GENRE STUDIES IN
MASS MEDIA
INTRODUCTION
GENRE STUDIES
• Theoretical approaches
• They give students tools to research genres
- the analysis must be systematic
- concrete examples from media texts
GENRE
• According to Silverblatt (2007: 3), “a genre is a
type, class, or category of presentation that
shares distinctive and easily identifiable
features.”
• E.g.:
- reality shows, soap operas, documentaries (TV)
- country, hip-hop, talk (radio)
GENRE
• A portal through which media messages are
received
• Genres present a specific worldview
• Distinctive patterns: premise, plot, structure,
style, conventions
• Genres reflect, reinforce and shape cultural
attitudes/preoccupations
MEDIA LITERACY
• A critical thinking skill applied to the channels of
mass communications
• It enhances enjoyment and appreciation of genre
• A framework for the systematic analysis of
MEDIA MESSAGES
• Media message – the underlying themes/ideas
contained in a media text
LEVELS OF MEDIA MESSAGES
From the reading or your experience, can you
list and explain the difference between the
specific levels of media messages?
LEVELS OF MEDIA MESSAGES
• MANIFEST messages – direct and clear
• LATENT messages – indirect and beneath the
surface, tend to escape our attention
• CUMULATIVE messages – so frequent that
they form new meanings
ANALYSIS
• What images, feelings, or other sensory
perceptions do you associate with this music?
ANALYSIS
Analyze this excerpt from a media genre. What
genre is it?
“Desserts are bleak, blues musicians are old, fish
swim in water, winters are cold, girls are weak,
beasts feel no love, roses are red, learning is
tough, road-signs are boring, green factories
will never come true, responsible people walk,
and luxury is for an elitist few.”
ANALYSIS
Music and the spoken word…
• Can you guess now?
ANALYSIS
• Watch the following Hyundai commercial. In
pairs, discuss what manifest and latent
messages the commercial sends to the
audience.
• What types of cumulative messages do
automobile commercials deliver in general?
ANALYSIS
• MANIFEST message: owning this car is
something which goes against stereotypes =
it’s “cool”, clever, for everybody, for people
with differing opinions from the majority…
ANALYSIS
• LATENT messages:
- women are presented better than they are
thought to be in the real world
- no stereotypes about men are presented (e.g.
cold business men)
ANALYSIS
- typical women are shown as having long hair,
young, slim… (underrepresentation of women)
- representation of men as being more creative
(male teacher, male sculptor), and being in
control (male driver)
- normal/right/good is presented as different,
new (only a surface deconstruction of the
stereotypes)
ANALYSIS
• feminine characteristics are focused on with
picture and spoken word (“girls are weak”,
“blues musicians are old”), exceptions
• masculine characteristics – only picture
(sculptor, teacher, driver), taken for granted
• Do you think the advert would send different
messages if a woman was shown to always
drive the car, to have done the sculptures, to
be the creative teacher?
ANALYSIS
CUMULATIVE messages:
• femininity is bad (weakness, feelings,
passivity)
• men are more creative than women
• men are more active than women
• the most important female characteristics is
beauty, attractiveness, obedience