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Genre study appears to be most often undertaken in terms of films - in media studies as well as film studies. It is important, then, to discuss what happens when we leave the relatively secure foundations of film theory and move across to other media. We can find a variety of issues around the criteria used to group media texts. These are often related to institutional questions about how texts are produced and distributed as well as the ways in which they are approached by critics and audiences. This is true in film as well, but note how we have generally confined film studies to the narrative fiction film. Other institutional categorisations such as documentary, animation, avant garde etc. have been marginalised to some extent. Genre not art?
The distinction between media texts that are primarily considered as 'art objects' and those which are 'genre texts' came to film studies from both literature and art history. It refers primarily to a distinction between the creative personality of the individual artist and the industrial production culture of the genre text. Freeing the media student from this culture trap was the aim of the scholars who introduced genre theory into film studies, but it still begs the question: what do we do with art films? Do we ignore them in our study of genre or do we adopt them as another form of genre grouping, albeit with very different elements in its repertoire? The second option is more inclusive. Alternatively, we can refocus our interest on the institutional differences between 'art' and 'mainstream' and use our genre understanding to inform such an analysis. The art/genre split is evident in the distinctions in book publishing. How does genre theory help us to understand the difference between a Jane Austen novel, constantly in print and labelled a 'classic', and a Mills and Boon romance? Or perhaps more interestingly, the difference between Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe, two 'artist authors' whose books are presented differently (and not just because one is dead) in relation to ideas about 'horror' as a literary genre. Photography provides us with a good example of a media activity in which the genre groupings are all based on institutional differences, so deeply entrenched that the photographers who work in different genres also have different training, equipment and professional practices. There is still a definition of 'art photography', but types of photograph are usually categorised by their function - photojournalism, documentary, fashion, sport, industrial etc. and some of these may be exhibited as art images well as used in publications. In this sense, the photograph is analogous to journalism that is also capable of being privileged as a single work as well as being used in different publications. Print
How do we approach genre in print products? Restricting the study to magazines and newspapers, how does categorisation work? Compared to the other media, we are more clearly in the 'format' camp. Do we consider 'tabloid' and 'broadsheet' as genres as well as formats dependent on paper size? Or do we consider magazines and newspapers as hybrid forms that employ several genres of writing (i.e. categorised by style, purpose, narrative structure etc.) - reportage, feature writing, financial, medical, sport etc. plus the photography genres considered above? In the world of so-called specialist magazines, there appears to be a parallel with those film genres based on definitions of target audience. Categories depend on gender, age, class, ethnicity etc. What studying these categories allows students to see is the way in which representational issues appear to dominate the ways in which the industry segments the market. Magazines for women and girls appear to offer much the same kinds of content, but with important differences in page layout and design as well as language and imagery. We could argue that all women's and girls' magazines belong to a single genre with a very broad repertoire. By contrast magazines for men and boys might be seen as dividing up into more clearly defined categories such as technology, music, hobbies, professional, 'glamour' (soft porn) etc. Are these separate genres? If they are, there is certainly a good degree of genre mixing and hybridity, so the same page 3 model could find herself in a motor mag and a 'lad's mag' and the photographic style with which she has been presented could well be used to present a girl group in a music mag. These are not meant to be well-worked out ideas, but are simply used to demonstrate that for print, like photography, it may be that genre work is linked more clearly to institution, audience and representation than the familiar narrative/iconography approach found in film studies. One simple way for students to explore the categorisation of magazines is to look carefully at a large newsagent's display and then perhaps to check the ways in which the National Readership Survey (NRS) categorises (see www.nrs.co.uk) titles. Jenny McKay (2000) points out that 'men's magazines' are listed under 'general', even though everybody knows the readership is almost completely male. On the other hand, we know that many boys (and men) will read a 'woman's magazine' (even if they won't buy one) - why aren't these too categorised as 'general'? Radio
Radio is often argued to be the 'cinderella' medium for media studies. Discussion of radio genres does present a problem for students if they only listen to music stations, since they need to distinguish between what is often termed 'format radio' and the public service radio tradition which allows for a range of programme types or genres, such as drama, quiz show, news and current affairs etc. In the US, format radio means a radio station with a programming policy based on a single mode - most often a particular music genre, but also a 'phone-in/chat format. This idea is coming into UK radio with the expansion of licenses, so that there are now national stations such as Talk Sport or regional stations such as Jazz FM with clear format policies. Elsewhere in radio, 'format' refers to a strict interpretation of what programmes should contain: Every radio programme is designed to a particular format that takes into account the time of day it is broadcast, the target audience and the station's brand values.
(Fleming 2002 p136) This idea can be explored via the music policy and the selection of DJs on different stations. Why are some records played on Radio 2, but not Radio 1, why are some DJs deemed suitable for daytime and others confined to late night (or vice versa)? The categorisation by time slot is stronger on radio than on television. Partly because so many listeners are in cars or at work, 'Breakfast Shows' and 'Drivetime' (4-6pm) are important formatting devices across national and local schedules. Students could compare Radio 5 drivetime with its local (commercial and BBC) equivalents, noting the frequency and length of traffic reports, weather, news and sport headlines etc. Radio shares with television a split between programme types that carry over generic elements from literature and cinema (i.e. within drama and documentary output) and those which are formatted in similar ways to print publications (note here the use of the term 'magazine' to denote a text containing several separate items - a concept shared by television, radio and print). Popular music
The music industry is very genre conscious: Another trend in the global recording industry has been an explosion in the number of musical genres in which recordings are available. Depending on the definition of 'genre', many music retailers now offer recordings in hundreds of categories, from 'alternative country' or 'contemporary urban' to 'speed metal' or 'zydeco'.
(IFPI Report 2001) The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI) refers to musical genres that point to very different criteria for genre definition - sometimes descriptive of the musical style as in 'speed', sometimes cultural as in zydeco (the Creole music of Louisiana, a black music related to cajun - the origins of the term itself are obscure) and sometimes referring to the audience as in 'adult'. The range of genres represents the overriding importance of 'personal taste' and the possibility of a highly segmented market heavily influenced by fans and 'collectors'. Again, there are similarities and differences with other media. The music industry shares the notion of a 'mainstream' - a few acts sell millions - with film. However the 'alternative' music scene with its lower production costs supports a much wider range of genres. Most music genres exist 'in their own right', as distinct to being used as elements in another product. There is, however, an anomaly in the industry promotion of the film soundtrack album - essentially a format that may combine several musical styles. We should also note that 'convergence' means that music genres have to be considered alongside the audiovisual forms they support, such as the music video. Genre study of popular music combines elements of the film studies approach to textual analysis and the institutional approach to print and broadcasting. Roy Shuker (2001, p149) suggests three common approaches via: - the music industries' own categories drawn from music history and marketing;
- ideological analysis of lyrics and music styles relating to 'truth', 'authenticity' or 'artifice' etc.;
- exploration of the fluidity of genres and the creation of new forms.
The genres identified then tend to be re-classified as 'meta-genres' (e.g. 'world music'), 'genres' (e.g. blues) and sub-genres (e.g. 'country blues'). Summary
Moving across media as part of genre study emphasises the way in which key concepts are integrated within media studies, with a shift in emphasis between different media: - 'textual analysis' in film and music
- institution in photography and print audience in radio and print
- representation in print etc.
The question for the teacher must be, "does working on different media help students to understand genre as a critical tool or does it become more complex as a concept?"
References Carole Fleming (2002) The Radio Handbook, Routledge Jenny McKay (2000) The Magazines Handbook, Routledge Roy Shuker (2001, 2nd ed) Understanding Popular Music, Routledge www.ifpi.org |
