Feb 032019
Mallory Guillaume
January 28, 2019
ENC 3310 W/F 2PM
Underappreciated Genre Heuristics #1
Introduce Your Genre
- Identify your tentative “underappreciated” genre (or subgenre).
- Astrological Horoscopes (Zodiac Signs)
- What is interesting to you about this genre? Or, why might it be significant or otherwise worth paying attention to?
- This genre is interesting to me because the moment a person is born, there is a set determined astrological chart representing a sign pertaining to that person, their personalities and traits.
- Tentatively, define/describe your corpus (collection of texts/examples).
- Astrological Horoscopes is said to shape their personality, affect their romantic relationships and predict their economic fortunes, among other divinations.
- 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).
- https://www.horoscope.com/zodiac-signs
- https://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-new-age-of-astrology/550034/
- https://www.astrology-online.com/about.htm
- https://www.tarot.com/astrology
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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? The Astrological Horoscope appears in everyday settings that could take place anywhere, that how accessible we are when it comes to obtaining our horoscopes. Generally people like to set astrological horoscopes into outer-space (galaxy). There are various ways and special techniques where astrological horoscopes can be used. This particular genre could interact with lifestyle blogs, etc.
- Subject: What topics, issues, ideas, etc. are common to this genre? When people use this genre, what are they communicating about? The ideas that are common with this genre includes personality traits, compatibility, predictions, relatable lifestyle choices. When most people use this genre they are mostly communication their own personal lifestyle/ traits, their compatibility with other zodiac signs and other predictions.
- 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?) Before it was scientist and astrologers who studied these astrological charts but now everyone can do this with a click of a button, thanks to the internet. The can be multiple writers, they perform the role of a predictor or psychic. The characteristics these writer possess are knowledge of these multiple zodiac signs and their everyday lifestyle choices. Many of these writers write for fun because it brings them joy to see other people enjoying their content and being familiar with their personal sign.
- 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)? The general public usually reads the text of this genre. There can be readers who only come for personality traits, compatibility, or daily horoscopes, there can be more than one type of reader in this genre. They perform the role of the audience who state if these aspects are relatable or not. The readers just have to be themselves and true to who they are to fully understand this type of genre. Many readers read for fun, to get answers, or to make better lifestyle choices depending on the alignment of the stars and their horoscopes.
5. 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? People are generally curious and want to know the future, that’s why many of these writers try and display a sense of a personal psychic reader who can predict the readers future and personality just by the knowledge of their zodiac sign. Everybody has a birthday, meaning everyone can join and read if they’re ever curious.
I think this is an interesting underappreciated genre because I always wondered how horoscopes even came about. Maybe you could talk deeper about the type of people who actually pay attention to horoscopes and what that says about them. Or even look into people who decide they are going to date a person based on their zodiac sign or horoscope.
I find this topic super interesting because a lot of people looking at their horoscope don’t fully understand how a horoscope is determined. You could further talk about the difference between sun signs, moon signs, rising sign, etc. A lot of people just think that their sun sign is the only thing that is determined when they are born, but in actuality zodiac signs are a lot more complex than that.
I have never fully understood astrological signs and horoscopes and all of that. I can’t say I don’t believe in it because I don’t necessarily understand how astrology works and how it can predict things about you. I think this will be super interesting to look into and I look forward to your future posts about the topic!
i wouldn’t consider myself a religious guy cause it sounds kind of bogus in many aspects, but one thing i feel is consistently pretty accurate about not only myself but those that i meet are horoscopes. There is definitely a certain type of person that reads and really gets into the horoscope. Are these horoscopes truly describing us or is it all broad descriptions that could account for anyones personality traits ? How do these daily horoscope get written? what data is used to make them in the first place?
When a couple is uncertain about their future, they may choose to believe in the horoscope. I originally didn’t believe in the horoscope until I saw more and more articles on character analysis. I found these articles to be very accurate, so I was very curious about the horoscope. Later, I knew that in addition to dividing the constellation according to your date of birth, you can also identify the rising constellation and the moon constellation based on birth time. These predictions made me admire the astrology of the ancients, but I have never been able to find a scientific basis. So I am very happy to see an article about the horoscope.