The problem of genre explosion

Malone, Evan

doi:10.1080/0020174x.2022.2131623

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…Since audience expectations evolve over time, so do the features which count toward membership in that genre. However, there it does not get us closer to addressing another worry: the problem of genre explosion (Malone, 2023). In this case, our concern is with ensuring that our view of what a genre is doesn't lead to an explosion of previously undiscovered genres.…”

Section: Genres‐as‐featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of the problem of genre explosion, this means being able to distinguish genres from mere categories of art. The difference between these two is genres are social in an important way (Malone, 2023). The reason that we are disinclined to count the mere categories of art that I described above as genres is that, when we look around at the world, we find no evidence of them shaping or affecting anyone's aesthetic practices.…”

Section: Genres‐as‐traditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 1 This classification scheme comes from (Malone, 2023) which, in turn, develops upon Terrone's distinction between genres‐as‐concepts and genres‐as‐traditions (Terrone, 2021). Malone's taxonomy further distinguishes between ‘genres‐as‐features’ and ‘genres‐as‐functional‐kinds’, which both count as ‘genres‐as‐concepts’ views on Terrone's account.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Ontology and Aesthetics of Genre

Malone

2023

Philosophy Compass

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Genres inform our appreciative practices. What it takes for a work to be a good work of comedy is different than what it takes for a work to be a good work of horror, and a failure to recognize this will lead to a failure to appreciate comedies or works of horror particularly well. Likewise, it is not uncommon to hear people say that a film or novel is a good work, but not a good work of x (where x is the genre of that work). A work can be good all things considered, but genre membership provides us with an additional set of evaluative criteria over and above those of the medium, which colors how we interpret and appreciate the work. Given this importance, it is not surprising that philosophers of art have been interested in providing an account of what, exactly, a genre is. Despite this interest, there is not widespread agreement about what it takes for something to be a genre, nor what kinds of considerations are relevant in determining whether a work is a member of that genre. Beyond this, we might also want to know to what degree we ought to consider genre in evaluating a work of art and why it should matter at all. Here, I explore the variety of recent theories that philosophers have taken up on the topic of genre and why we should ultimately think of genres as artistic practices rather than the alternatives.

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Section: Genres‐as‐featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Genres‐as‐traditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%