Genre Reflective Essay
It is not so surprising that every time I heard the word “genre”, I always thought about the most common genres we see in movies, library sections, or on the back of some of my favorite books; not realizing there is so much more to it than that. Genre; class or category, form or a technique, classification or grouping with limitations; there is so much to say about genre, whether it is about a book, movie, or music.
The word genre, a French word from 1770, especially used for “independent style” (genre). There are many important aspects of genre; it addresses the relationship between the author and the reader, the director and the viewer, the composer and the listener. It draws a path between them, the path that makes us visualize the pleasure we get, or the path that gives us ideas about what to expect. And even going deeper, there are sub-genres, super-genres, and indeed what is technique, style, mode, formula or thematic grouping to one may be treated as a genre by another (Bordwell 147).
We make decisions based on genre, whether we realize it every time we make these decisions or not. I believe in some cases, we are made to believe in a certain way based on our past experiences. For example, listening to a classical music in the evening while it’s raining outside, or reading a novel on a Sunday morning; watching a black-and-white movie and assume it is likely to be a romantic movie, or it is likely to be an action movie if Jason Statham is the main character. We naturally connect the collected ideas and past experiences with the knowledge we accumulate throughout our lives, and then we put them together with the visual or verbal data presented; and that makes us come to a conclusion, a personal decision and personal ideas: Would this interest me? How serious could I take this? Does this look like a credible information to me?
Not long ago, we read a book for one of our assignments; a book called “Supersized: Strange Tales from a Fast-Food Culture” by Morgan Spurlock, the director of the movie called “Super Size Me”. The book was one of the creepiest graphic novels of the year, a gut-wrenching book written to provide an open window for us to look at the behind the scenes of the fast-food restaurants (Spurlock). This was a unique way to put two completely different things together; a problem that is quite serious which we are all facing today, and a visual comedy approach to get the message across.
From reading some of the reader’s comments, I often felt such a strong agreement with the fact that iconography tends to take precedence over thematic identity (Chandler). It wasn’t something unexpected that I would see some people finding the material interesting because it contained graphics, but I have to say that it was a bit shocking to see that the majority of the readers had similar reaction - that is, they actually found the approach as an effective way to get the point across. Marissa said “If he were to write a simple book repeating that fast food is bad for you it would be nowhere near as popular is it is now” (Morris). Another reader mentioned “Providing a picture, along with the sarcasm, enhances the reader’s ability to see the situation as it really is” (Weitzel). While I agree that images seem to stick to people’s minds easier, and I can’t imagine a better version than Spurlock’s choice; I still can’t find myself feeling positively affected by these comical graphics and characters in the book. It is possible that it was an unexpected pair for me: the kind of information I was getting and the genre it was used to give me the information; like how it was once said: Genre is a bargain between media producers and media audiences — we can feel cheated if genres “trick” us (Chandler).
Selecting a genre depends on our purpose and the audience we want to reach. Spurlock, for example, wanted to reach out to Americans who heavily consume fast food. He wanted them to know how horrifying the fast food restaurant’s kitchens could get, how the employees of these restaurants were playing a role in what they ate, and show them the severity of the conditions. Majority of the population that eats more often at these restaurants could be said to be the young working adults, or students. And the reason for that could be what Pollan had mentioned in his book during the introduction, lacking a strong, stable culinary tradition in this country (Pollan 5). For this kind of audience, a comic book with graphic images and snide comments could be effective; delivering the information, softening up the harsh comments and feelings of anger with jokes, and half way covering up the nauseating reality with comic drawings. Short, to the point, real life examples; but what was his purpose writing this book? Did he want the readers to just know what is happening in these kitchens? Or did he actually select a genre that the type of audience who would be interested in it would be able to take action and do something about it?
Well, majority of the readers in our class made it clear that they believe Spurlock made the right decision choosing the genre, if his purpose was to visually made people aware of the situation. What if his purpose was to have the readers get up, take action and do something about it? Not so much.

References:

Bordwell, David. "Making Meaning." Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema. Harvard University Press. (1989): 147. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. .

Chandler, Daniel. "The problem of definition." An Introduction to Genre Theory. 1997. .

Gledhill, Christine. "The Cinema Book." Trans. In Pam Cook The problem of definition. London: British Film Institute, 1985. 60. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
"genre." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 08 Feb. 2014. .

Kirchner, Darlene. "Re: Magalski Strange Tales." English 2089: Intermediate Composition. UC Blue Ash College. 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

Magalski, Jessica. "Magalski Strange Tales." English 2089: Intermediate Composition. UC Blue Ash College. 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

Morris, Marissa. "DB 4 - Marissa Morris." English 2089: Intermediate Composition. UC Blue Ash College. 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2014

Oberlin, Kevin. "Re: Magalski Strange Tales." English 2089: Intermediate Composition. UC Blue Ash College. 5 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

Pollan, Michael. Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin Press, 2006. 5. Print..

Simmons, Jeremy. "Jeremy Simmons – The American Way." English 2089: Intermediate Composition. UC Blue Ash College. 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Spurlock, Morgan. Supersized. 1st ed. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2011. 84. eBook.

Weitzel, Sarah. "Sarah Weitzel - Supersized ." English 2089: Intermediate Composition. UC Blue Ash College. 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.