blog post no. 5

The beginning of chapter one in the Bedford Book of Genres focuses on a question: “What is genre, anyway?” It describes genre as a type of identifier and a way to categorize different works, whether it be music, literature, or movies (all of which are genres themselves, despite being so broad).

In ENC 2135, we learn that genres and texts are not quite so black and white as we have been taught they are. Genres expand much farther than the typical comedy and rock n’ roll, and texts can be much more than times new roman on a stiff piece of paper. This is still a very new concept to me, one that is a bit difficult to completely wrap my head around. However, the BBG elaborates a bit, stating that “genres are flexible” (page 5). People use genre and texts to their advantage, like posting social criticism in the form of a photograph on social media, which not only gives visual aid to a point, but also reaches a broad audience. The genre was social criticism, and the text was the photograph. They’re a bit unconventional, at least in my eyes, but they do the same job as the typical genre and text, which really does not make them that different at all.

It is important to recognize genre not only for what it is, but for what is can be, so that we as readers and writers may use it to understand and be understood.