PB1B

As we continue to explore the features and types of conventions, let us take a look at some genre generators in order to aid with understanding how conventions relate to genres, what they are, and how they differ.  We will check out four genre generators — SciGen, a program that produces “research papers”, Pandyland, a comic strip generator, Memegenerator, which (surprise) generates memes, and a Fairytale Plot Generator.

When you click the “generate” button on its homepage, SciGen produces a mock research paper that looks legitimate but does not in fact make any scientific sense. So how do we know that the outcome is a research paper? All research papers have certain features that distinguish them from, say, an essay. For example, research papers usually have an abstract section in the beginning that summarizes the contents of the paper, including the thesis, process of experiment or research, and conclusion. Research papers have subtopic sections that are not typical to other genres of written work. Subdivisions differ depending on the topic of the paper. For example, one of the papers I generated dealt with “A Visualization of DNS” and included sections for the introduction, related work, methodology, implementation and a conclusion. Other conventions that help us understand that what we are looking at is a research paper are objects like graphs and algorithms.

Although comic strips usually don’t contain a great amount of words, we still know the genre they fall into. It is easy to tell just what Pandyland generates because the conventions of comic strips are easy to pick up on and recognize. First of all, comic strips are typically divided into panels, each depicting one scene. In this case there were only three panels, but the amounts vary based on lengths of stories. Next, comic strips don’t usually feature much text — a sentence per panel is usually the norm. A humorous tone is also a recurring component of comic strips, by which they are easily identifiable. Most importantly, what makes a comic strip a comic strip is the fact it contains drawings or pictures in each panel, without which the story would not be effectively told.

Most millenials are probably familiar with memes. Memes are images with captions written on them that are widely utilized by Internet users. They usually feature a recurring “character” such as Y U No man, Bad Luck Brian, or Success Kid, which are used depending on the situation described in the captions. Very often memes have a sarcastic or passive-aggressive tinge to them. Other times they are just plain funny and relatable, and sometimes they just don’t make any sense. It is easy to recognize memes because of their distinctive features. Typically, you’d see a character centered in the photo, usually on top of a funky background. There would also be text captions on top and on the bottom of the photo that complement each other. With the absence of one of either caption, the meme would not make sense.

As the last example for genre generators, I’d like to present Fairytale Plot Generator. The fairytale plot generator produces very short stories. A feature that makes it easy for the audience to determine that the generated product is a fairytale is that fairytales commonly involve make-believe, fantasy characters that we wouldn’t encounter in real life, such as dragons. The generator also presents the convention of the fairytale timeline — protagonist has multiple tasks or trials, protagonist encounters complications along the journey or completing said tasks, and protagonist finds luck and perseverance to finish tasks. Of course, there are also other smaller details that make fairytales what they are. There may be an antagonist, attempting to hinder the main character’s efforts, or a good companion to help the protagonist. Plots vary, but the basic fairytale layout does not.

After examining the previously mentioned genre generators and the conventions that come along with them, I’ve realized that most genres follow a specific schema, which essentially makes them what they are. What happens in these websites helps people better understand genres because of the repetitive format and features.