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An Introduction to music musical writing style Theory EssayAn Introduction to Genre Theory Daniel Chandler 1. The problem of description A number of perennial doubts plague musical musical style theory. Are musical styles in truth out there in the world, or atomic number 18 they merely the constructions of analysts? Is there a finite taxonomy of genres or ar they in principle infinite? Are genres timeless Platonic essences or ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culturebound or transcultural? Should genre analysis be descriptive or proscriptive? (Stam 2000, 14) The word genre comes from the French (and earlier Latin) word for kind or class. The term iswidely utilized in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory, and much of late linguistics, to refer to a distinctive type of text*. Robert Allen nones that for most of its 2,000 years, genre study has been primarily nominological and typological in function. That is to say, it has taken as its top dog task the division of the world of literature into types and the naming of those types much as the botanist divides the realm of flora into varieties of plants (Allen 1989, 44). As will be forecastn, however, the analogy with biological classification into genus and species misleadingly suggests a scientific process.Since classical times literary works have been classified ad as belong to habitual types which were variously defined. In literature the broadest division is between poetry, prose and drama, in spite of appearance which there be overhear headway divisions, such as tragedy and comedy deep down the category of drama. Shakespe be referred satirically to classifications such as tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comicalhistorical-pastoral (Hamlet II ii).In The Anatomy of Criticism the formalist literary theorist Northrop Frye (1957) presented certain universal genres and modesas the key to organizing the constitutional literary corpus. Contemporary media genres tend to relate more to specific forms than to the universals of tragedy and comedy. Nowadays, films ar routinely classified (e. g. in television listings magazines) as thrillers, westerns and so on genres with which every adult in modern rescript is familiar.So too with television genres such as game shows and sitcoms. Whilst we have call for countless genres in m all media, whatsoever theorists have argued that there ar likewise many genres (and sub-genres) for which we have no names (Fowler 1989, 216 Wales 1989, 206). Carolyn milling machinesuggests that the number of genres in any society depends on the complexity and diversity of society ( miller 1984, in Freedman Medway 1994a, 36).The classification and hierarchical taxonomy of genres is not a neutral and objective procedure. There are no undis ordinateed maps of the system of genres within any medium (though literature whitethorn perhaps lay well-nigh claim to a loose consensus). Furthermore, there is a lot considerable theoretical disagreement about the definition of specific genres. A genre is ultimately an abstract conception sooner than something that exists empirically in the world,notes Jane Feuer (1992, 144). peerless theorists genre may be anformer(a)s sub-genre or steady super-genre (and indeed what is technique, style, mode, formula or thematic chemical group to ane may be treated as a genre by another(prenominal)).Themes, at least, come along inadequate as a basis for defining genres since, as David Bordwell notes, any theme may count in any genre (Bordwell 1989, 147). He asks Are animation and documentary films genres or modes? Is the filmed make up or comedy performance a genre? If tragedy and comedy are genres, perhaps consequently domestic tragedy or slapstick is a formula. Inpassing, he offers a useful enumeration of categories used in film criticism, many of which have been accorded the status of genres by various commentatorsGrouping by period or country (Ameri sens films of the 1930s), by director or star or producer or author or studio, by technical process (Cinemascope films), by cycle (the fallen women films), by serial (the 007 movies), by style (German Expressionism), by structure (narrative), by ideology (Reaganite cinema), by venue (drive-in movies), by blueprint (home movies), by earr separately (teenpix), by root or theme (family film, paranoid-politics movies).(Bordwell 1989, 148) Another film theorist, Robert Stam, overly refers to ordinary ways of categorizing films While some genres are found on story content (the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are performer-based (the Astaire-Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), location (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema).