(Today’s image is Dwayne Johnson dressing up as Miley Cyrus. This image is form of parody which will be explained)
This week’s topic that I am
focusing on is Genre. Van Luyn defined genre as “cultural products that can be
grouped into classes based on the similarities they hold and it can be said
that genre can both enable and restrict the meaning of the product' (2013). Other terms for genre include
category or textual type. There are also sub-genres, which are when things are
categorized further in the over arching genre; for example, the genre horror
has the sub-genre or category of slasher.
YouTube has multiple major genres such as;
Music, Pets & Animals, Gaming, Howto & Style ect; that can be accessed
on the homepage of YouTube. However, it also has sub-categories that are found
when a word is typed into the YouTube search bar, which allows every video that
either has that word in the title, or has the word tagged as apart or feature
of the video, is listed.
I am going to speak briefly on the genre (or
sub-category to some) of parodies. Parodies are found frequently and on almost
every topic of any other genre or sub-category found, on YouTube. Parodies are
“any humorous, satirical, or [ridiculous] imitation, of a person, group, event,
etc” (Dictionary.com). Parodies may be often humours, but they can also be beneficial
in some ways. Diyanni said “break
the rules in a quest to be engaging, persuasive and interesting” (2005), and in
the sense of parodies, this works almost every time.
Wiki’s ‘How to Write a Song
Parody’ suggests picking a song that is “disliked, as it will be easier to
parody.” Society has very high standards and opinions, and if society dislikes
something, it can almost be guaranteed to become a parody of some form (often
through song, but there are also sketches); for instance Carly Rae Jepson’s
‘Call Me Maybe’ as a parody has over 915,000 results, and One Direction’s ‘What
Makes You Beautiful’ as a parody has over 456,000 results. But songs are not
the only targets of parody makers; witty and quirky comments (for example
‘Ain’t nobody got time for that’) or even political issues and people aren’t
even safe.
If you want to try your hand
at writing a song parody, here is the link http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Song-Parody
Today’s image is Dwayne Johnson dressing up as Miley Cyrus.
This image is another form of parody.
References
Dictionary.com
(N/A). Parody. Retrived from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parody
Diyanni, R. (2005). ‘Introduction: reading
and writing essays.’ New York
University
Van Luyn, A.
(2013). BA1002:
Our Space: Networks, Narratives and The Making Of Place, Lecture 6: Genre.
Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Image
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi David,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post for this week as it shed light on quite a popular and sometimes controversial genre within today's society.
Genres are socially based. They are dialogues that form links in the chain of speech communication and are a set of conventional, highly, organised constraints that produce interpretation and meaning. (Van Luyn, 2013).
I believe the genre of parodies is one of the most socially based genres of them all, as without social interaction and sharing of these parodies they do not reach their desired effect.
I also agree with the way you have quoted Diyanni's (2005) reference about breaking rules in order to be engaging, etc. I also believe this is very true in regards to the making of parodies.
References:
Diyanni, R. (2005). ‘Introduction: reading and writing essays.’ New York University: Penguin Academics.
Van Luyn, A (2013) BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making Of Place, Lecture 6: Genre [PowerPoint Slide Notes]. Retrieved From: http://learnjcu.edu.au