PB1B Inspecting Genre Generators

            A genre is anything with a specific pattern to it.   In order to have a genre, that genre must have multiple conventions that apply to it and make it what it is.  When I experimented with genre generators, I learned that each image, or text generated was following a specific set of guidelines, creating all pieces of work under the same category.  I also realized that online genre generators would be a great way to explain genre to someone who doesn’t know what it is because you quickly realize that the generators are using s set of conventions to generate a new image. 

As I experimented with the comic strip genre generator, I began to notice the conventions used to generate the new images.  In all of the generated comics were pictures, and most with words. Usually the words were used in dialogue by the characters.  Another similarity was they almost all were making a joke or used sarcasm.  Whether a character said something sarcastic, or something bad happened to a character, almost all used this mechanism. They appeared to be hand drawn images and were displayed in sequence boxes, guiding you along the story.  All of these are examples of conventions used by the comic strip generator in order to generate a piece of work in the same genre.

            Looking at the meme generator, many conventions were also used in order to get a correct output.  All of the memes were pictures with captions on them.  They also all were making a joke or using sarcasm.  Another convention that applied to most generated memes was they were usually an image of a person or animal doing, or saying something stupid.  The wording on all of the memes was minimal, but to the point.  The images shown were not people looking nice or serious, but usually a goofy looking man or woman.  This list of conventions all put together makes up the genre of a meme

            The last genre generator was called SCIgen.  It was an interesting genre generator because it didn’t generate a popular genre such as a “comic strip” or “meme.” What SCIgen generated was a completely random paper report.  Although the report seemed extremely random, the genre generator was following and using a set of conventions.  Something they all had in common was they all had an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.  They also all wrote your input words under the title of the report.  Every report also had a few graphs and charts used among the text.  Lastly, another convention was it ended with a long page of references.  I was surprised to see what I thought was random gibberish actually had conventions making up an actual genre.

            As I experimented with three genre generator websites, I began to understand how this might be able to help something who doesn’t understand genre, to understand.  If someone had no idea what genre was, and you asked them to sit down and experiment with these websites, they would hopefully begin to ask what makes these “memes” or “comic strips” what they are.  By using a generator, it would be easier to explain that all the images that are generated has a list of things, called conventions, that categorize them into that genre.   Simply asking a person to list the similarities between the generated “comic strips” would allow them to think about the rules, or conventions of that genre, and they would better understand. 

           

            Genre at first seems like an easy term to understand, but when applied to writing can be misunderstood.  Every genres list of conventions makes clear what that genre really is.  The genre generators were a great way to better understand genre, and what makes it its own genre.