PB1B: Inspecting Genre Generators

All three of the genre generator websites were similar in that they successfully fulfilled their particular genres by applying the widely accepted conventions. They differed in the actual types of conventions and literary elements they choses to include.

The computer science paper generator, generated articles in the form of a descriptive table of contents. This table of contents style arrangement dictated that each section be numbered chronologically. Every generated paper had an introductory section where it discussed a brief background on the research and then proceeds to cover what material will be found in the paper. The very last line of the introduction is aimed at helping the reader to better navigate the information in terms of how the information is going to be presented. It goes on to summarize the contents of each chapter. Often chapters on related work, the analysis of the project and graphs or charts are included. The graphs and charts are important conventions in the science world because it is important to provide a visual representation of the data for other scientists to interpret and validate. The papers usually end with a conclusion followed by the references used in the work.

               The purpose of these computer science papers is to inform the expected audience, the science community, on research projects and discoveries that the authors have made during their work. The style in these papers can be considered formal. The tone reflected by the precise, scientific diction, is clear in order to pass on the information as effectively as possible.

               In the comic generator, short comics were on display. It is characteristic of comics that they possess a series of boxes that represent scenes in the story. In these boxes illustrations will take up most of the page, but often there will be words accompanying the illustrations either as setting descriptors, onomatopoeia, or as speech or thought bubbles. Characters are often comical looking or larger than life, to capture the audiences’ attention and imagination.

Also, the fact that this genre is made specifically for the internet affects it composition. All these comics are very short and don’t take up much time or effort to enjoy. This matches up with internet users’ desire as a collective population, for instant gratification. The purpose of this genre is to entertain and amuse the audience who people browsing the web or people who are enthusiastic about comics. The style and tone vary, but almost all yield a humorous effect. The tones include ironic, light, playful, slightly bitter, and even weird. To achieve these tones they may or may not use colloquial speech, slang, and very loose grammar. The power of the comic genre lies in its ability to interact with the audience from both a visual and written standpoint.

  The meme generator produced memes, small humorous pictures with a set of joking phrases. Memes started as an internet trend, then rapidly became an internet culture. Memes consist of a single weird, perplexing, visually striking, unique, and/or amusing image accompanied by bold white words on the top and bottom of the picture. The phrases, usually concise in nature, are supposed to be humorous in some way. The purpose of this form of media, similar to the comics is to entertain it audience, who are internet browsers and meme junkies.

The style and tone in the words on the meme depend largely on the type of meme. The internet meme genre is further divided into more specific genres depending on which picture one decides to use. Each picture has its own set of conventions that one must follow or the meme will lose its humor and value. The most important conventions in these mem sub-genres is the syntax and diction of the images. For example the meme with the picture of Morpheus from the Matrix, generally starts out with the line, “what if I told you”. If one started it off a different way, then they would not be complying with the conventions of the sub-genre and would insult the seasoned meme veterans.

Looking at all these genre generating websites, and analyzing the different conventions in each allows for the better understanding of genre. This is because when one compare and contrast similar rhetorical elements, like convention, style and tone, purpose, and audience, for different genres, one begins to see how the media is related. All genres use the similar rhetorical components but they must be altered to better address certain issues and audiences. By looking at the generator websites, one sees that the conventions are largely shaped by the audience.