Genre Studies in Mass Media: A HandbookThe study of various types of programming is essential for critical analysis of the media and also offers revealing perspectives on society's cultural values, preoccupations, behavior, and myths. This handbook provides a systematic, in-depth approach to the study of media genres - including reality programs, game shows, situation comedies, soap operas, film noir, news programs, and more. The author addresses such questions as: Have there been shifts in the formula of particular genres over time? What do these shifts reveal about changes in culture? How and why do new genres - such as reality TV shows - appear? Are there differences in genres from one country to another? Combining theoretical approaches with concrete examples, the book reinforces one's understanding of the importance of genre to the creation, evolution, and consumption of media content. Each chapter in this reader-friendly book contains a detailed discussion of one of the theoretical approaches to genre studies, followed by Lines of Inquiry, which summarizes the major points of the discussion and suggests directions for analysis and further study. Each chapter also includes an example that illustrates how the particular theoretical approach can be applied in the analysis of genre. The author's careful linkage of different genres to the real world makes the book widely useful for those interested in genre study as well as media and culture, television studies, film studies, and media literacy. |
Contents
1 | |
3 | |
5 | |
14 | |
Audience Considerations | 20 |
Lines of Inquiry | 24 |
Formulaic Analysis | 26 |
Evolution of Formula | 29 |
Worldview | 148 |
Formulaic Elements | 152 |
Intergenre Approach | 156 |
Lines of Inquiry | 158 |
Ideological Approach | 160 |
Production Elements | 167 |
Production Elements | 170 |
Editing | 171 |
Popular Stage | 30 |
Mature Stage | 31 |
Formulaic Structure | 33 |
Formulaic Plot | 38 |
Stock Characters | 47 |
Formulaic Setting | 49 |
Trappings | 50 |
Formulaic Twists | 51 |
Franchise Formulas | 54 |
Formulaic Approach | 60 |
Historical Context | 64 |
Tracing the History of a Genre | 68 |
Formulaic Elements | 75 |
Plot | 76 |
Character | 77 |
Intergenre Historical Analysis | 80 |
Historical Context | 82 |
Cultural Context | 104 |
Cultural Preoccupations | 105 |
Sex | 106 |
Celebrities | 107 |
Worldview | 114 |
International Perspectives | 119 |
Intergenre Analysis | 122 |
Lines of Inquiry | 123 |
Cultural Context of Celebrity Genre | 126 |
Ideological Approach | 134 |
Genres and Social Commentary | 141 |
Parody | 142 |
Allegories | 144 |
Modes of Analysis | 146 |
Color | 172 |
Lighting | 173 |
Shape | 175 |
Movement | 176 |
Angle | 177 |
Music | 178 |
Production Elements | 179 |
Production Values and the Reality TV Genre | 187 |
Industry Perspective | 193 |
Conservative Sensibility | 199 |
Derivative Programming | 201 |
Industry Abuses | 205 |
Revenue Streams | 208 |
Prequels | 209 |
Ancillary Products | 210 |
Lines of Inquiry | 213 |
Mythic Approach | 215 |
Mythic Premise | 218 |
Genre and the Transmission of Cultural Myth | 222 |
Historical Period | 223 |
Mystical Places | 224 |
Idealized Times | 225 |
Cultural Beliefs | 226 |
Intergenre Analysis | 227 |
Lines of Inquiry | 228 |
Mythic Approach | 229 |
The Andy Griffith Show as Cultural Myth | 232 |
Notes | 235 |
Index | 247 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action/adventure adolescence adult Amazing Race American Idol Andy appear audience behavior broadcast camera cast members celebrities color comedy conflict contestants crime cultural myths drama episode evil example father film noir focusing formulaic elements function furnish perspective Galaxy Quest game show Genre Analysis genric programming Hardy hero historical horror Ibid identify ideology instance Inter-genre Internet issues Janice Joe Millionaire Law & Order lives Maury Povich media communicators Media Literacy Millionaire movie mythic themes narrative Omarosa Palestinian particular genre percent plot popular genres premise present production elements programs belonging quiz shows radio reality genre reality series reality shows reality television Reality TV reveal role sample of programs scene sitcom soap operas social Star stock characters story structure subgenre subplots Survivor talk shows teenage tell Tony viewers villains watch Webster University Western worldview York young youth culture youth films
Popular passages
Page 12 - Formulas enable the audience to explore in fantasy the boundary between the permitted and the forbidden and to experience in a carefully controlled way the possibility of stepping across this boundary.
Page 13 - TV are never doing the minute-byminute work that they have to do in real life," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.