciples like textual analysis
o Genre approaches are mainly used in studies
 Genre is a difficult phenomenon, it is a very valuable concept in research media
text production because it contains an integrating perspective that woks
methodologically as well as analytically
 Has the ability to highlight the interplay between human agency and different
kinds of structural forces involved in specific