Page 245 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 9

Makeover shows follow in the tradition of TV programs from the
1950s such as Queen for a Day and Strike It Rich. Each week Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) makes people’s dreams come true by
renovating the house of a family that (like the audience) faces hardships
and deserves to be rewarded. One episode featured a young quadriplegic
man in Ventura, California, who received a home elevator, so that he no
longer had to live in the basement of his three-story house. In another
episode, the home of a six-year-old boy with a rare brittle-bone disease
was completely renovated with soft cork floors and curved corners, to
make the space more livable for him.

Lines of Inquiry

1. Select a sample of genric programs. What do these programs reveal with
respect to myths about the role of human beings in the universe?
2. Examine a sample of programs from a genre, focusing on mythic
analysis.
a. What mythic themes appear in this genre?
b. Describe the hero/heroines in these programs. Do they share any
qualities of the mythic hero/heroine? Explain.
Select a sample of programs from a genre not discussed in the
chapter. What mythic issues/concerns does the genre address?
3. Mythic themes
a. Trace mythic themes that appear in a particular genre.
b. Examine nuances of a mythic theme as it appears in a genre.
4. Identify cultural myths that appear in genric programs.
a. Are certain cultural myths tied to particular genres?
b. Describe the cultural myths.
c. What do these myths tell us about the culture?
5. Identify the following cultural myths found in genres.
a. A historical period
b. Mystical places
c. Idealized times
d. Cultural beliefs
6. Conduct an intra-genre line of mythic inquiry. Trace a mythic ele-
ment that appear across genres.
a. Mythic hero
b. Mythic theme
c. Mythic premise
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