(Stam 2000, 14). Bo rdwell concludes that one could argue that no set of undeniable and sufficient conditions shadowermark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would get down An Introduction to Genre Theory acceptable (Bordwell 1989, 147). Practitioners and the general public make use of their own genre labels (de facto genres) quite apart from those of academic theorists. We might indeed ask ourselves Whose genre is it anyway? Still further problems with definitional approaches will become apparent in delinquent course. Defining genres may not initially seem factly problematic but it should already be apparent that it is a theoretical minefield.Robert Stam identifies four key problems with generic wine labels (in sex act to film) extension (the breadth or narrowness of labels) normativism (having preconceived ideas of criteria for genre membership) monolithic definitions (as if an item belonged to lonesome(prenominal) one genre) biologism (a kind of essentialism in which genres are seen as evolving through a standardized elevator career cycle) (Stam 2000, 128129). Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the imagination that they constitute particular proposition conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) whichare divided by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them.Alternative characterizations will be discussed in collectable course. The attempt to define particular genres in terms of necessary and sufficient textual properties is sometimes seen as theoretically attractive but it poses many difficulties. For instance, in the case of films, some seem to be line up with one genre in content and another genre in form. The film theorist Robert Stam argues that put forward matter is the weakest criterion for generic grouping because it fails to take into account how the subject is treated (Stam 2000, 14). Outlining a profound problem ofgenr e identification in relation to films, Andrew Tudor notes the empiricist dilemmaTo take a genre such as the western, analyze it, and list its principal typicals, is to beg the question that we must first sequester the body of films which are westerns. But they stooge totally be isolated on the basis of the principal characteristics which scum bag only be discovered from the films themselves after they have been isolated. (Cited in Gledhill 1985, 59) It is seldom hard to find texts which are exceptions to any given definition of a particular genre. There are no starchy rules of inclusion and exclusion (Gledhill 1985, 60).Genres are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items (ibid. , 64). It is difficult to make clear-cut distinctions between one genre and another genres overlap, and there are mixed genres (such as comedy-thrillers). 2 Specific genres tend to be easy to recognize intuitively but difficult (if not unacceptable) to define. grumpy featu res which are characteristic of a genre are not normally unique to it it is their relative prominence, junto and functions which are distinctive (Neale 1980, 22-3). It is easy to underplay the differences within a genre.Steve Neale declaresthat genres are instances of repetition and difference (Neale 1980, 48). He adds that difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre (ibid. , 50) mere repetition would not attract an audience. Tzvetan Todorov argued that any instance of a genre will be necessarily different (cited in Gledhill 1985, 60). backside Hartley notes that the accession of just one film to the Western genre tilts that genre as a whole redden though the Western in question may display few of the recognized conventions, styles or subject matters traditionally associated with its genre (OSullivan et al. 1994).The issue of difference in addition juicylights the fact that some genres are looser more open-ended in their conventions or more permeable in their b oundaries than others. Texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre. John Hartley notes that the same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times (OSullivan et al. 1994, 129). crossbred genres abound (at least outdoor(a) theoretical frameworks). Van Leeuwen suggests that the multiple mathematical functions of journalism often lead to generically heterogeneous texts (cited in Fairclough 1995, 88). Norman Fairclough suggests that mixed-genre texts are far from uncommon in the chain reactor media (Fairclough 1995, 89).Some media may encourage more generic diversity Nicholas Abercrombie notes that since television comes at the audience as a prevail of programmes, all with different generic conventions, means that it is more difficult to sustain the purity of the genre in the viewing experience (Abercrombie 1996, 45 his emphasis). Furthermore, in any medium the generic classification of certain texts may be uncertain or subject to dispute. Conte mporary theorists tend to describe genres in terms of family resemblances among texts (a notion derived from the philosopher Wittgenstein) rather than definitionally (Swales 1990, 49).An someone text within a genre rarely if ever has all of the characteristic features of the genre (Fowler 1989, 215). The family resemblance approaches involves the theorist illustrating similarities between some of the texts within a genre. However, the family resemblance approach has been criticized on the basis that no choice of a text for illustrative purposes is innocent (David Lodge, cited in Swales 1990, 50), and that such theories can make any text seem to resemble any other one (Swales 1990, 51).In supplement to the definitional and family resemblance approach, there isAn Introduction to Genre Theory another