Page 20 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

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Process

Analysis: Function

Overview

Function refers to the purpose for creating and receiving media presen-
tations. As it relates to genre study, a function approach addresses the
following questions:

• Why do media communicators produce particular genres?
• What purposes are served by watching a genre such as a horror film
or a reality show?
• Why are people (both media communicators and their audience)
attracted to particular genres?
• What can we learn about a genre by identifying its functions?

Genres generally share a common manifest function. Manifest function
refers to a clear purpose for producing or receiving genric programming.
As an example, in news programming (e.g., newspaper articles, news
magazine shows, or Sunday morning interview programs), the manifest
purpose is to provide information to the public. However, a genre may also
fulfill a number of latent functions as well. Latent functions are secondary
purposes that may not be immediately obvious to the audience. Taking
the news genre as an example, in 2005 it was disclosed that the U.S.
Department of Education had paid conservative columnist Armstrong
Williams $240,000 to promote the Bush administration’s No Child Left
Behind education initiative on his syndicated television program. Thus,
although Armstrong’s audience thought that the function of the program
was to provide information, Williams was actually being paid to persuade
his audience to support Bush’s education initiative.

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