Note on word count.

Note: I am far more interested in the quality of your work than the quantity. I won't be counting your words!

In all, the work expectation for the whole course, blogs and fanfic is approximately  4000 words, 2000 for the blogs and 2000 for the fanfic.The fanfic will include, as apart of that 2000 wd limit, no more than 500 words of introduction or commentary on your story.

see below for dates.

Mike.

How and when to submit your work to Pop Genres 2016

a) Blogs. You may continue to catch up with your blogs until the end of week 13, Friday, October 28 no later than 4pm. Additions to blogs after 4pm can't considered. Leave your work on the blog. I will review all blogs as a part of your assessment.

b) Fanfic. The Fanfic is due at the end of week 14, Friday, November 4, 4 pm. You are to email your fanfic to me at m.johnson@xtra.co.nz. Work received after 4 pm can't be considered.

All the best, Mike.

Weeks 11 and 12: Reality TV

1)How have the documentary genres ‘Direct Cinema’ or ‘cinéma vérité influenced reality TV and the presentation of the ‘real’? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.

2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.

3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV?  Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.

Weeks 10 and 11 – Buffy.

1) Q. Wilcox and Lavery (2002) identify 9 defining characteristics of 'quality TV' - can you apply any of these to other television series that you have viewed recently? Are there any other characteristics that you could add to their list?

2) What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans play in the construction of cult TV? How is new media central to this?

3) Hills (2004) lists a number of defining characteristics of cult TV that contain similarities to the defining characteristics of pop genres (e.g. fantasy, science fiction) discussed earlier in the Pop Genres paper. Can you identify these and discuss why you think that these characteristics are repeatedly viewed as underpinning popular genres?

4) Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Cult TV Show) - How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

 

5) In what way is Buffy influenced by the romantic gothic tradition? Yet how does Buffy also provide a contemporary critique of this tradition?

How to construct a fanfic that doesn’t fall apart in five minutes.

1)      Know the world you set your story in well. It will show in the quality of your story

2)      Use a single point of view rather than jumping between characters. Your space to develop multiple points of view is too limited.

3)      A good way to being your story is with a sign or herald. This can be a dream, or a vision, or an unexpected event. A portent. It foreshadows later events.

4)      If your story has a mentor, try to break from the now cliché old man with beard image. Be imaginative with your mentor force.

5)      A good way to finish a story is to return in some way to the beginning, the starting point.

6)      Never finish a story with the words ‘She/he woke up and it was all a dream!’ That’s a serious let down!

7)      Use your short introduction to sketch in the context of your story (especially if it is a part of an imaginary longer story) and your approach to archetypal story patterns (Vogler)

Weeks 7 and 8
Science fiction - PKD

1) What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?

2) According to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of Man in the High Castle? How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novel’s protagonists?

3What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of science fiction? 

4) What does Dick(1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?