approach to describing genres which is based on the psycholinguistic concept of prototypicality. According to this approach, some texts would be widely regarded as being more typical mem bers of a genre than others.According to this approach certain features would identify the extent to which an exemplar is prototypical of a particular genre (Swales 1990, 52). Genres can therefore be seen as fuzzy categories which cannot be defined by necessary and sufficient conditions. How we define a genre depends on our purposesthe adequacy of our definition in terms of companionable science at least must surely be related to the light that the exploration sheds on the phenomenon.For instance (and this is a key concern of mine), if we are studying the way in which genre frames the readers edition of a text because we would do well to focus on how readers identify genres rather than on theoretical distinctions.Defining genres may be problematic, but even if theorists were to abandon the concept, in everyday life people would continue to categorize texts. John Swales does note that a discourse communitys nomenclature for genres is animportant man-made lake of insight (Swales 1 990, 54), though like many academic theorists he later adds that such genre names typically take in further validation (ibid. , 58).Some genre names would be likely to be more widely-used than others it would be interesting to investigate the areas of popular consensus and dissensus in relation to the everyday labeling of mass media genres. For Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress, genres only exist in so far as a social group declares and enforces the rules that constitute them (Hodge Kress 1988, 7), though it is debatable towhat extent most of us would be able to formulate explicit rules for the textual genres we use routinely much of our genre knowledge is likely to be tacit.In relation to film, Andrew Tudor argued that genre is what we collectively believe it to be (though this begs the question about who we are). Robert Allen comments wryly that Tudor even hints that in send to establish what audiences expect a western to be like we might have to ask them (Allen 1989, 47). Swales also alludes to people having repertoires of genres (Swales 1990, 58), which I would argue would also be likely to repayinvestigation. However, as David Buckingham notes, there has hardly been any empirical research on the ways in which real audiences might understand genre, or use this understanding in devising sense of specific texts (Buckingham 1993, 137).Steve Neale stresses that genres are not systems they are processes of systematization (Neale 1980, 51 my emphasis cf. Neale 1995, 463). Traditionally, genres (particularly literary genres) tended to be regarded 3 as fixed forms, but present-day(a) theory emphasizes that both their forms and functions are dynamic. David Buckingham argues that genre is notsimply given by the culture rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and neuter (Buckingham 1993, 137). Nicholas Abercrombie suggests that the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable (Abercrombie 1996, 45) Abercrombie is concerned with m odern television, which he suggests seems to be engaged in a steady tear down of genre (ibid. ) which can be attributed in part to economic pressures to pursue new-made audiences. One may acknowledge the dynamic fluidity of genres without positing the final demise of genre as an interpretive framework.As the generic corpus ceaselessly expands, genres (and the relationships between them) change over time the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres bring out and others are discontinued (though note that certain genres seem particularly long-lasting). Tzvetan Todorov argued that a new genre is ever the transformation of one or several old genres (cited in Swales 1990, 36). Each new work within a genre has the potential to influence changes within the genre or perhaps the emergence of new sub-genres (which may later blossom into fully-fledged genres).However, such a stead tends to highlight the role of authorial experiment in changing genres and their conventions , whereas it is important to recognize not only the social nature of text business but especially the role of economic and technological factors as well as changing audience preferences. The interaction between genres and media can be seen as one of the forces which contributes to changing genres. Some genres are more powerful than others they differ in the status which is attributed to them by those who produce texts within them and by their audiences. As Tony Thwaites et al.put it, in the interaction and conflicts among genres we can see the connections between textuality and power (Thwaites et al. 1994, 104). The key genres in institutions which are original definers (such as news reports in the mass media) dress well to establish the frameworks within which issues are defined. But genre hierarchies also shift over time, with individual genres constantly gaining and losing different groups of users and relative status. Idealist theoretical approaches to genre which seek to ca tegorize ideal types in terms of essential textual characteristics are