Gabrielle Sutton
ENC 3310
Introduce Your Genre
- Identify your tentative “underappreciated” genre (or subgenre)
Mid 1900’s instructional short films regarding societal expectations of youth especially pertaining to young women.
- What is interesting to you about this genre? Or, why might it be significant or otherwise worth paying attention to?
The fact that the many companies felt the need to produce instructional films to guide young people on the extremely high standard in which they are to consistently adhere to directly the shows the rigidity and uniformity pertaining to the expectations
- Tentatively, define/describe your corpus (collection of texts/examples)
My collection consists of films meant to inform its viewers of ways in which to live their lives to produce favorable outcomes within a society containing uniformed beliefs.
- 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).
- Habit Patterns (1954) McGraw Hill- Text Film (15 mins) https://youtu.be/g9QljFO1q-0
- Improve Your Personality (1951) Coronet Instructional Films (10 mins) https://youtu.be/VvFF9NlRlxQ
- Buying Food (1950) Centron Productions (11 mins) https://youtu.be/9XU9c7yLU3o
- Going Steady (1951) Coronet Instructional Films (10 mins) https://youtu.be/RRF-nB8xJLI
- How to Be Well Groomed (1949) Coronet Instructional Films https://youtu.be/QtSo0GBX_0g
EXTRA:
- Pond’s beauty tutorial (1946) Pond’s beauty https://youtu.be/jYUcCsgD80E
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 context of the material was primarily provided in the form of short films with youth showcasing proper behaviors to be taught to other youth. The films were shown in schools and youth groups. The instructional films would often over-cross with other genres such as: romance, relationships, finances, and one’s appearance. This is because the films are used to guide youth regarding a multitude of areas of difficulty they may face.
- Subject: What topics, issues, ideas, etc. are common to this genre? When people use this genre, what are they communicating about?
The films are used to cover the correct ways of handling multiple situations. There films regarding how to conduct oneself in public or social situations, in romantic situations and regarding even how to handle your finances. The makers of these films are concerned with educating youth and making them aware of the high standards they must live up to to move smoothly throughout life.
- 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?)?
The films were primarily produced by companies that were already in the business of supplying education material, as well as companies that were already marketing to children and young adults.
- 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 films was original produced with the belief that behoove any young person to have access to a collection of information that establish a habit of what was deemed appropriate or outstanding behavior within society.
- 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?
The audience is looking to find a sort of “cheat sheet” of knowledge obtaining to the best ways to conduct themselves in a various set of crucial or even mundane circumstances. It could be believed that with the heightened importance to social etiquette at the time many young people found it stressful to handle expectations placed on them as the became accustomed to the ways of adult life. The makers of these films felt the need to fill in the holes within the knowledge of social etiquette for these youth as a way to lessen the stress they face as they age and mature. These films can also serve the purpose of providing a way of directly comparing modern views on social customs and expectations with the customs and expectations of the past
I had no idea this existed. It’s honestly pretty shocking to see the rhetoric used by these companies to persuade young audiences. The shaming really does start right off the bat. I completely agree that its use of scare tactics and intimidation has a harsh downfall when it comes to the audience and their lives. I wonder how the 1950s themselves influenced this style of teaching. These instructional videos, the first one even by McGraw Hill which is massive in the modern day, seem to try to educate children in ways parents normally would. It might be worth exploring how these films affected early family dynamics as well as the individual children. Are there any modern equivalents? Or was this discontinued at some point?
I find this intriguing…especially that bit about how these films were produced by companies. Maybe I’m too depressive, but this sort of thing reeks of corporate greed. A shame, really, preying on a youth’s fears and expectations in order to sell a product…but that’s just something I took from this whole thing.