You are going to take genre into consideration in two ways for your rhetorical analysis assignment:

1. You will be writing in a genre, the blog post. It is good to think about what expectations readers might (or might not) have when writing in any genre.
2. You will be analyzing 2 texts that might be different genres. Since they will be in different genres, it will be important to consider what effect that has in making meaning out of those texts.

The word genre might be heard in a few ways. For instance, you might associate it with music: pop, hip hop, R&B, rock and roll, etc.

When listening to hip hop or rock and roll, what do you “expect” to hear?

Genre relates to any form of communication or art. I like this succinct definition, drawn from the work of rhetorical scholar Carolyn Miller, from this video: https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-genre

Genre is what some might call ‘typified rhetorical action’ and what that means is that there are features that repeat again and again, over time, with few differences, in part because audiences expect certain things to happen or because they want certain kinds of experiences. Genre is the name we use to describe the categories that have developed over time for what we read, what we watch, and what we listen to. And the kinds of genres that exist in one culture at one time may not exist in another culture at another time – they’re constantly changing.

An easy example is a grocery list, as shown from this webpage differentiating genre from medium:

a grocery list is a genre that developed out of a need to remember what you are shopping for at the grocery store. It is a set form of writing with general expectations – brief and to-the-point, in a list format, usually following the store’s layout. Genre is determined by need and audience expectation.

Genre is sort of the big picture, it is the “style” from a macro perspective.

Like the kind of document rather than the kind of sentence, or language within a passage, or tone throughout a piece.

Genre considers so many things: it in part means style, but also formatting, organization, design, etc. The main focus is on fulfilling some recognizable form for audiences to recognize for repeated rhetorical situations.

Genre and MAYA

I want to put the idea of genre in conversation with MAYA from the Thompson reading. Help me out here.

Thompson claimed that Lowey believed in two opposing forces that consumers weigh: neophilia (curiosity about new things) and neophobia (a fear of anything too new).

The MAYA acronym describes the framework to join these opposing forces in order to make commodities most desirable—but Thompson branches out from pure consumerism to art/entertainment, academic knowledge, identity, and songwriting. Pretty much any art, design, or communicative activity.

Questions

1. So what does this mean for genre? How does MAYA apply to genre in writing do you think? In genres in other modes of expression? (e.g., music, film)
2. How true is it that there are set expectations in writing? How do you know? What about other modes of expression? (e.g., music, film)
3. What can the potential be for violating expectations? How do writers do that and do they still need to meet some expectations when doing that? What about other rhetors (e.g., filmmakers, musicians, artists, speakers)?

Task

On Discord, in the text channel called “mar-3-maya-genre” under Reading/Writing Discussion, write a post doing one of the following:

• Choose one of the three above questions under “Questions” in the previous section. Respond to it in at least three thoughtful sentences.
• Reply to a classmate who has already responded to one of those questions. Respond in at least three thoughtful sentences. Let it push that classmate’s thinking forward; take their ideas and see if you can run a bit further.

After posting in Discord, click the button below to continue: