Prayers in Schools Essay

My name is Ericka Jaid Laurett heil. I have long brown hair and I have blue eyes and I am 5’6. My interests are drawing, playing Xbox, babysitting, watching family guy, and sleeping. My expectations for myself are to pass high school not failing any classes. I was close to failing my expectation because I failed math. But I took credit recovery and got the credit! I wish to be a pediatrician because I love kids and helping them and making them happy. Activities that I enjoy are volleyball, basketball and I used to play soccer but my knees and ankles are bad. My mom’s name is Janda-lynn laurett heil, my dad’s name is Adam Jack Heil, my older sister’s name is Devon Brooke Heil, and my younger sister’s name is Emily Mable Clara Heil. I am the middle child of the family. My family grew up around Bobbi and Tom pitkanen. I called them auntie and uncle all the time. We used to go camping every year at a little campsite we made on an island down the Dryden highway. I actually thought that we were related but recently I found out they are just a close family friend. Also, my best friend’s grandmother lives beside me and I talk to her about everything! Sometimes I just go there and talk to her, and sometimes she comes by my house and chats for a bit. My best friend’s grandmother knows more about me than my mother. Well I have a very strong relationship with my dad’s mom. My mom’s mom left and turned against my family because of something personal that happened in the past. My grandma heil has always been there for my mom and me and my sisters and my dad and even our family friends! She has great advice and is such a nice woman. A couple years ago she was on the phone with my uncle and she had a brain aneurism and collapsed while she was on the phone. She got shipped to Winnipeg and had surgery†¦ Everyone in my family was so upset. She is probably the only grandparent or person in my mom and dad’s side of the family that was actually there for our family and helped us through rough times. She is my bestfriend. My relationship with my sisters is okay at times. I love my sisters but they both bother me. My little sister gets me so mad you don’t even know. I beat her up all the time and when I say beat†¦ I actually mean beat. : P I can kinda tap her with my shoulder and I’m being dead honest she screams and runs to my mom or dad. Its like she’s scared of me or something. My older sister always waits till I leave the house and she steals all my clothes and says there hers. She’s lucky she has a child, I would never beat her up in front of her baby. She is my only sister that I actually trust and can tell stuff to. I was always there for her when she needed help when we were younger, so I trust her with a lot. They are important to me because they are family. If anyone were to hurt them I would honestly beat the person up. I have done that for my little sister already. I don’t like her friends and they know not to do that kind of stuff to my family. My family has helped me with my volleyball sport choice. They have paid for all my volleyball travels and my shirt’s and all that fun stuff. They were the ones that told me about the viper’s volleyball team in grade 8. I tried out and made both cuts so I was on the team! We travelled to Kenora and to a town outside of Winnipeg. I was with a lot of my friends and it was so much fun. We competed in tournaments again kids nowhere near here. I have been told I am great at playing volleyball and that I should try out for the volleyball team. I wanted to but I never had the good grades and the perfect attendance for that. They helped me to become the person I am today. To be strong and stick up for what I believe. That’s why I’m such a smart mouth. I get it from my daddy. Well before I came into high school my family and a close family friend’s family would go to a campsite thing that we made on an island down the Dryden highway. We would stay there and camp for at least a week. Other then that I don’t really know any other things that my family does together. I don’t socialize with my family and if I do it’s Devon or it’s because I want something. I don’t really ever leave my bedroom unless I have to go to the washroom, I’m hungry, I have to do the dishes, I’m babysitting, or I leave the house. Well in my future family I’m going to continue to go camping every year and I don’t really know what else to do. I kind of keep to myself in my house so I don’t really know what my family does that I could continue in my future family. That is all I have to say about my family and my life really. I love my family and my friends and I don’t know what I would do without them.

