G is for Genre
<
/ˈʒɑːnrə/ or /ˈdʒɑːnrə/; from French, genre French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ʁ], “kind” or “sort”, from Latin: genus (stem gener-), Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.
from Wikipedia; also follow this Wikipedia link for a list of literary genres
Thinking Task
Watch this video of Peter Sellers and think about the features of the genre he is delivering.
How exactly has he achieved his intended effect?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLongUBPm5Y&w=420&h=315]
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Peter Sellers delivers the words of the famous Beatles song “A Hard Day’s Night” in the same manner that a Shakesperean actor would deliver the monologue from Richard III – he is not only dressed and surrounded by the props which we associate with William Shakespeare’s Richard III but his spoken style of delivery imitates the spoken features of this particular theatrical genre.
The effect is hilarious.
Is he insinuating that the manner of delivery may sometimes assign some kind of aura to the words that they might otherwise not have?
I don’t know. But what he (or his director) has created is a wonderful starter for discussions on the notion of genre.
Peter Sellers is flouting Grice’s conversational maxim of manner in the deliberate way that artists do in order to generate thought or to create a comical effect.
Imagine if the Beatles set Richard II’s monologue into music similar to a Hard Day’s night. Would we take the words as seriously then, I wonder.
Related Posts
Some Books on Discourse Analysis
Brown, G., & Yule, G., 1983, Discourse Analysis, Cambridge University Press
Cook, G, 1989, Discourse, Oxford University Press (several pages can be read on Google Books)
Johnstone, B., 2003, Discourse Analysis, Blackwell
McCarthy, M. 1991, Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press
Partridge, B., 2006, Discourse Analysis – an Introduction, Continuum International
Thornbury, S., 2005, Beyond the Sentence, Macmillan Education
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Here’s another great one, from Monty Python. It’s a bit trickier to follow, but they do a great job of poking fun at the way that certain people are ‘supposed’ to speak:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPSzPGrazPo?version=3&hl=en_US&w=420&h=315]Turned the get up and the accents upside down!! Great!
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Interesting ideas. I think the Monty Python is, as you say, a little advanced language wise for most classes. As an “opposite” take to the Peter Sellers sketch you could try using this clip from YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXbrSALG684?version=3&hl=en_US&w=560&h=315]
It has a rap version of the Wordsworth poem, Daffodils.
Thanks, very useful as well
Here is the poem by Wordsworth
Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
William Wordsworth
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