Introduce Your Genre
- Identify your tentative “underappreciated” genre (or subgenre)
… An underappreciated genre that I find interesting to explore is Comment Sections. (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, ect;)
- What is interesting to you about this genre? Or, why might it be significant or otherwise worth paying attention to?
… I find this genre to be fascinating because of the wide variety of responses everyday people post in reply to a viral video or tweet. From the many internet “trolls” that comment something vile that I might wince at to a person commenting something extremely clever and funny that can so often get me to laugh. One never knows what a comment section may hold when going into it, but that unpredictability can capture my attention for several minutes at a time.
- Tentatively, define/describe your corpus (collection of texts/examples)
…Comment Sections are the responses to popular or unpopular tweets, Youtube videos, and more. Twitter’s comment section is typically called a “thread” or “replies” but its comment section the same thing as all this other media. Although there are many places to pull comments from, they are all essentially the same depending on the response to the original post.
- Provide links (and/or titles) of five samples. (Try to gather samples from more than one “place” [or type] in order to obtain a diverse and accurate representation of the genre. For now, choose samples without significant deviations).
… Example 1 https://youtu.be/i7lA4OSbvZM The comment section here makes a very uncomfortable video featuring Kevin Spacey funny due to witty ways the commenters poke fun at Spacey in many creative ways. Example 2 https://youtu.be/KWcmZ8hozvU This video’s comment section showcases some of the most vile comments, it is filled with hate and arguing. Comment sections like this are like looking under a band aid, it’s going to be gross but it’s so tempting to look. Example 3 https://twitter.com/kelllicopter/status/1089329823518883841 Occasionally a tweet will go viral due to the tweeter challenging the commenters, or repliers, to do something out of the norm leading to some pretty funny replies like in this tweet here. An interactive approach to the comment section. Example 4 https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1089369476305317889 Comment sections filled with loyal fans, like in this case, are typically just packed with various ways of praising tweeter in some fashion. Some may like looking through this type, but I don’t typically get into this necessarily. Example 5 https://youtu.be/BmErRm-vApI another YouTube comment section, but this time it provides the feedback of many commenters who, while listening to this sad song, are in a somber state. This type of comment section is rare to find where many are trying to be uplifting or fragile creating a sense of harmony between each commenter.
Describe the Context
- Setting: Where (in what context or medium) does the genre appear? How and when is it used? With what other genres does this genre interact? How?
… This genre specifically takes place on the internet, mostly on social media platforms. It is accessed pretty much via phone computer, tablet, ect;. Comment sections interact with a countless number of genres that exist on the internet.
- Subject: What topics, issues, ideas, etc. are common to this genre? When people use this genre, what are they communicating about?
… The two most prevalent uses in this genre would be politics and sports, these two have probably the most active commenters around. Usually, especially when it comes to politics, it is a platform where they can express their opinion about the tweet or video in which they are commenting under. Also, a fair number of commenters are trying to compete to give the most clever response so that maybe they can have their few moments of recognition.
- Writers: Who writes the texts in this genre? Are multiple writers possible? What roles do they perform? What characteristics must writers of this genre possess? Under what circumstances do writers write the genre (e.g., in teams, on a computer, in a rush, for their profession? for fun?)?
… Anybody who has an account in one of these media platforms can participate in this genre, they are essentially the peanut gallery who can sometimes come up with a comment that can outshine the post they are responding to. Usually to excel at being a commenter one must either have a great argument style or be witty or as hell. Writers of this use computers, phones, tablets, ect;
- Readers: Who reads the texts in this genre? Is there more than one type of reader for this genre? What roles do they perform? What characteristics must readers of this genre possess? Under what circumstances do readers read the genre (e.g., at their leisure, on the run, in waiting rooms)?
…People scrolling through the internet in various fashions are the readers for this genre, and the readers have a wide range of reasons in why they want to venture forth into the comment section. Readers are there for either support, to like or respond to the comment with praise. Or the reader despises a certain comment and answers back with a counter argument of some sort. Readers must be prepared for potentially graphic material thick skin is required, so the ability to not be offended or grossed. An open mind would also be a very helpful characteristic to possess in a comment section, there will be many opinions thrown at you. A reader must not let anger overcome them leading to a reply that could result in an online fight starting, usually resulting in being made fun of by the other commenters. Readers chose what time works best for them to explore a comment section. Personally, when I am trying to pass time laughing at people I’ll journey in a comment section of some sort.
- Exigency/Purpose(s): Why do writers write this genre, and why do readers read it? What purposes does the genre fulfill for the people who use it?
…Normally commenters write to express their taste or distaste of a post or a comment underneath the post that they have just come across, but sometimes commenters strive for the funniest response. Readers typically read comments because they want to expand on their entertainment that the post provided for them, or they want to see the post that they hated be justified by some people who share their thoughts. Curiosity is also a big factor in why people look at comments, especially when a person sees a controversial post that shows that there is a big number of comments below it.
Instagram comments and social media comment sections in general is very interesting. From the troll, and to the know it all, those commenters are rather interesting and as you said it adds further entertainment to the post.
The world of social media comments is a dangerous one! At the same time that these comments are encouraging they can also destroy a person’s self-confidence. Some people use these comments sections as a platform for cyber bullying. Like you said, it’s like looking under a band-aid, gross but tempting. Sometimes I find myself spending minutes reading through people’s comments. It would be interesting to analyze what makes people want to comment/participate by adding comments. When topics are super interesting or polemic, I like to look at the comments just to be nosy, to see how people feel about a certain thing. I don’t ever really comment though, in order to avoid conflict– which seems to be just what people comment for, to be confrontational.
Comment sections are a way for people to express their opinions, concerns, and often empty condolences under someone’s social media posts. Not to mention that most comment sections are filled with emojis that pose as reactions to the video instead of written feedback. It’s definitely a place that people feel entitled and obligated to criticize others, and with that, it can be dangerous for someone who doesn’t have thick skin to post on social media and leave their comment sections open to the public.
Comment sections as a genre can be very entertaining, and I think you could even say there are sub-genres within it like breaking it down to different social media platforms then going further and dividing comments into ones that are in support or against something, maybe those that fit into cyber bullying, or comments that are on beauty posts, rant posts, motivational posts. Anyways, I think there are many different things you can categorize under comment sections when looking at it overall.