Page 37 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 2

Greg Marshall mounted a crittercam on Molly, a domestic cat, so that the
audience could follow the cat in the course of her normal day, extend-
ing this genre into the animal kingdom. The crittercam was then fitted
on sea turtles, lions, emperor penguins, blue whales and leopard seals,
sharks, rats, hyenas, and grizzly bears to get an “up-close and personal”
look at their habitat.
In 2000 a new radio format appeared known as “Jack.” This genre is
a blend of all adult hits: country, hip-hop, rock, and pop songs that have
reached the popularity charts over the past thirty-five years. One reason
behind the development of this new genre is the popularity of the iPod,
which shuffles songs, allowing the listener to hear a variety of familiar
songs. In 2002 Vancouver disc jockey Bob Perry, aka Cadillac Jack,
presented a program that featured his favorite songs mixed with once-
forgotten hits. According to Jewels Riley, programmer of WACH-FM,
106.5, in St. Louis, Missouri, “What matters is that when you turn it on,
you say, ‘Hey I know that song.’ It needs to be familiar.”
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Audience Considerations

One line of inquiry in genre analysis focuses attention on the relationship
between a genre and its intended audience. An early instance of genres
being developed for specific audiences occurred in eighteenth-century
Britain. “Domestic fiction,” the forerunner of the soap operas, was writ-
ten expressly for a female audience. The central characters were women;
men only appeared in these novels insofar as they were involved in the
lives of the heroines.
This genre was a result of the emergence of women as an identifiable
social class that worked largely in the home, had more leisure time and dis-
cretionary spending than in previous years, and had been taught to read.
In the 1920s, the genre of domestic fiction moved to American radio
and was given the label “soap opera.” This term was a reference to the
shows’ sponsors—sellers of household products such as soap that catered
to the needs of the housewife. Presumably, housewives watched their
“programs” while engaged in domestic chores such as doing the laundry.
However, this genre was considered the “poor relative” of other genres,
reflecting the second-class status of women in society. These programs
were characterized by miniscule budgets and second-tier actors. Today,
however, a wide spectrum of society watches “soaps”—including teen-
agers, males, and college students.

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