ahistorical.As a result oftheir dynamic nature as processes, Neale argues that definitions of genre are always historically relative, and therefore historically specific (Neale 1995, 464). Similarly, Boris Tomashevsky insists that no firm logical classification of genres is possible. Their de- An Introduction to Genre Theory marcation is always historical, that is to say, it is objurgate only for a specific moment of history (cited in Bordwell 1989, 147). Some genres are defined only retrospectively, being unrecognized as such by the original producers and audiences. Genres need to be studied as historical phenomena a popular focus infilm studies, for instance, has been the evolution of conventions within a genre. flow genres go through phases or cycles of popularity (such as the cycle of disaster films in the 1970s), sometimes becoming motionless for a period rather than disappearing. On-going genres and their conventions themselves change over time. Reviewing evolutionary change in some popular film genres, Andrew Tudor concludes that it has three main characteristics First, in that innovations are added to an existent corpus rather than switch redundant elements, it is cumulative. Second, in thatthese innovations must be basically consistent with what is already present, it is conservative.Third, in that these processes lead to the crystallisation of specialist sub-genres, it involves differentiation. (Tudor 1974, 225-6) Tudor himself is cautious about adopting the biological analogy of evolution, with its implication that only those genres which are well-adapted to their functions survive. Christine Gledhill also notes the danger of essentialism in divideing definitive classic examples towards which earlier examples evolve and after which others decline (Gledhill 1985, 59).The cycles and transformations of genres can nevertheless be seen as a result to political, social and econom ic conditions. Referring to film, Andrew Tudor notes that a genre defines a moral and social world (Tudor 1974, 180). Indeed, a genre in any medium can be seen as supporting certain determine and ideological assumptions. Again in the context of the cinema Susan Hayward argues that genre conventions change fit to the ideological climate of the time, direct melodic lineing John Wayne westerns with Clint Eastwood as the problematic hero or anti-hero (Hayward 1996, 50). social lion Baudry (cited in Hayward 1996, 162) sees film genres as a barometer of the social and cultural concerns of cinema audiences Robert Lichter et al. (1991) illustrate how televisual genres glow the values of the programme-makers. Some commentators see mass media genres from a particular era as reflecting values which were dominant at the time. Ira Konigsberg, for instance, suggests that texts within genres embody the moral values of a culture (Konigsberg 1987, 144-5). And John Fiske asserts that generic co nventions embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular4 (Fiske 1987, 110). However, Steve Neale stresses that genres may also help to shape such values (Neale 1980, 16). Thwaites et al. see the relationship as reciprocal a genre develops according to social conditions transformations in genre and texts can influence and reinforce social conditions (Thwaites et al. 1994, 100). Some Marxist commentators see genre as an instrument of social control which reproduces the dominant ideology. Within this perspective, the genre positions the audience in order to naturalize the ideologies which are embedded in the text (Feuer 1992, 145).Bernadette Casey comments that recently, structuralists and feminist theorists, among others, have focused on the way in which generically defined structures may operate to construct particular ideologies and values, and to encourage calm and conservative interpretations of a given text (Casey 193, 312). However, reader-orient ed commentators have stressed that people are capable of indication against the grain.Thomas and Vivian Sobchack note that in the past popular film-makers, intent on telling a story, were not always aware of the covert psychological and socialsubtext of their own films, but add that modern film-makers and their audiences are now more keenly aware of the myth-making accomplished by film genres (Sobchack Sobchack 1980, 245).Genre can reflect a function which in relation to television Horace Newcombe and Paul Hirsch referred to as a cultural forum, in which industry and audience negotiate shared beliefs and values, helping to maintain the social order and assisting it in adapting to change (Feuer 1992, 145). Certainly, genres are far from being ideologically neutral.Sonia Livingstone argues, indeed, that different genres are concerned to establish different world views (Livingstone 1990, 155). Related to the ideological dimension of genres is one modern redefinition in terms of purpo ses. In relation to writing, Carolyn Miller argues that a rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centered not on the substance or form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish (Carolyn Miller 1984, in Freedman Medway 1994a, 24). Following this lead, John Swales declares that the principal criterial feature that turns a collection of