English 101
Quite often, especially in the literary world, we tend to generalize and categorize the things we read into sections or subsections, calling them genres. Genres allows us to put the pieces being read with others like it based off of how we expect this sample of literature to behave. This creates an illusion that certain pieces of literature are supposed to belong to certain families. However, literature is far too complex to belong to one genre. Rather than thinking about how the text is written, think about what is being written; think about what the text says. The idea of genres closely resemble an idea presented by James Paul Gee. Genres are not just how media is classified or its physical attributes, it is its “identity,” the way it fits, “in the world.” Using this idea, if we were to classify things centered on the piece’s identity, classification would be dependent on a text’s meaning. This means that two bits of writing may be presented in different ways, but if the meanings of both works conclude to the same point, then essentially these belong to the same classification.
Take two unlike genres, for example the Bible, specifically Noah’s Ark for the sake of the piece being analyzed, and a text message, now think about the characteristics that they share. It is quite difficult to find any similarities at all. Now what happens when you combine the two? You get something that we expect to look a certain way represented in a new and unexpected way. The odd thing is that even though they break our expectations they still share the same principal meaning.
On one hand the Bible is anticipated to share the characteristics of the narrative, gospel, parable, or law genres. Entailing that the reading contains a story with a deeper meaning than its face value. An excerpt from Genesis reads, “God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them...” Looking at the physical characteristics, one can easily point out that this is a narration where God directly converses with Noah to relay a message of grave importance.
On the other hand, we perceive instant messaging to be filled with humor, abbreviations, and especially the much loved emojis. Texting involves a high percentage of friendship maintenance, meaning a large portion of texts are sent in hopes of creating or upholding a bond (Thurlow 3.3). As true as that is, a text message is slightly more than just that. It’s a conversation between at least two people that relays some form of information. Interestingly enough, with more examination these two unlike genres actually start to overlap.
Combine the two and the product is ideally a humorous conversation between God and Noah that still contains that deeper purpose. The new text appears at first to be light hearted and a silly conversations between two friends. In actuality however, the text still portrays the serious meaning of the story of Noah’s Ark in the Bible. It doesn’t appear as serious at first glance because of the use of instant messagings language, such as emojis, abbreviations, and laughter, but when you really read and take in what the conversation is saying, it gives the reader the other more serious genre.
Instant messaging is a huge part of modern societies lives now. It is an efficient way to relay information without the extensive formal approach. It is a very casual way of conversation that makes our lives easier. It is used daily by many different people for many different purposes. Storytelling is one of the few types of text not usually associated with instant messaging. The Bible is made for storytelling and to keep a standard serious text for many generations. That is what makes this piece a remix. It mixes not only two different types of texts, but two text from very different genres used for different purposes.
A text message is not an efficient way of expressing a deep, meaningful, serious story. For the sake of a remix project, the new text is great for showing the clashing of two genres and the effect is has when you change the view on something. However, it also shows by changing the context, you can also take away from the meaning. For those who read the remixed text, they do not get a serious vibe. It is a Bible story, but the instant messaging makes it hard to take it in a serious non joking way, which is a common effect that genre remixing had.
A remix is an alteration of a certain piece of text. In many cases remixing two different genres has a big effect on how the reader portrays the new text. A song could originally be written one way, but even if you keep the same lyrics, changing the genre or beat of the music could change it completely. If you’re singing a song with dark, twisted lyrics and a creepy background song, it will come off scary and creepy. However those same lyrics with upbeat and happy background music will make it appear as a joke. Another example is Charlie in the Chocolate factory. It is originally designed as a family and kid oriented movie. However cut out bits and pieces, put in some creepy music, and a kids movie changes into a complete horror film.
The purpose of genre remixing is to change the perception of a certain text in the viewer's eyes. That is what is happening in our remix of the Bible’s story of Noah’s Ark and instant messaging. The Bible is not seen as light hearted, informal, and a laughable piece of text. However the same original story is perceived that way through the use of diction and emojis and a natural understanding of instant messaging having a certain genre to it.
Resources
Bible Gateway Passage: Genesis 5:32-10:1 – New International Version.” Bible Gateway. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Thurlow, Crispin. "Generation Txt? The Sociolinguistics of Young People's Text-messaging." DAOL: Generation Txt?:. 2003. Web. 20 Oct. 2015
Krejcir, Richard PHD. "Genres in the Bible." Into Thy Word. Into Thy Word Ministries. Web. 20 Oct. 2015
Gee, James. "LITERACY, DISCOURSE, AND LINGUISTICS: INTRODUCTION." Journal of Education 171.1 (1989): 5-17. Print.