An Introduction to Genre Theory Essay

An Introduction to Genre Theory Daniel Chandler 1. The problem of definition A number of perennial doubts plague genre theory. Are genres really ‘out there’ in the world, or are they merely the constructions of analysts? Is there a finite taxonomy of genres or are they in principle infinite? Are genres timeless Platonic essences or ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culturebound or transcultural?†¦ Should genre analysis be descriptive or proscriptive? (Stam 2000, 14) The word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for ‘kind’ or ‘class’. The term is  widely used in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory, and more recently linguistics, to refer to a distinctive type of ‘text’*. Robert Allen notes that ‘for most of its 2,000 years, genre study has been primarily nominological and typological in function. That is to say, it has taken as its principal task the division of the world of literature into types and the naming of those types – much as the botanist divides the realm of flora into varieties of plants’ (Allen 1989, 44). As will be seen, however, the analogy with biological classification into genus and species misleadingly suggests a ‘scientific’ process. Since classical times literary works have been classified as belonging to general types which were variously defined. In literature the broadest division is between poetry, prose and drama, within which there are further divisions, such as tragedy and comedy within the category of drama. Shakespeare referred satirically to classifications such as ‘tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comicalhistorical-pastoral†¦ ‘ (Hamlet II ii). In The Anatomy of Criticism the formalist literary theorist Northrop Frye (1957) presented certain universal genres and modes  as the key to organizing the entire literary corpus. Contemporary media genres tend to relate more to specific forms than to the universals of tragedy and comedy. Nowadays, films are routinely classified (e. g. in television listings magazines) as ‘thrillers’, ‘westerns’ and so on – genres with which every adult in modern society is familiar. So too with television genres such as ‘game shows’ and ‘sitcoms’. Whilst we have names for countless genres in many media, some theorists have argued that there are also many genres (and sub-genres) for which we have no names (Fowler 1989, 216; Wales 1989, 206). Carolyn Miller  suggests that ‘the number of genres in any society†¦ depends on the complexity and diversity of society’ (Miller 1984, in Freedman & Medway 1994a, 36). The classification and hierarchical taxonomy of genres is not a neutral and ‘objective’ procedure. There are no undisputed ‘maps’ of the system of genres within any medium (though literature may perhaps lay some claim to a loose consensus). Furthermore, there is often considerable theoretical disagreement about the definition of specific genres. ‘A genre is ultimately an abstract conception rather than something that exists empirically in the world,’  notes Jane Feuer (1992, 144). One theorist’s genre may be another’s sub-genre or even super-genre (and indeed what is technique, style, mode, formula or thematic grouping to one may be treated as a genre by another). Themes, at least, seem inadequate as a basis for defining genres since, as David Bordwell notes, ‘any theme may appear in any genre’ (Bordwell 1989, 147). He asks: ‘Are animation and documentary films genres or modes? Is the filmed play or comedy performance a genre? If tragedy and comedy are genres, perhaps then domestic tragedy or slapstick is a formula’. In  passing, he offers a useful inventory of categories used in film criticism, many of which have been accorded the status of genres by various commentators: Grouping by period or country (American films of the 1930s), by director or star or producer or writer or studio, by technical process (Cinemascope films), by cycle (the ‘fallen women’ films), by series (the 007 movies), by style (German Expressionism), by structure (narrative), by ideology (Reaganite cinema), by venue (‘drive-in movies’), by purpose (home movies), by audience (‘teenpix’), by subject or theme (family film, paranoid-politics movies). (Bordwell 1989, 148) Another film theorist, Robert Stam, also refers to common ways of categorizing films: While some genres are based on story content (the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are performer-based (the Astaire-Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), locat[ion] (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema). (Stam 2000, 14). Bordwell concludes that ‘one could†¦ argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can  mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find An Introduction to Genre Theory acceptable’ (Bordwell 1989, 147). Practitioners and the general public make use of their own genre labels (de facto genres) quite apart from those of academic theorists. We might therefore ask ourselves ‘Whose genre is it anyway? ‘ Still further problems with definitional approaches will become apparent in due course. Defining genres may not initially seem particularly problematic but it should already be apparent that it is a theoretical minefield. Robert Stam identifies four key problems with generic labels (in relation to film): extension (the breadth or narrowness of labels); normativism (having preconceived ideas of criteria for genre membership); monolithic definitions (as if an item belonged to only one genre); biologism (a kind of essentialism in which genres are seen as evolving through a standardized life cycle) (Stam 2000, 128129). Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which  are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them. Alternative characterizations will be discussed in due course. The attempt to define particular genres in terms of necessary and sufficient textual properties is sometimes seen as theoretically attractive but it poses many difficulties. For instance, in the case of films, some seem to be aligned with one genre in content and another genre in form. The film theorist Robert Stam argues that ‘subject matter is the weakest criterion for generic grouping because it fails to take into account how the subject is treated’ (Stam 2000, 14). Outlining a fundamental problem of  genre identification in relation to films, Andrew Tudor notes the ’empiricist dilemma’: To take a genre such as the ‘western’, analyze it, and list its principal characteristics, is to beg the question that we must first isolate the body of films which are ‘westerns’. But they can only be isolated on the basis of the ‘principal characteristics’ which can only be discovered from the films themselves after they have been isolated. (Cited in Gledhill 1985, 59) It is seldom hard to find texts which are exceptions to any given definition of a particular genre. There are no ‘rigid rules of inclusion and exclusion’ (Gledhill 1985, 60). ‘Genres†¦ are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items’ (ibid. , 64). It is difficult to make clear-cut distinctions between one genre and another: genres overlap, and there are ‘mixed genres’ (such as comedy-thrillers). 2 Specific genres tend to be easy to recognize intuitively but difficult (if not impossible) to define. Particular features which are characteristic of a genre are not normally unique to it; it is their relative prominence, combination and functions which are distinctive (Neale 1980, 22-3). It is easy to underplay the differences within a genre. Steve Neale declares  that ‘genres are instances of repetition and difference’ (Neale 1980, 48). He adds that ‘difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre’ (ibid. , 50): mere repetition would not attract an audience. Tzvetan Todorov argued that ‘any instance of a genre will be necessarily different’ (cited in Gledhill 1985, 60). John Hartley notes that ‘the addition of just one film to the Western genre†¦ changes that genre as a whole – even though the Western in question may display few of the recognized conventions, styles or subject matters traditionally associated with its genre’ (O’Sullivan et al. 1994). The issue of difference also  highlights the fact that some genres are ‘looser’ more open-ended in their conventions or more permeable in their boundaries – than others. Texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre. John Hartley notes that ‘the same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times’ (O’Sullivan et al. 1994, 129). Hybrid genres abound (at least outside theoretical frameworks). Van Leeuwen suggests that the multiple purposes of journalism often lead to generically heterogeneous texts (cited in Fairclough 1995, 88). Norman Fairclough suggests that mixed-genre texts are far from uncommon in the mass media (Fairclough 1995, 89). Some media may encourage more generic diversity: Nicholas Abercrombie notes that since ‘television comes at the audience as a flow of programmes, all with different generic conventions, means that it is more difficult to sustain the purity of the genre in the viewing experience’ (Abercrombie 1996, 45; his emphasis). Furthermore, in any medium the generic classification of certain texts may be uncertain or subject to dispute. Contemporary theorists tend to describe genres in terms of ‘family resemblances’ among texts (a notion derived from the philosopher Wittgenstein) rather than definitionally (Swales 1990, 49). An individual text within a genre rarely if ever has all of the characteristic features of the genre (Fowler 1989, 215). The family resemblance approaches involves the theorist illustrating similarities between some of the texts within a genre. However, the family resemblance approach has been criticized on the basis that ‘no choice of a text for illustrative purposes is innocent’ (David Lodge, cited in Swales 1990, 50), and that such theories can make any text seem to resemble any other one (Swales 1990, 51). In addition to the definitional and family resemblance approach, there is  An Introduction to Genre Theory another approach to describing genres which is based on the psycholinguistic concept of prototypicality. According to this approach, some texts would be widely regarded as being more typical members of a genre than others. According to this approach certain features would ‘identify the extent to which an exemplar is prototypical of a particular genre’ (Swales 1990, 52). Genres can therefore be seen as ‘fuzzy’ categories which cannot be defined by necessary and sufficient conditions. How we define a genre depends on our purposes;  the adequacy of our definition in terms of social science at least must surely be related to the light that the exploration sheds on the phenomenon. For instance (and this is a key concern of mine), if we are studying the way in which genre frames the reader’s interpretation of a text then we would do well to focus on how readers identify genres rather than on theoretical distinctions. Defining genres may be problematic, but even if theorists were to abandon the concept, in everyday life people would continue to categorize texts. John Swales does note that ‘a discourse community’s nomenclature for genres is an  important source of insight’ (Swales 1990, 54), though like many academic theorists he later adds that such genre names ‘typically need further validation’ (ibid. , 58). Some genre names would be likely to be more widely-used than others: it would be interesting to investigate the areas of popular consensus and dissensus in relation to the everyday labeling of mass media genres. For Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress, ‘genres only exist in so far as a social group declares and enforces the rules that constitute them’ (Hodge & Kress 1988, 7), though it is debatable to  what extent most of us would be able to formulate explicit ‘rules’ for the textual genres we use routinely: much of our genre knowledge is likely to be tacit. In relation to film, Andrew Tudor argued that genre is ‘what we collectively believe it to be’ (though this begs the question about who ‘we’ are). Robert Allen comments wryly that ‘Tudor even hints that in order to establish what audiences expect a western to be like we might have to ask them’ (Allen 1989, 47). Swales also alludes to people having ‘repertoires of genres’ (Swales 1990, 58), which I would argue would also be likely to repay  investigation. However, as David Buckingham notes, ‘there has hardly been any empirical research on the ways in which real audiences might understand genre, or use this understanding in making sense of specific texts’ (Buckingham 1993, 137). Steve Neale stresses that ‘genres are not systems: they are processes of systematization’ (Neale 1980, 51; my emphasis; cf. Neale 1995, 463). Traditionally, genres (particularly literary genres) tended to be regarded 3 as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasizes that both their forms and functions are dynamic. David Buckingham argues that ‘genre is not†¦ simply â€Å"given† by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change’ (Buckingham 1993, 137). Nicholas Abercrombie suggests that ‘the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable’ (Abercrombie 1996, 45); Abercrombie is concerned with modern television, which he suggests seems to be engaged in ‘a steady dismantling of genre’ (ibid. ) which can be attributed in part to economic pressures to pursue new audiences. One may acknowledge the dynamic fluidity of genres without positing the final demise of genre as an interpretive framework. As the generic corpus ceaselessly expands, genres (and the relationships between them) change over time; the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are ‘discontinued’ (though note that certain genres seem particularly long-lasting). Tzvetan Todorov argued that ‘a new genre is always the transformation of one or several old genres’ (cited in Swales 1990, 36). Each new work within a genre has the potential to influence changes within the genre or perhaps the emergence of new sub-genres (which may later blossom into fully-fledged genres). However, such a perspective tends to highlight the role of authorial experimentation in changing genres and their conventions, whereas it is important to recognize not only the social nature of text production but especially the role of economic and technological factors as well as changing audience preferences. The interaction between genres and media can be seen as one of the forces which contributes to changing genres. Some genres are more powerful than others: they differ in the status which is attributed to them by those who produce texts within them and by their audiences. As Tony Thwaites et al. put it, ‘in the interaction and conflicts among genres we can see the connections between textuality and power’ (Thwaites et al. 1994, 104). The key genres in institutions which are ‘primary definers’ (such as news reports in the mass media) help to establish the frameworks within which issues are defined. But genre hierarchies also shift over time, with individual genres constantly gaining and losing different groups of users and relative status. Idealist theoretical approaches to genre which seek to categorize ‘ideal types’ in terms of essential textual characteristics are ahistorical. As a result of  their dynamic nature as processes, Neale argues that definitions of genre ‘are always historically relative, and therefore historically specific’ (Neale 1995, 464). Similarly, Boris Tomashevsky insists that ‘no firm logical classification of genres is possible. Their de- An Introduction to Genre Theory marcation is always historical, that is to say, it is correct only for a specific moment of history’ (cited in Bordwell 1989, 147). Some genres are defined only retrospectively, being unrecognized as such by the original producers and audiences. Genres need to be studied as historical phenomena; a popular focus in  film studies, for instance, has been the evolution of conventions within a genre. Current genres go through phases or cycles of popularity (such as the cycle of disaster films in the 1970s), sometimes becoming ‘dormant’ for a period rather than disappearing. On-going genres and their conventions themselves change over time. Reviewing ‘evolutionary change’ in some popular film genres, Andrew Tudor concludes that it has three main characteristics: First, in that innovations are added to an existent corpus rather than replacing redundant elements, it is cumulative. Second, in that  these innovations must be basically consistent with what is already present, it is ‘conservative’. Third, in that these processes lead to the crystallization of specialist sub-genres, it involves differentiation. (Tudor 1974, 225-6) Tudor himself is cautious about adopting the biological analogy of evolution, with its implication that only those genres which are well-adapted to their functions survive. Christine Gledhill also notes the danger of essentialism in selecting definitive ‘classic’ examples towards which earlier examples ‘evolve’ and after which others ‘decline’ (Gledhill 1985, 59). The cycles and transformations of genres can nevertheless be seen as a response to political, social and economic conditions. Referring to film, Andrew Tudor notes that ‘a genre†¦ defines a moral and social world’ (Tudor 1974, 180). Indeed, a genre in any medium can be seen as embodying certain values and ideological assumptions. Again in the context of the cinema Susan Hayward argues that genre conventions change ‘according to the ideological climate of the time’, contrasting John Wayne westerns with Clint Eastwood as the problematic hero or anti-hero (Hayward 1996, 50). Leo Baudry (cited in Hayward 1996, 162) sees film genres as a barometer of the social and cultural concerns of cinema audiences; Robert Lichter et al. (1991) illustrate how televisual genres reflect the values of the programme-makers. Some commentators see mass media genres from a particular era as reflecting values which were dominant at the time. Ira Konigsberg, for instance, suggests that texts within genres embody the moral values of a culture (Konigsberg 1987, 144-5). And John Fiske asserts that generic conventions ’embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular’ 4 (Fiske 1987, 110). However, Steve Neale stresses that genres may also help to shape such values (Neale 1980, 16). Thwaites et al. see the relationship as reciprocal: ‘a genre develops according to social conditions; transformations in genre and texts can influence and reinforce social conditions’ (Thwaites et al. 1994, 100). Some Marxist commentators see genre as an instrument of social control which reproduces the dominant ideology. Within this perspective, the genre ‘positions’ the audience in order to naturalize the ideologies which are embedded in the text (Feuer 1992, 145). Bernadette Casey comments that ‘recently, structuralists and feminist theorists, among others, have focused on the way in which generically defined structures may operate to construct particular ideologies and values, and to encourage reassuring and conservative interpretations of a given text’ (Casey 193, 312). However, reader-oriented commentators have stressed that people are capable of ‘reading against the grain’. Thomas and Vivian Sobchack note that in the past popular film-makers, ‘intent on telling a story’, were not always aware of ‘the covert psychological and social†¦Ã‚  subtext’ of their own films, but add that modern film-makers and their audiences are now ‘more keenly aware of the myth-making accomplished by film genres’ (Sobchack & Sobchack 1980, 245). Genre can reflect a function which in relation to television Horace Newcombe and Paul Hirsch referred to as a ‘cultural forum’, in which industry and audience negotiate shared beliefs and values, helping to maintain the social order and assisting it in adapting to change (Feuer 1992, 145). Certainly, genres are far from being ideologically neutral. Sonia Livingstone argues, indeed, that ‘different genres are concerned to establish different world views’ (Livingstone 1990, 155). Related to the ideological dimension of genres is one modern redefinition in terms of purposes. In relation to writing, Carolyn Miller argues that ‘a rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centered not on the substance or form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish’ (Carolyn Miller 1984, in Freedman & Medway 1994a, 24). Following this lead, John Swales declares that ‘the principal criterial feature that turns a collection of communicative  events into a genre is some shared set of communicative purposes’ (Swales 1990, 46). In relation to the mass media it can be fruitful to consider in relation to genre the purposes not only of the producers of texts but also of those who interpret them (which need not be assumed always to match). A consensus about the primary purposes of some genres (such as news bulletins) – and of their readers – is probably easier to establish than in relation to others (such as westerns), where the very term ‘purpose’ sounds too in- An Introduction to Genre Theory strumental. However, ‘uses and gratifications’ researchers have already conducted investigations into the various functions that the mass media seem to serve for people, and ethnographic studies have offered fruitful insights into this dimension. Miller argues that both in writing and reading within genres we learn purposes appropriate to the genre; in relation to the mass media it could be argued that particular genres develop, frame and legitimate particular concerns, questions and pleasures. Related redefinitions of genre focus more broadly on the relationship between the makers and audiences  of texts (a rhetorical dimension). To varying extents, the formal features of genres establish the relationship between producers and interpreters. Indeed, in relation to mass media texts Andrew Tolson redefines genre as ‘a category which mediates between industry and audience’ (Tolson 1996, 92). Note that such approaches undermine the definition of genres as purely textual types, which excludes any reference even to intended audiences. A basic model underlying contemporary media theory is a triangular relationship between the text, its producers and its interpreters. From the perspective of many recent commentators, genres first and foremost provide frameworks within which texts are produced and interpreted. Semiotically, a genre can be seen as a shared code between the producers and interpreters of texts included within it. Alastair Fowler goes so far as to suggest that ‘communication is impossible without the agreed codes of genre’ (Fowler 1989, 216). Within genres, texts embody authorial attempts to ‘position’ readers using particular ‘modes of address’. Gunther Kress observes that: Every genre positions those who participate in  a text of that kind: as interviewer or interviewee, as listener or storyteller, as a reader or a writer, as a person interested in political matters, as someone to be instructed or as someone who instructs; each of these positionings implies different possibilities for response and for action. Each written text provides a ‘reading position’ for readers, a position constructed by the writer for the ‘ideal reader’ of the text. (Kress 1988, 107) Thus, embedded within texts are assumptions about the ‘ideal reader’, including their attitudes towards the subject matter and often their class, age, gender and ethnicity. Gunther Kress defines a genre as ‘a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes’ (Kress 1988, 183). An interpretative emphasis on genre as opposed 5 to individual texts can help to remind us of the social nature of the production and interpretation of texts. In relation to film, many modern commentators refer to the commercial and industrial significance of genres. Denis McQuail argues that: The genre may be considered as a practical  device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication. (McQuail 1987, 200) Steve Neale observes that ‘genres†¦ exist within the context of a set of economic relations and practices’, though he adds that ‘genres are not the product of economic factors as such. The conditions provided by the capitalist economy account neither for the existence of the particular genres that have hitherto been produced, nor for the existence of the conventions that constitute them’ (Neale 1980, 51-2). Economic factors may account for the perpetuation of a profitable genre. Nicholas Abercrombie notes that ‘television producers set out to exploit genre conventions†¦ It†¦ makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale’ (Abercrombie 1996, 43). He adds that ‘genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre’ (ibid. ). Genres can be seen as ‘a means of controlling demand’ (Neale 1980, 55). The relative stability of genres enables producers to predict audience expectations. Christine Gledhill notes that ‘differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to†¦ This made it easier to standardize and stabilise production’ (Gledhill 1985, 58). In relation to the mass media, genre is part of the process of targeting different market sectors. Traditionally, literary and film critics in particular have regarded ‘generic’ texts (by which they mean ‘formulaic’ texts) as inferior to those which they contend are produced outside a generic framework. Indeed, film theorists frequently refer to popular films as ‘genre films’ in contrast to ‘non-formula films’. Elitist critics reject the ‘generic fiction’ of the mass media because they are commercial products of popular culture rather than ‘high art’. Many harbor the Romantic ideology of the primacy of authorial ‘originality’ and ‘vision’, emphasizing individual style  and artistic ‘self-expression’. In this tradition the An Introduction to Genre Theory artist (in any medium) is seen as breaking the mould of convention. For the Italian aesthetician Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), an artistic work was always unique and there could be no artistic genres. More recently, some literary and film theorists have accorded more importance to genre, counteracting the ideology of authorial primacy (or ‘auteurism’, as it is known in relation to the emphasis on the director in film). Contemporary theorists tend to emphasize the importance of the semiotic notion of intertextuality: of seeing individual texts in relation to others. Katie Wales notes that ‘genre is†¦ an intertextual concept’ (Wales 1989, 259). John Hartley suggests that ‘we need to understand genre as a property of the relations between texts’ (O’Sullivan et al. 1994, 128). And as Tony Thwaites et al. put it, ‘each text is influenced by the generic rules in the way it is put together; the generic rules are reinforced by each text’ (Thwaites et al. 1994, 100). Roland Barthes (1975) argued that it is in relation to other texts within a genre rather than in relation to lived experience that we make sense of certain  events within a text. There are analogies here with schema theory in psychology, which proposes that we have mental ‘scripts’ which help us to interpret 6 familiar events in everyday life. John Fiske offers this striking example: A representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation to all the others we have seen – after all, we are unlikely to have experienced one in reality, and if we did, we would, according to this model, make sense of it by turning it into another text, which we would also understand intertextually, in terms of what we have seen so often on our screens. There is then a cultural knowledge of the concept ‘car chase’ that any one text is a prospectus for, and that it used by the viewer to decode it, and by the producer to encode it. (Fiske 1987, 115) In contrast to those of a traditionalist literary bent who tend to present ‘artistic’ texts as nongeneric, it could be argued that it is impossible to produce texts which bear no relationship whatsoever to established genres. Indeed, Jacques Derrida proposed that ‘a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without†¦ a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genre-less text’  (Derrida 1981, 61). Note *In these notes, words such as text, reader and writer are sometimes used as general terms relating to ‘texts’ (and so on) in whatever medium is being discussed: no privileging of the written word (graphocentrism) is intended. Whilst it is hard to find an alternative for the word texts, terms such as makers and interpreters are sometimes used here as terms non-specific to particular media instead of the terms writers and readers. 2. Working within genres John Hartley argues that ‘genres are agents of ideological closure – they limit the meaning-potential  of a given text’ (O’Sullivan et al. 1994, 128). Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress define genres as ‘typical forms of texts which link kinds of producer, consumer, topic, medium, manner and occasion’, adding that they ‘control the behavior of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers’ (Hodge & Kress 1988, 7). Genres can be seen as constituting a kind of tacit contract between authors and readers. From the traditional Romantic perspective, genres are seen as constraining and inhibiting authorial creativity. However, contemporary theorists, even  within literary studies, typically reject this view (e. g. Fowler 1982: 31). Gledhill notes that one perspective on this issue is that some of those who write within a genre work in creative ‘tension’ with the conventions, attempting a personal inflection of them (Gledhill 1985: 63). From the point of view of the producers of texts within a genre, an advantage of genres is that they can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about works within a genre. Fowler comments that ‘the system of generic expectations amounts to a code, by the use of which  (or by departure from which) composition becomes more economical’ (Fowler 1989: 215). Genres can thus be seen as a kind of shorthand serving to increase the ‘efficiency’ of communication. They may even function as a means of preventing a text from dissolving into ‘individualism and incomprehensibility’ (Gledhill 1985: 63). And whilst writing within a genre involves making use of certain ‘given’ conventions, every work within a genre also involves the invention of some new elements. An Introduction to Genre Theory As for reading within genres, some argue that knowledge of genre conventions leads to passive  consumption of generic texts; others argue that making sense of texts within genres is an active process of constructing meaning (Knight 1994). Genre provides an important frame of reference which helps readers to identify, select and interpret texts. Indeed, in relation to advertisements, Varda Langholz Leymore argues that the sense which viewers make of any single text depends on how it relates to the genre as a whole (Langholz Leymore 1975, ix). Key psychological functions of genre are likely to include those shared by categorization generally – such as reducing complexity.

What Activities and Hobbies Do You Pursue Outside of Work?

Outside of work, I participate in a variety of activities and hobbies. These activities provide me with the opportunity to learn, take on challenges, and have fun. In addition, I believe my hobbies allow for relaxation and inner growth.I enjoy learning new information through reading, surfing the Internet, watching television, and shopping. From the breaking news in Iraq to the latest gift catalog from World Vision, the Internet has become one of my major resources to get updates on the world. My most recent interest is in learning HTML code to enhance my newly created web page on Aloha Tower Marketplace with flash and graphics.Shopping is another activity that I frequently do outside of work. To most people, shopping is a routine and necessary activity that involves going to the supermarket for dinner, buying a new sweater at Macy’s for the upcoming winter, or picking up the latest Harry Potter book in Barnes & Noble for a nephew’s birthday.To me, however, shopping is a pleasurable activity, as well as a chance to observe market trends. To a marketer for a shopping mall, understanding the competition is very important.I also like to watch stage shows or go to the movies on the weekends. My favorite stage show is â€Å"Once Upon One Time,† a musical written in Pidgin by a local playwright, Lisa Matsumoto. It is a fusion of many famous tales of Hawaiian culture and life.From various shows, I have learned to appreciate the incredible art of theater and recognize the efforts in place to protect Hawaiian culture. I prefer stage shows to movie productions because the stage leaves more to the imagination and the audience can interpret the themes.Along with indoor activities, I like to spend time outdoors when my schedule allows. I regularly challenge my fear of heights by hiking to the peaks of mountains to enjoy the fresh air and terrific scenery. Whether choosing a hobby or a job, my goal is always self-improvement, the same as my goals in life .

Brief Analsysis of Obama’s Change Campaign

After the nation endured an unsettling two terms with President George W. Bush, it’s people were left with a bitter taste, so to speak. As a nation, we yearned for new discourse and needed â€Å"change†. Change was to be the underlying foundation for the 2008 Presidential Election campaigns, which created quite a nation-wide stir as a record number of voters made it to the polls. This was the very beginning of a nation-wide political change, which is evidently more than just empty propaganda, but is evident now through current new reforms. In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to redefine our nation’s political character through an effective campaign based on the philosophy of â€Å"change we can believe in† using the slogan â€Å"yes we can†. Obama hoped for a new attitude in politics, education, health care, and foreign policy among numerous other issues. A promise to cut taxes for 95% of working American families with an annual income less than $250,000 along with significant tax breaks to companies that invest in the United States were some of the aspects of his campaign. In addition, this rally for change promised to create 2 million new jobs to renovate the country’s infrastructure and 5 million new energy jobs. Obama’s campaign emphasized withdrawing troops from Iraq to end the war, increasing energy independence (New Energy Plan for America) and decreasing the influence of lobbyists and how business is conducted on Capital Hill. This new â€Å"national political character† would work to ensure that business conducted on Capital Hill between Congress was to have the best interest of the American people in mind as opposed to personal political agendas. These plans for change created a buzz among the American people. The newly configured 112th Congress, the current meeting of our nation’s legislative branch concedes that all these issues are top national priorities as well and have been quite responsive in effective ways to address the issues with the President. Though this is the first Congress in which the House and Senate have opposing majorities since the 107th Congress (2001-2003), implementing change through these agendas seems quite viable. This is evident through the new Health Care Reform that was recently implemented and depicts and shows this political hype of â€Å"change† to be an obvious buzzword, but to also have substance and depth with Obama’s current term. With the composition of the House of Representatives favoring Republicans (242 Republicans to 193 Democrats) and the new Senate Democratic leadership (51 Democrats, 47 Republicans, and 2 Independents) one may worry that legislative actions on Capital Hill could face potential â€Å"deadlock†, especially since the House has the largest number of Republican members since the 80th Congress of 1947-1949. But having a Democratic President and a primarily Republican Congress means that compromises most likely will have to be met in order to pass bills and legislations, and effectively and efficiently implement this â€Å"change we can believe in† and show the nation, â€Å"yes we can. †

An Overview of Selective Amino acid Based NLO Crystals

An Overview of Selective Amino acid Based NLO Crystals Piperidine ring is one of the most recognizable structural entities among heterocyclic molecules [24]. Piperidine has a six-membered ring similar to cyclohexane with one methylene (CH2) replaced by secondary amino (NH) group. In 1853, Cahours, discovered the alkaloid piperine 1, which occurs in black pepper. Piperidine which was first isolated from piperine 1, inhibits human P-glycoprotein and CYP3A4. Thousands of piperidine compounds have been cited in clinical and preclinical studies. The synthesis of piperidine is easy, economic and less time consuming. The parent molecule is flexible in nature and hence various derivatives can be easily prepared by altering its substituent. In recent years, research efforts have been made in exploring novel organic materials for their potential use in a variety of devices. The materials which could produce green/blue laser light and could withstand high energy light radiation are of vital importance for their uses in devices. The basic understanding of organic nonlinear optical materials has been well established and extensive studies have been motivated by their wide range of potential applications. Optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) induced by an acoustical field was observed in several composites, both in bulk as well as in large sized nano crystallite samples. The effect is generally explained by a non-centrosymmetric spatial charge density distribution of photo carrier excitation under an external acoustical field due to the electrostriction (photo acoustical) effects. An organic molecule should possess large second-order hyperpolarizability to exhibit good non-linear optical properties. ОІ can be enha nced by increasing the intermolecular charge transfer interaction and by extending the size of conjugated system. The piperidine derivatives are well known for their outstanding green light transmittance much better than those observed in inorganic crystals and show conspicuous inclination to crystallize as non-centrosymmetric materials. The structural flexibility of organic compounds is an asset for materials with optimized second order NLO susceptibility, fast response and tailor-made flexibility. An innumerable of organic crystals are synthesized and grown as a part of this. One of the noticeable requirements for nonlinear crystal is that it should have excellent optical quality. For a device to flourish, it is vital that it should meet a number of criteria such as optical nonlinearity, chemical and thermal stability for life time system capability. Organic NLO materials are attracting a great deal of attention for possible use in optical devices because of their large optical nonlinearity, low cut-off wavelengths, fast response time and high thresholds for laser power. Most of the organic molecules show large nonlinear optical response, with the electron-donor and electron-acceptor