communicativeevents into a genre is some shared set of communicative purposes (Swales 1990, 46).In relation to the mass media it can be fruitful to consider in relation to genre the purposes not only of the producers of texts but also of those who interpret them (which need not be assumed always to match). A consensus about the primary purposes of some genres (such as news bulletins) and of their readers is probably easier to establish than in relation to others (such as westerns), where the very term purpose sounds too in- An Introduction to Genre Theory strumental.However, uses and gratifications researchers have already cond ucted investigations into the various functions that the mass media seem to serve for people, and ethnographic studies have offered fruitful insights into this dimension. Miller argues that both in writing and discipline within genres we pack purposes appropriate to the genre in relation to the mass media it could be argued that particular genres develop, frame and legitimate particular concerns, questions and pleasures.Related redefinitions of genre focus more broadly on the relationship between the makers and audiencesof texts (a rhetorical dimension). To variable extents, the formal features of genres establish the relationship between producers and interpreters. Indeed, in relation to mass media texts Andrew Tolson redefines genre as a category which mediates between industry and audience (Tolson 1996, 92).Note that such approaches undermine the definition of genres as stringently textual types, which excludes any reference even to intended audiences. A basic model underlyin g contemporaneous media theory is a triangular relationship between the text, its producers and its interpreters.From the perspective of many recent commentators, genres first and first off provide frameworks within which texts are produced and interpreted. Semiotically, a genre can be seen as a shared code between the producers and interpreters of texts implicated within it. Alastair Fowler goes so far as to suggest that communication is impossible without the agreed codes of genre (Fowler 1989, 216). Within genres, texts embody authorial attempts to position readers using particular modes of address. Gunther Kress observes thatEvery genre positions those who participate ina text of that kind as interviewer or interviewee, as listener or storyteller, as a reader or a writer, as a person interested in political matters, as someone to be instructed or as someone who instructs each of these positionings implies different possibilities for response and for action. Each written text provides a reading position for readers, a position constructed by the writer for the ideal reader of the text. (Kress 1988, 107) Thus, embedded within texts are assumptions about the ideal reader, including their attitudes towards the subject matter and often their class, age, gender and ethnicity.Gunther Kress defines a genre as a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes (Kress 1988, 183). An interpretative emphasis on genre as opposed 5 to individual texts can help to remind us of the social nature of the production and interpretation of texts. In relation to film, many modern commentators refer to the commercial and industrial significance of genres.Denis McQuail argues that The genre may be considered as a practicaldevice for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication. (McQuail 1987, 200)Steve Neale observes that genres exist within the context of a set of economic relations and practices, though he adds that genres are not the product of economic factors as such.The conditions provided by the capitalist economy account neither for the globe of the particular genres that have hitherto been produced, nor for the existence of the conventions that constitute them (Neale 1980, 51-2). Economic factors may account for the perpetuation of a profitable genre. Nicholas Abercrombie notes that television producers set out to exploit genre conventions It makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale (Abercrombie 1996, 43).He a dds that genres digest the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre (ibid. ). Genres can be seen as a means of controlling demand (Neale 1980, 55). The relative stability of genres enables producers to foreknow audience expectations. Christine Gledhill notes that differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to This made it easier to standardize and stabilise production (Gledhill 1985, 58). In relation to the mass media, genre is part of the process of targeting different market sectors.Traditionally, literary and film critics in particular have regarded generic texts (by which they mean formulaic texts) as inferior to those which they contend are produced outside a generic framework. Indeed, film theorists frequently refer to popular films as genre films in contrast to non-formula films. Elitist critics reject the generic fiction of the mass media because they are commercial products of popular culture rather than high art. Many harbor the Romantic ideology of the primacy of authorial originality and vision, emphasizing individual styleand artistic self-expression.In this tradition the An