CCT 300: Critical Analysis of Media

1. CCT 300: Critical Analysis of Media Class 3: Genre in Theory and Application

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

4. Elements of Genre • Agre - various elements that define a genre • McCloud - application of these principles to genre of comics

5. Breadth • “All Print Material” is different than, say, film - but there are many possible subclassifications (and many are necessary) • McC - “sequential art” is not enough

6. Genre, Audience and Activity • Genre implies community of practice • Specific media - specific audience - specific audience needs • McC - historical, emergent and potential audiences

7. Producer/Consumer Relationship • Producer and audience relationship important • One-to-many vs. decentralized • Mediation and feedback • McC - creators create worlds, filled in by reader (Gestalt principles)

8. Genre as Grouped Objects • One instance does not a genre make • Precedents and expectations - formations of norms and routines in creation and consumption • McC - various subgenres in comics, idiomatic and structural forms (and their potential violation)

9. Genre Bending • Rules are not absolute • When rules are broken, interesting things happen • When rules are broken, it might be too interesting for the audience to accept • McC - alternative comic genres, new applications of craft to audiences and stories not target by “men in tights”

10. Multiplicity of Genres • We are intuitively familiar with many genres • We act with multiple genres simultaneously without great confusion • McC - comics and relations to similar media, juxtaposition of words and pictures

11. Genres are historical • Change in form evolves over time • Influences from inside (e.g., changes in craft, form, idiom) and outside (e.g., economics, regulation, other media) • McC - new markets and possibilities for alternative comics, effect of new technologies

12. Economics of Genre • Money makes the world go ‘round - and certainly does impact how media are structured and how genres evolve • Costs involved in maintaining producer/consumer community

13. 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

14. Specialization and Branding • Singular creators are rare, esp. in complex media • Collectively created media -> media branding • McC - “comic houses” and brand identity - and changes that emerge with more independent creators

15. Time, Duplication and Value • Value of media product often changes over time - some more than others • Duplication and its ease greatly influences value • McC - historical value of comics, the value and problems of sharing)

16. Comics as Genre • Idea/Purpose • Form • Idiom • Structure • Craft • Surface (p.170 UC)

17. Representation in Comics • Moment • Frame • Image • Word • Flow (2006)

18. Next Week… • More on McCloud and comics as genre • Culture jamming as genre (and genre bending)