groups located at the extreme of a system involving correlated and high delocalized П-electron states. A nonzero SHG behavior is present in centrosymmetric crystals if chiral molecules and circularly polarized light are used. It has been recognized that the two-photon optical properties of materials should be affected by the donor acceptor strength, the molecular structure, the conjugation length and the intermolecular charge transfer etc. The D-A conjugated oligomers usually have two types of molecular structures, such as asymmetrical D-A type and symmetrical D-A-D or A-D-A type. The optical properties of these oligomers can be easily tuned by the introduction of different donor or acceptor moieties. Apart from structural flexibility, which allows fine-tuning of chemical structures for the desired NLO properties, the organic materials are of great technological interest due to their low cost, ease of fabrication, handy integration into devices, low dielectric constant, high electro-optic coefficient value, and resistance to laser damages. Polar organic crystals, which form non-centrosymmetric crystal structures, are attracting much interest due to their potentially high nonlinearities and a rapid response in electro-optic effects that often surpass those on inorganic nonlinear optical materials.

Post War US Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Post War US Policy - Essay Example The historical and political reasons for the Soviet strategy and the American Policy and the cold war played important role, influencing the whole world. Even though the relationship between United States and Soviet Union are observed in the perspective of post World War II experiences and in relation with Stalin’s expansionist policies, there are other influential factors. Soviet tried to develop Soviet Bloc of satellites in Eastern Europe and took major steps to influence the major portion of the world. Historical Evidences: Tocqeville(1966), made an observation of the relationship between these two giant nations over a century and a half past. He interprets that they were bound to play influential role in the world history. John Gaddis(1978) finds out the routes of American- Soviet relations back to two hundred years, the time of American Revolution. From that time till World war I, almost for a century, both these nations maintained cordial relationships and kept ideology separated from diplomacy. The American action of purchasing Alaska, made a major change in the cordiality between American-Russian relationship and resulted into gradual deterioration over the period of time. The activities of Soviet during World War II, including the attack on Finland, following Hitler’s attack on Soviet had given rise to new dimension to American-Soviet relations which further turned into a Cold war.

The other main cause of Global Warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The other main cause of Global Warming - Essay Example The term global warming and its effects on the earth’s surface are not new, especially in a world where the impact is devastating. In fact, Global warming has greatest threat to worldwide economic and social systems. Global warming can be termed as the increase of the Earth’s average surface temperature due to effect of green house gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels (Haldar 1). Global warming has in effect taken the center stage in the scientists struggle to reverse the endangering effects of climate change and replenish the environment. Agriculture, mining, manufacturing activities among others are the most listed alternative causes of global warming when carbon dioxide is exempted. Other causes of global warming that have been given central attention in efforts to save our environment include among others natural causes. Natural causes are created and affected by nature without human’s contribution. One of the most known natural causes of global warming is the spontaneous release of methane gas in wetlands and tundra forests, mainly found in the Arctic region. Global warming becomes a serious and complex issue because the surface of the earth does not cool primarily by means of radiation but rather cools by evaporation and convention. This is contributed by the changing of temperature. With the increasing atmospheric temperature, the rate of evaporation is also escalating leading to increase in the volume of water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere.... Trees and vegetation has a natural process of photosynthesis which absorb carbon dioxide. Worst still is that the effect off deforestation is felt in two dimensions. One is where the trees are cut down thus unable to trap carbon dioxide and the other is that the same trees are used as a source of energy which also contributes to carbon emission. Global warming becomes a serious and complex issue because the surface of the earth does not cool primarily by means of radiation but rather cools by evaporation and convention. This is contributed by the changing of temperature. With the increasing atmospheric temperature, the rate of evaporation is also escalating leading to increase in the volume of water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere. As described by Maslin, increased water vapor in the atmosphere has effects of compacting to form a natural blanket that finally traps and hinders terrestrial radiation from escaping from the earth’s atmosphere (12). Due to increase in global temperatures, the precipitation patterns change causing alteration of natural processes and the arrangement and function of the ecological unit. This significantly contributes to global warming. In addition, increased use of inorganic fertilizers such as nitrogenous fertilizers has largely contributed to global warming (Maslin 10). Nitrogenous fertilizers are reacting in the soil and produce nitrogen oxide and nitric acid, which are catalysts to the process of global warming. Fertilizers and carbon dioxide are two major items to improve crop yield, so control global warming will influence the crop yield more or less. The increasingly populace around the world has