PB1B

            Knowledge of genres and their conventions is deeply engrained in our minds. Even when we are not specifically thinking about a genre’s conventions, our subconscious minds are likely recognizing them. Playing around with genre generator websites shows how much a genre’s conventions can mess with our heads.

            One hilarious example of the power of conventions is the SCIgen paper generator. All you do is put in the names of the “authors” and this website gives you a decent sized paper. Now do not get too excited because the paper is basically filled with a bunch of nonsense. By seemingly following the conventions of an academic paper, this website has the ability to fool readers into believing that complete nonsense is a scholarly paper. One of the conventions that the paper generator uses is big words. Using big words serves to make it truly seem academic and also confuse the reader so thoroughly that they become convinced the paper is simply above their level of comprehension. Another convention that this website abuses is figures and graphs that look really important and scientific. The graphs are conveniently blurred to the point where you are unable to quite make out what they represent. These graphs also serve the purpose of making the paper look more realistic, factual, and intelligent. Another sneaky convention that the generated papers follow is a somewhat lengthy bibliography of references at the end. A typical academic paper that the generator is trying to emulate would include a bibliography so the generator knows they must have one in order to be convincing. This generator shows that simply following conventions can make something appear real even when it makes no sense at all.

            Another interesting generator is the comic strip generator on pandyland.net. This generator uses the same tactics as the SCIgen generator but it follows the conventions of comic strips instead of academic papers. The comics that it generates have two male characters and each strip has three pictures. One convention this generator commonly uses is cuss words. Comic strips often use cuss words for humor and this generator certainly takes advantage of that. The cuss words are able to make the situation in the comics appear to be funny even if it ends up being a bunch of random profanities slapped together. Another convention the comic generator uses is sexual situations. The comics often times depict sexual situations between the characters or the characters saying crude sexual things to each other. For example, Finlay very abruptly and randomly said “I am fully erect” to Simon in one of the generated comics. The generator likely does this because, let’s be honest, for some reason sex is funny to most of us. Conflict between the characters is another convention that is prevalent. The characters are often times depicted as angry with each other. In one scenario that the website generated, one character actually stabbed the other. Yet another sad but true thing about human nature is that we find conflict downright hilarious. This generator also plays with conventions by slapping random elements of what we expect from comic strips together with no rhyme or reason whatsoever.

            The last generator we played around with was a meme generator. A very common convention that the meme generator used was images of famous people or references to famous people. This convention is popular with memes because it creates humor that a large amount of people can recognize. The memes generated also often portrayed situations that a lot of people are able to relate with. For example, one meme said “Has online assignments--- Weak wifi signal” with a picture of a highly irritated young woman. Probably the most prevalent convention of all was the political jokes and references. No matter what picture is attached, we all love a good dig at Donald Trump.

            Thinking about what these websites do can help us understand the power that a genre’s conventions have over our perception. By following conventions, SCIgen was able to make us believe that a paper filled with nonsensical academic words was a highly complex and scholarly paper. Likewise, the comic strip generator could put three completely random and unrelated images next to each other and make us laugh because we felt like we were supposed to be laughing. The meme generator could put a picture of a happy puffin and a witty saying together and we would not stop to question the relevance of the puffin. Conventions are so powerful that even when something is not normal at all we can believe it to be solely because the conventions of the genre are being followed.