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Module 7 |
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Devising
Genre-analysis Activities |
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| For one or more of the different genre types, create
your own genre-analysis activities, webquests, or units. In doing
so, you need to work both deductively and inductively. You need
to provide students with some background theory in terms of the
roles, settings, storylines, themes, and value assumptions unique
to each genre. At the same time, you need to draw on their prior
knowledge of and experience with films or programs associated with
a specific genre so that they are connecting the theory to their
own experiences. And, once you have modeled your own analysis of
genre features across different films or programs, you can then
turn to them to have them construct their own connections. |
In devising activities, webquests, or units on genres, consider
including the following: |
illustrative examples of the different components of a genre
using URL links to clips of the different components: ifilm.com
strategies for inductively defining similarities or patterns
across these different examples so that students are making valid
generalizations about genre components.
analysis of the representations of gender, class, race, age,
region, cultures, and social practices typically found in genres,
for example, how Native Americans were represented in the Western
(see module on media representations).
analysis of the problem/solution structure in terms
of the nature of the problem, who solves the problem, how the problem
is solved, and the final resolution of the problem.
awareness of how students draw on their own beliefs
and attitudes to construct the meaning of genres. You can surface
these beliefs and attitudes by having them reflect on the value
assumptions associated with the problem/solution structure. For
example, in the police/detective genre, the hero must often resort
to violence to cope with violent crime — an “eye for an
eye, tooth for a tooth” morality. Do students subscribe to
such a value assumption? What are reasons why they do or do not
subscribe to this value assumption given their beliefs and attitudes?
understanding the history and evolution of a genre, particularly
in terms of how changes in the genre reflected changes in audiences’
beliefs and attitudes across different decades.
creation of students' own abstracts of genres that one might
find in a TV guide, genre story scripts, parodies of a genre, or
a video/Imovie production. Doing this activity allows students to
demonstrate their familiarity with certain genre conventions.
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