Genre Study (Discussion)

Group 2: What dilemma do genre scholars face when trying to define a genre? Explain the theoretical way of escaping that dilemma and the historical way of escaping it. Within your group, conduct a survey to determine what its "cultural consensus" is for the definition of the sitcom. You may wish to refer to sitcoms we've seen in class.

Group 3: Genres may be defined based on their stylistic schema. Explain that phrase and how it might be used to define a genre. According to the Mittell chapter, how might Dragnet fit into a stylistic schema? (Hint: his term, "formal," refers to stylistic aspects of television.)

Group 4: Genres may be defined by their subject matter--specifically, their narrative structure and themes. Explain how Kaminsky and Mahan articulate the police show's narrative structure. Does the episode of Dragnet we watched support their argument? Explain the thematic structure that Hurd finds in the police show. Does this Dragnet episode support his argument?

Group 1: Into what evolutionary pattern do genres often fall? Would Mittell say that the police show follows this pattern?

Mittell

Mittell writes that he wants to explore "how 'the generic categories of police show, documentary, film noir, and radio crime drama were all activated within and around the program. Dragnet not only drew upon these categories in its textual conventions, formal properties, and encoded meanings, but also in its larger cultural circulation in the 1950s and 1960s, activating discourses of generic definition, interpretation, and evaluation." (124)

Each group should summarize how Mittell sees these "categories" in Dragnet. Draw examples from the episode we viewed.

• Group 2: police show
• Group 3: documentary
• Group 4: film noir
• Group 1: radio crime drama

All groups

1. List two strength(s) of genre analysis. List two weaknesses of this approach.

Bibliography

1. Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and Applications (NY: Routledge, 2011).
2. Jason Mittell, Genre and Television: From Cop Show to Cartoons in American Culture (NY: Routledge, 2004).

External links

• Chapter 13 illustrations