2. Daniel Chandler
Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute
particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including
structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to
them.
Every genre positions those who participate in a 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 positioning’s 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,) 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.
Traditionally, genres (particularly literary genres) tended to be regarded as fixed forms, but
contemporary theory emphasizes that both their forms and functions are dynamic. David
Buckingham argues that 'genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant
process of negotiation and change'
3. Tom Ryall (1978) – Genre provides a framework of structuring rules, in the shape of
patterns/forms/styles/structures, which act as a form of ‘supervision’ over the work of production of
filmmakers and the work of reading by the audience. John Fiske defines genres as ‘attempts to
structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the
convenience of both producers and audiences.’
Steve Neale (1990) argues that Hollywood’s generic regime performs two inter-related functions to
guarantee meanings and pleasures for audiences to offset the considerable economic risks of industrial
film production by providing cognitive collateral against innovation and difference.
4. Henry Jenkins makes the argument that convergence is less about a technological process and more about a
cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections amongst dispersed
media content.
David Buckingham is a media theorist who believes that children and young people have identities that don't exist
at all or are constantly changing. He studied their interactions with electronic media, and he believes that ,due to
the constant change of media, identities are constantly changing. He believes that genre isn't simply given to a
young person as part of their culture, but instead it is constantly being negotiated and changed. The media reveals
the bad sides of the world and therefore parents keep their children indoors to hide them from this reality. Due to
this, children spend far too much time around various types of media such as TV's and computers, and therefore
learn too much about the world and are constantly going through change due to the amount of views, opinions
and cultures that they observe.
Steve Neale argues that pleasure is derived from 'repetition and difference' (Neale 1980); there would be
no pleasure without difference. We may derive pleasure from observing how the conventions of the
genre are manipulated (Abercrombie 1996). We may also enjoy the stretching of a genre in new
directions and the consequent shifting of our expectations.
Other pleasures can be derived from sharing our experience of a genre with others within an 'interpretive
community' which can be characterized by its familiarity with certain genres (Daniel Chandler).
