Genre Study (Discussion)

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Television on genre

  1. 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.
  2. Group 3: Genres may be defined based on their stylistic schema. Explain that phrase and how it might be used to define a genre. Provide an example.
  3. Group 4: Genres may be defined by their subject matter--specifically, their narrative structure. Explain how Kaminsky and Mahan articulate the police show's narrative structure. Does the episode of Dragnet we watched support their argument?
  4. Group 1: Genres may be defined by their subject matter--specifically, their themes. Explain the "binary oppositions" (thematic structure) that Hurd finds in the police show. Does the episode of Dragnet we watched support their argument?

Jason Mittell on Dragnet and genre

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)

Group 2: Mittell links the documentary and the semi-documentary crime film with Dragnet. What key connections does he see there? What elements assert Dragnet's "authenticity"? Can you see these in "The Big Shoplift" episode?

Group 3: According to the Mittell chapter, what stylistic conventions or what Television calls "stylistic schemas" can be found in Dragnet? (Hint: his term, "formal," refers to stylistic aspects of television.) For example, how does Mittell interpret the acting style of Dragnet and its "line editing"? Mittell refers to the style of TV crime dramas that were broadcast live--such as Martin Kane, Private Eye (although he uses other examples such as Man Against Crime). How does he characterize them? Do you observe this in Martin Kane? How is Dragnet different?

Group 4: What narrative pattern does Mittell see in Dragnet? How does it compare/contrast with the Kaminsky and Mahan model? Can you see this in "The Big Shoplift" episode?

Group 1: How does Mittell apply the idea of oppositions? What is his point about "mediating figures"? Is Sgt. Friday one? How about Martin Kane? Does "The Big Shoplift" episode support his argument? How does this fit with Hurd's notion of binary oppositions?

All groups

  1. List two strength(s) of genre analysis. List two weaknesses of this approach.
    • Group 1 (Brianna):
      • We discussed that a strength of genre analysis is if you want to study a specific genre or start a new genre, there are already some guidelines and shows that fit in these genres.
      • Alternately, genre analysis has limitations. There are certain shows or films that do not fit with any genre's themes and guidelines.
    • Group 4 (Cameron):
      • a strength was that it was like Netflix it gives you genres and shows things you would like to watch based on genres on other genres grouping them together.
    • Group 4 (Melissa):
    • Group 4 (Kyja):
      • Strength: We discussed a puzzle analogy. To build a puzzle, one typically starts off by looking at the box. When one has built most of it, one does not need the box anymore. Instead, one understands what one is looking for. It is easy to parallel this to the method of using genres to understand television.
      • Weakness: A weakness we came up with was the question over how you can study something without knowing about it? The book says, "it's a classic chicken-and-egg problem: one needs to know the genre's characteristics to pick which programs to consider, but before one can do that one needs to have looked at programs within the genre to define its characteristics, but before one can pick programs one needs to know the genre's characteristics, and around and around it goes.

Bibliography

  1. Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and Applications (NY: Routledge, 2012).
  2. Jason Mittell, Genre and Television: From Cop Show to Cartoons in American Culture (NY: Routledge, 2004).

External links