Emily Rini

Genre and Artifact

Categories and separation appears in the world naturally, all over the place. People form
groups, whether it be lawyers, doctors, Catholics, Muslims, soldiers, teachers, and so on.
Animals click together by birth and species; generally, however, within a species, there are
subspecies, for example, within the species of domesticated dogs, there are Golden Retrievers
and Poodles, and within these, there are hybrids of the two, Goldendoodles. This concept
compares to every group in the world and directly relates to the definition of genre. Just as every
separation has levels of separations within, genre can be broken down into many sub-genres and
ways to categorize it.
Genre begins to be defined by picking a piece of art and separating it; this would be
labeling different forms of expression such as textual, visual, audio, visual and audio works.
Within this genre, the art can be broken down further, such as poems, essays, movies, video
clips, songs, and more. The breaking down of genre can be endless, to the point that only that
one piece exemplifies such a category. Due to every work of art being unique, not one work can
have the characteristics to completely describe it the same way as another. A comedy like the
movie, Finding Dory, is entirely different than a comedy like Horrible Bosses. Within the genre
of comedy, other genres and characteristics individualize the two movies.
Pieces of work can be broken down into genres through the use of tools to group them.
Each genre contains different conventions and traits to separate it from another. Conventions are
the building blocks of genre, which make up different traits, that when pieced together, form a
category. Conventions differ from genre to genre, examples of this would be an arm being
chopped off in a gory movie, a shared kiss in a romance, a paranormal entity in a horror movie.
Like how conventions build up the classification of a piece, constraints and affordances shape it
even more specifically.
Constraints and affordance have to do with how a piece is constructed and the material
within. A constraint is certain traits that cannot be within a genre because it would not make
sense or fit. An affordance is a way to form art that is similar within the same types of genres. An
example of a constraint in a childrens movie would be a rated R scene of profanity, drugs, or
sex. An example of an affordance in a childrens movie would be the form of some type of
overall happy ending after overcoming a conflict.
When defining genre, it is easier to make sense of the definition through example. A
digital artifact to exemplify the traits of genre is a scene from The Hunger Games. In this scene,
the actors and actresses gather together for the annual reaping within their district, where two
tributes will be chosen at random to participate in the annual Hunger Games.
To break this scene down, this is a clip from Youtube, from the very popular movie, The
Hunger Games. On Youtube, this clip has over one million views, meaning over one million
people have seen it. The accessibility of this clip is almost unlimited, as it can be seen by anyone
with internet connection. The circulation of this clip is relevant to genre because its accessibility
is a genre itself. In comparison to other forms of art, like a college students blog post, the blog
posts circulation is miniature, which separate the two pieces entirely.
Looking more into the content of this scene, to understand what is happening, the
audience must understand the context. The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian society, a
society broken into 12 districts with the civilians being treated like toys by the Dictator. The
scene shows the annual reaping, where children and teenagers are picked at random to
sacrifice themselves in the Hunger Games. The games are forced upon the districts by the
dictator and enforced through the army. The context of this scene embodies the genre of a
dystopian fiction.
After labeling the context, there are genres within the actual scene that appear intertwined
within each other. The scene begins with Effie announcing that she will pick the names of the
tributes for the game. The camera switches from viewing Effie, happily speaking, to the somber
faces of all the teenagers waiting to hear if their name is announced, ultimately guaranteeing they
will die or kill several people. After her speech, Effie strolls to the bowl with the names and
picks one. She reads aloud, Primrose Everdeen. After the name is called, the camera switches
to a very shocked and disappointed Prim and then switches to a frightened, frantic Katniss. As
Prim begins to walk out to the aisle to go to stage, Katniss trails her, screaming for her. They
both enter the aisle, where Katniss, being held back by armed guards, screeches that she
volunteers in place of Prim. After Prim unites for a moment with Katniss, she is ripped from her
arms, screaming the entire way back to the crowd. Katniss goes on stage, and Effie and Katniss
have a conversation about Katniss volunteering, which leads to Effie requesting an applause
from the crowd. The camera switches to the crowd, completely silent, all sticking their hands in
the air for respect and luck. After a few seconds, Effie says she will choose the male now and
picks Peetas name out of the bowl. Peeta, shocked and lifeless, slowly walks to the stage, where
him and Katniss exchange looks of misery and defeat.
The content of the scene embodies the genres of suspense and drama twisted together.
The parts of this scene that portray the genre of suspense would be the times Effie announces the
tribute. As the crowd waits for the names to be called each time they are under a spell of
suspense. Conventions of suspense in this scene are Effies slow, long walks to the bowl
containing the names. The dragged out timing of these walks builds the suspense for the
audience and the tributes. Not only does Effie take her time walking to the bowl each time, but as
she dips her hand into the bowl she swirls her hand above the names twice and dives in for a few
seconds before picking one out. She then slowly glides back to the microphone, where she now
takes her time opening the folded name card, pauses before announcing the name, and finally,
calls out the name. The audio is also a convention in the suspense of this scene. The entire scene
is completely silent besides the talking from Effie and the other actors, which leads the audience
to be even more impatient while waiting, having no distraction from waiting to hear which
tribute will participate in the game.
As much as this scene is suspenseful, it is also dramatic. This genre is exemplified
through the facial expressions of the crowd, upon hearing the tribute being called. Katniss
rushing out and screaming she volunteers, while being held back by guards is a convention of
drama. The screaming and holding back of Katniss, as well as her short, loving, heart-breaking
conversation with Prim, leading to Prim being ripped from Katniss arms, portray drama entirely.
The scene of the entire district wishing Katniss luck and showing respect in the silent gesture of
raising their arms in unity, also exemplifies drama. Peeta sluggishly walking to stage, with a
blank facial expression, as well as exchanging looks of defeat with Katniss is extremely
dramatic.
Through the use of traits within this scene, genres are formed and labeled to individualize
this piece from any other art form in existence. This can be said with any art forms genre. After
breaking down a piece by its traits, the genres are clear.