Week 1

Question: How has the academic reception of popular genres changed over time and what might the value be of studying them? 

Popular genres have consistently been rejected from the culturally accepted literary canon. Literary forms such as poetry, ‘high’ prose literature, and drama were considered the top classical genres and still hold a high status in today’s society. Genres such as science-fiction, fantasy, and comics are typically not considered as a serious work of literature. Popular genres have undergone many criticisms, some being that they often use formulaic plot structures, with an often predictable resolution to the complication at hand. Second being that characters are often criticised for being two dimensional or ‘flat’, and undergo little if any character development. Thirdly, popular genres make frequent use of visual or audio elements to bring their stories alive. Fourthly, popular genres are often recently produced due to their use of technology. Lastly, popular genres are often set in imaginary worlds, and therefore do not follow the guidelines of realism (Mountfort, 2020). However, according to writers such as Kathleen Gregory Klein “since canonical authors are generally male, conservative critics have misunderstood entire genres through their biased choices of representative texts” (Schneider-Mayerson, 2010, pp. 27–28).    

Despite these criticisms there is value in studying popular genres. Although popular genres may have a tendency to be new that gives them power. They keep updated with current issues of its time where older classics will never be able too. They often bring about and acknowledge issues whether those be around mental health, politics, or economics that are relevant to their audience. Often when one reads a classic like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë or Emma by Jane Austen which both are beautifully written books and are enjoyable in my opinion, but both are rather outdated. They are often wrought with sexism and issues that no longer pertain to present day society. Furthermore, classics often use language that is richly dense and often hard to follow unless you are a good reader. This can be really off putting for people who are either not strong readers or may have dyslexia or other issues that cause complications in reading. The use of audio or visual elements can initiate a whole new group of readers, and that in a world that is being taken over by technology can only be positive.  

If we look at the prominent issue of mental health in our society at the moment we can see that there are many comics that are being developed to help children or teenagers go through that hard adjustment period. There is this wonderful series written by Raina Telgemeier, each comic focuses on either a typical issue for example, self-consciousness around having braces, or experiencing and learning about anxiety for the first time. These comics are more inviting to children and teenagers than a non-fiction chapter book about puberty may be, and it could help them feel less isolated and afraid. 

These examples can be further continued on, not only do popular genres bring around fantasy, escapism, terror and adventure, but they encapsulate and emphasize contemporary issues and further educate their audiences in doing so.  

References

Mountfort, P. (2020). ENGL602 Popular Genres: Introduction [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/ 

Schneider-Mayerson, M. (2010). Popular fiction studies: The advantages of a new field. Studies in Popular Culture, 33(1), 21–35.