Thursday, June 29, 2017

Journal 2 - Christopher Harb

Prior to this reading I had done research into the literary element of genre. I focused mainly on the fact that genre is meant to categorize our subjects into an easy to find and an easy to understand format. However, I was again opened up to a different point of view that genre is more than just something to put into categories. Genre gives a writer a completely new format to write in. For example, horror writers have a thrill and excitement when writing to impose onto their readers. On the other hand, comedy writers have to make humorous text that they hope will successfully be thought of as funny by everyone.

  • Based on your reading of all seven concepts, how do you define "genre"? Is this definition of genre different from how you've understood genre previously?
Prior to this reading I had done research into the literary element of genre. I focused mainly on the fact that genre is meant to categorize our subjects into an easy to find and an easy to understand format. However, I was again opened up to a different point of view that genre is more than just something to put into categories. Genre gives a writer a completely new format to write in. For example, horror writers have a thrill and excitement when writing to impose onto their readers. On the other hand, comedy writers have to make humorous text that they hope will successfully be thought of as funny by everyone.


  • What are three major ideas about genre and/or writing that you can take away from your reading of this text? In other words, what three ideas seem most important for you as a writer?
As mentioned in the readings, some of the more open-ended genres are open to genre-hybridization. This means that some forms of genre can change through time and evolve depending on certain circumstances. One of the more important ideas that i took away from the reading is the idea that writing creates audiences. If we go deeper into the writing aspect of that idea we can narrow it down into genre creates audiences. When you think about genre creating audiences in many cases in does create a subculture of its own with people that are specifically interested in that one subject. Most notably, people that are involved in the fiction realm of reading and literature have a deep-rooted community in which people share and create fantasy arts.  Another great idea I personally took away from the reading is how genre does not just influence an audience but in influences the creator as well. The author of a piece has certain expectations and formatting requirements for their specific genre. If the author cannot hold up their end of the deal than they usually are not going to be very successful in their field because a lot of readers look for specific traits in their readings that is commonplace amongst that specific genre.


  • Has your understanding of "genre" and/or "writing" changed as a result of reading this text? If so, how and why? If not, why not?
My basic idea of genre has not changed as a result of this reading. This reading has just given me a different perspective into the complicated topic that is genre. My personal understanding of genre is that it is a way to categorize and format a certain piece of literature and text not only for an author but for a reader as well. Nothing in this piece of reading gave me any ideas to change my fundamental idea of genre.
  • Are there any concepts or claims in the text that you disagree with? What is it, and why?
After reading through the article I could not strongly disagree with any claim made in the article.
  • Find two examples of texts that you would classify as being part of the same genre and link to them in your post. Then, provide a brief description of how you see these two texts adhering or not to the seven concepts outlined above. (e.g., I might include two links to Buzzfeed listicles and then explain how the "listicle" is a recognizable form that uses conventions like a title, gifs, captions, etc; how it represents the world/events/feelings by the language and images that are used; how it is multimodal because it uses language, image, moving image, color, layout, etc.)
GENRES ARE ENACTED BY WRITERS AND READERS - The title is almost sufficient enough to describe these two and how closely intertwined they are in popular fiction. If you can just take a close look at the covers of the books they both include the same formatting. This is a large colorful picture that grabs a reader's attention and draws them to read the back to learn more. The font size and font is very similar as well. In addition both of these books have revitalized the fiction section of writing and have created their own large groups of readers that are fanatical about the text. The greatest example is that universal created harry potter world into a theme park. This is just one example of how genre can create audiences.

  • Lastly: what questions do you have about the reading? what more do you need or want to know? what confuses you?

One of the great psychological ideas that popped into my head while reading is the idea that we draw on past experiences to fulfill our current or future goals. I would love to read more into how this affects our daily lives because if you can possibly understand your own tendencies maybe you can turn it into something you can use to your advantage in your daily life.

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