Genre Expectations and Viewer Reaction to Our Planet: Are Audiences Motivated to Act More Sustainably?

Authors

  • Claire Ahn Queen's University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29519

Abstract

As more people turn to documentaries to learn about environmental issues it becomes even more important to consider the ways in which genre and its representational patterns, such as the use of images, affect viewers. Re-examining the multiliteracies framework and grounded in rhetorical genre studies, this paper explores the first two episodes of Our Planet, a Netflix docu-series that catalyzed strong responses based on two jarring image sequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine how our familiar understandings of particular genres impacts our understanding of particular issues and what happens when the familiar patterns of a genre are challenged.

Author Biography

Claire Ahn, Queen's University

Claire Ahn is an Assistant Professor of Multiliteracies in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Claire’s research is broadly focused on exploring how visual information is mediated across different platforms and how this informs our understandings of issues, events and of people. Claire is also interested in how youth take up visual information and how educators can better develop students’ critical digital literacy skills. 

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Published

2021-02-22

How to Cite

Ahn, C. (2021). Genre Expectations and Viewer Reaction to Our Planet: Are Audiences Motivated to Act More Sustainably?. Language and Literacy, 23(1), 64–78. https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29519

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