Genre

Last Tuesday in class when Alyssa was teaching about genre's it all a new concept for me. When ever I think of genres I always usually just assume books. In elementary school we are taught the different genres of books that are labeled in the library, but I never really applied the idea of television to this world of genres. When we did the activity where we list all the genres that we could think of from TV it amazed me to see the amount. It was funny when after making this list I felt like our group nailed all the genres, but then as the other groups began to put there list up i realized that there were EVEN MORE genres! Now, when I think about or am watching a television show I begin to think about what genre the show could be apart of and realize that some shows are part of multiple genres. Beyond just beginning to recognize genres of television Alyssa also taught us that there are two different concepts of genres, which I had never heard of in books or television. The idea of recursivity and hybridity makes it even more of a challenge for us to identify what category a certain show could fall into. Now, being more aware of these different genres in my life it can help me to identify television shows that will be interesting for myself. Being considered a member of the audience for these show you would never have guessed that you are a factor of what determines these genres. I know that their are many polls and percents that express the "love" for a show, but I never knew that based on how much you like a show can help to determine the genre. I think that genres are important to the world of mass media because it helps to keep division in the media and it is easier for an audience member to become involved when they know what they like and what they are looking for.