PB1B- Thunderous Genius

While examining different types of writing, one may come across certain characteristics or conventions that are particular to a specific genre. For example, mystery novels have a character who is solving for something unknown and children’s books most likely will contain pictures. These examples are incredibly basic and conventions are not always that straight-forward. Genre generator websites are able to create a piece of work within their given genre by using the unique conventions of that genre. Although some genre generators work better than others, they are distinguishable from one another by their individual conventions and patterns that they produce.

           

The first genre generator inspected was a Computer Science Research Paper generator. The conventions within this generator were extremely obvious, as it would be quite difficult to make a generator that creates distinct research papers for anyone who can type their name into an entry field. Each paper that it generated followed the same exact format, only using different words and diagrams. The paper included a complex scientific title followed by the author’s name. The fancy title assures readers that what they are about to delve into will be of academic merit. The structure of the paper was divided into sub-sections with a clearly labeled heading which noted the topic of that section. An introduction commenced each paper, followed by sections of related work, descriptions of the design of the experiment, how the design was carried out, and an evaluation of the results found within the experiment. Different figures and graphs were also included within the paper, and were labeled “Figure 1,2,3….”. A conclusion at the end of the paper was followed by a list of references that were cited throughout. The language in the paper is academic and its tone is informative, just how a research paper should be. The structure, word choice, and conventions mentioned give the paper a professional and credible look even though the content is absolute poppycock.

Conventions stretch across all genres of writing. Just as a mystery novel and a children’s book contains certain characteristics other pieces of writing contain them as well. A comic strip generating website, pandyland.net, creates a random three picture comic strip every time the “generate” button is clicked. Each comic generated contained three colorful pictures, all with the same two characters. The comic also contained speech bubbles for every time there was dialogue between the two characters. The comics were also colored vibrantly to add a pleasing visual effect. The three boxes were interactions between the two characters or an action with just one of the characters. Each of these individual scenes were completely random, and when put together make no sense. Some contained humorous content, as most comics do, but when they were compiled with the other random scenes, the jokes seemed out of place and often times awkward. Obviously this is expected with a comic generator. The conventions of comics were visibly shown in the comic generator even though the comedic effect was absent.

Memes are another type of genre that contains visuals, like comic strips. Memes contain one picture, whether it be Spongebob or Willy Wonka, with writing embedded over the top of the picture, usually to provide humor to the audience. This new type of genre has seen an increase in popularity due to the internet and more specifically social media. Due to the accessibility of memes through social media, recurring pictures are often used with the same start to the joke, followed by different punchlines. This is done so the reader draws humor from the recognizable picture and the first line, but is then surprised by the punchline which can be changed for each scenario a meme is needed. For example, a picture of Sean Bean from Lord of the Rings is a popular meme which starts with the phrase, “One does not simply” and ends with whatever the meme creator wants to write. The beginning of the joke is almost always placed at the top of the picture while the new content is placed at the bottom of the image. All memes are supposed to be funny but recently memes have been used for informative purposes as well. For example, a Sean Bean meme could be created that says, “One does not simply forget the Oxford Comma”. Whether or not the meme is used for comedic or informative purposes, all memes contain an image, with horizontal writing at the top and bottom.

The last genre generator examined was a Wu-Tang Clan name generator. Originally popularized by Donald Glover who found his current stage name, Childish Gambino, using the generator, it is now used for enjoyment of Wu-Tang fans looking for a nickname for themselves or a friend. Although this generator only produces two words, it still contains its own specific conventions. The first word of the nickname that it produces is always an adjective followed by a noun. The adjective is usually one that is powerful, cool, or eccentric and the noun is usually positive. For example, my Wu-Tang name is Thunderous Genius and Respected Overlord was the name produced for Zack De Piero. The adjective is powerful and the noun, genius, is positive. The generator never creates a nickname like Scared Ant or Weak Unicorn, because those words do not fall under the conventions of a Wu-Tang name. This generator was successful as I was very pleased with my Thunderous Genius nickname and I will now only refer to myself as that.

Genre generators produce content that contains its genre’s conventions in plain sight. Although each genre had entirely different content, after enough random generations, conventions were easily identifiable and were put in plain sight. These websites are designed by their conventions and someone trying to better understand a certain genre can look to one of these generators for help. After a few random generations of any given genre, the viewer can quickly catch on to the formula that is behind the website, and any patterns shown can be immediately recognize them as the conventions of that given genre.