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Genre and Narrative

Every day we watch TV programs, films, read books and we never seem to question the motives that lay behind them. There are many media texts that have meanings behind them yet we don’t think about how they became and never really understood their function. I will be looking at the work of Lacey (2000) and Long and Wall (2012) and analysing the ideas of narrative and genre.
There are many genres that exist however over time they cease to exist and of these sub-genres are created, for example instead of having a romantic film and a comedy film instead of watching one of each they are combined to become a rom-com. Long and Wall argue that genres over a time do seem to pass away however another one will appear to take its place. They then go forward to explain that genre sends the message of pleasure and expectation however it comes across as repetition.
As if in correlation Lacey mentions how the narrative and genre are ‘metalanguages’, suggesting that we generally can understand how the narrative and story are swaying just by the themes it presents. For example reading a story that starts with ‘Once upon a time’ suggests that it is going to be fairy tale, with the typical female protagonist needing help with something, a someone that doesn’t want her to succeed and a prince charming. It gets predictive.
Overall, I believe that there are many concepts that genre and narrative can exclude. But it has been brought up by Long and wall that these are subject to ‘patterns of repetition’ and according to Lacey the definition of genre is ‘patterns/forms/styles/structures which transcend individual art products’. I believe that narrative and genre is supposedly a topic that is black and white. Even though it is ever evolving it will always be the norm and how it was and will be. There is nothing more I can comment on this area of expertise because I feel as if it has become so basic and nothing seems to come along and challenge the perceptions of it.
References
Long, P and Wall, T. (2012). Organising Meaning in Media Texts: Genre and Narrative. In Media Studies: Text, Production, Context. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge. pp: 70-98
Lacey N (2000) Narrative and Genre; Key Concepts in Media Studies Oxon: Macmillan Press Ltd.

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