Introduction to Genre Theory artist (in any medium) is seen as breaking the mould of convention. For the Italian aesthetician Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), an artistic work was always unique and there could be no artistic genres. more than recently, some literary and film theorists have accorded more vastness to genre, counteracting the ideology of authorial primacy (or auteurism, as it is know in relation to the emphasis on the director in film). Contemporary theorists tend to emphasize the importance of the semiotic notion of intertextualityof seeing individual texts in relation to others. Katie Wales notes that genre is an intertextual concept (Wales 1989, 259). John Hartley suggests that we need to understand genre as a property of the relations between texts (OSullivan e t al. 1994, 128). And as Tony Thwaites et al. put it, each text is influenced by the generic rules in the way it is put together the generic rules are built by each text (Thwaites et al. 1994, 100).Roland Barthes (1975) argued that it is in relation to other texts within a genre rather than in relation to lived experience that we make sense of certainevents within a text. There are analogies here with schema theory in psychology, which proposes that we have mental scripts which help us to interpret 6 familiar events in everyday life. John Fiske offers this striking exampleA representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation to all the others we have seen after all, we are unbelievable to have experienced one in reality, and if we did, we would, according to this model, make sense of it by turning it into another text, which we would also understand intertextually, in terms of what we have seen so often on our screens.There is then a cultural knowledge of the concept car c hase that any one text is a prospectus for, and that it used by the viewer to decode it, and by the producer to encode it. (Fiske 1987, 115) In contrast to those of a traditionalist literary bent who tend to present artistic texts as nongeneric, it could be argued that it is impossible to produce texts which bear no relationship whatsoever to established genres. Indeed, Jacques Derrida proposed that a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without a genre.Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genre-less text(Derrida 1981, 61). Note *In these notes, words such as text, reader and writer are sometimes used as general terms relating to texts (and so on) in whatever medium is being discussed no privileging of the written word (graphocentrism) is intended. Whilst it is hard to find an alternative for the word texts, terms such as makers and interpreters are sometimes used here as terms non-specific to particular media instead of the terms writers and readers .2. Working within genres John Hartley argues that genres are agents of ideological closure they limit the meaning-potentialof a given text (OSullivan et al. 1994, 128). Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress define genres as typical forms of texts which link kinds of producer, consumer, topic, medium, manner and occasion, adding that they control the behavior of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers (Hodge Kress 1988, 7). Genres can be seen as constituting a kind of tacit contract between authors and readers. From the traditional Romantic perspective, genres are seen as close and inhibiting authorial creativity.However, contemporary theorists, evenwithin literary studies, typically reject this view (e. g. Fowler 1982 31). Gledhill notes that one perspective on this issue is that some of those who write within a genre work in imaginative tension with the conventions, attempting a personal inflection of them (Gledhill 1985 63). From the point of view of the producers of texts within a genre, an advantage of genres is that they can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about works within a genre.Fowler comments that the system of generic expectations amounts to a code, by the use of which(or by departure from which) composition becomes more economical (Fowler 1989 215). Genres can thus be seen as a kind of shorthand serving to increase the efficiency of communication. They may even function as a means of preventing a text from dissolving into individualism and incomprehensibility (Gledhill 1985 63). And whilst writing within a genre involves making use of certain given conventions, every work within a genre also involves the invention of some new elements.An Introduction to Genre Theory As for reading within genres, some argue that knowledge of genre conventions leads to passiveconsumption of generic texts others argue that making sense of texts within genres is an active process of constructing meaning (Knight 199 4). Genre provides an important frame of reference which helps readers to identify, select and interpret texts.Indeed, in relation to advertisements, Varda Langholz Leymore argues that the sense which viewers make of any single text depends on how it relates to the genre as a whole (Langholz Leymore 1975, ix). Key psychological functions of genre are likely to include those shared by categorization generally such as reducing complexity.