Andrew Kim

6/4/15
Zack De Piero
Writing 2
Genre Transformers
Genre is an important tool and concept in writing. Genre is the categorization of a
specific piece-ranging from something as miniscule as a Tweet to as large as a doctorate paperthat evaluates and states the characteristics of that piece. Understanding genre allows writers to
mend their ideas and analysis to appropriate situations. For a horror novel, writers will include
certain themes that are associated with that specific genre. Typically the novel will have a
murderer or monster that wreaks havoc on society. Writers will also include multiple characters
who will be killed and typically have one or two survivors. All these themes mentioned are
conventions. Conventions are the characteristics or the parts of a genre. As a result when one
changes genre, one must take into considerations of the conventions the new genre has and adapt
the old piece into something familiar yet different at the same time. Losh and Alexander explain
in their piece, Writing Identities, that writing means always changing----Changing to meet the
needs of different audiences (Losh/Alexander 114)! In order to transform an academic piece
into a comic book and side-effect label, one must take into consideration of the audience and
from that commit the omission and editing of content and word choice
Violent Video Gaming and Moral Reasoning in Adolescents: Is There an Association?
is an article about the correlation between teen violence/behavior and video games. The author,
Mirjana Bajovic, argues that there is a correlation between the two and that those who play video
games are, more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior and may experience violent tendencies in

their attitudes and values in real life. In this text, the author is writing a scholarly research paper
and as a result followed certain conventions synonymous with a respected academic piece.
Bajovic utilizes the research of multiple surveys that exemplify her belief. She includes surveys
and studies done by multiple experts and cites them. She has to cite her paper and uses these
sources to make her paper more credible and less refutable. By having other experts and studies
that prove a trend, Bajovics claims and analysis seem logical and sound. Bajovic also uses a
more appropriate word choice and jargon. Instead of using kids, Bajovic uses terms like
children and adolescents as well as use sociological terms like sociomoral reflection.
From this academic paper about the correlation of video games and increased teen
violence, I transformed the research paper into a comic book and medicine label. For my comic
book, I desired to create a story where Harry, the main character, changes from a nice child to a
violent person because he constantly played video games. And to overcome his new
predicament, Harry had to rely on his mothers love to come to a realization that video games
must be cut off his life and that there are more important things in life than video games. With
my new genre, I wanted to create a moral answer that explicitly stated the ill effects of video
games. For the medicine label, I strived to create a realistic label that blatantly stated the
detriments that are associated with video games.
Transforming this academic piece into a comic book involved the omission and addition
of words and content as well as framing the individual slide. Typically, a comic books audience
is a youthful generation, usually young boys, that enjoys action. For the comic book, the steps
involved in creating the text were numerous. One thing, compared to the academic text, the
comic book has less space for information. McCloud in his comic, Writing with Pictures, states
that choice of frame is choosing the right distance and angle to view those moment (McCloud

10). As a result, I had to omit a lot of content from the article to fit the comic. For the research
article there were numerous occasion when Bajovic used research and surveys to convey her
message that video games are a cause for increased teen aggression. However for a comic book,
the inclusion of all those surveys would have been impossible and not appropriate for the
situation at hand. Also to add suspense and emotion, I zoomed into the picture to show
significant or key information that the reader needed to heed. Also because a comic book has a
story behind it with characters and plot to intrigue the younger audience, I had to add
information not originally given in the text. I included characters such as Harry, the main
protagonist and antagonist of my story, as well as others. I also included a plot that followed the
typical hero template. Initially hero struggles with stated problem, but eventually overcomes it.
In my comic, the hero, Harry, struggles with the evil Harry, who was born from continued
playing of violent video game, and must defeat his inner self to find peace. This template of evil
vs. good and a successful ending are all trademarks or conventions of a children comic book. In
my transformation, I was trying to create an interesting and entertaining story where the readers
will enjoy the plot, yet at the same time learn a valuable message.
In creating the medicine label for the older generation, I had to mostly omit content and
keep the information to its bare minimum to an even higher extent than the comic book. For
medicine labels, the information is succinct and to the point. Its made so that the reader can
understand the content fairly well and not be overcome by the content. The purpose of the
medicine label was to inform the older generation, typically the elderly, of the ill effects of
playing video games in a medical sense. Usually it is the elderly who take the time in reading the
labels and all the side effects and results of the medicine. On the label, I included the side effects,
which were: increased anger, increased aggression, sociomoral change, etc. I also kept the

structure and form similar to an actual label because the structure is just as an important move in
creating a proper genre. Also to make my medicine label accurate in a genre sense, I included
recommended prescription for certain age groups such as, Adults and Children over the
age of 12: Play two to three hours every 6-8 hours of the day and told the
intended effects of video games. However, I omitted a lot of information that would make the
academic paper lose all credence. I removed all the surveys, data, and experiments that made the
argument credible and convincing in the scholarly paper. I removed all this information because
it did not fit the genre of a medicine label, it did not fit in the limited space, and it was not
necessary because all a medicine label needs is the bare facts and effects. Losh and Alexander
explain in their comic that one always need to think about the audience [one is] trying to reach
in my rhetorical situation (Losh/Alexander 129). And so I kept my mind on the audience and
kept the information succinct and expected. The only information I put on the label was the
prescription, effects, and side effects.
In order to keep the comic appropriate to its genre, I used simplistic language that kids
would understand. For the scholarly article, Bajovic picked words and jargon that were more
suited for an academic piece. She included words like, sociomoral maturity and bivariate.
Bajovic included words that scholars of her respective field would understand because that is her
audience. However for my comic, the audience does not have the same level of education and
knowledge as the highly educated. Thus I have to use specific words and jargon that the readers
would understand. I included words like noob to make it more relatable to the reader. And I
made the language fairly simplistic so that my readers can understand the story and potentially
the moral message.

Compared to the academic paper, I used appropriate jargon for the medicine label that
one would find in most medicine. Like the younger audience for the comic book, the older
audience, typically the elderly, do not have the extensive knowledge that Bajovic expects from
her readers. So in my medicine label, I did not use language or words that most people would not
know. However, I did include specific jargon that a medicine label would have like anesthesia,
which is the medical term for reducing consciousness and pain.
In the end, the ultimate goal of my paper was to express the overall idea and message that
video games have an adverse effect on the mental psyche and moral. In Bajovics article, she
strived to inform the reader of the correlation of video games and teen violence as well as the
lack of relations. In the article, Bajovic talks about how distant parents and teachers are to the
youth, which could have a possible effect in causing the increase in violence. Through the comic,
Harry, a video game addict, becomes a monster due to his obsession to video games and must
overcome his addiction to free himself. He frees himself by realizing the importance of his loved
ones and by cutting off his addiction. Through the medicine label, I included all the negative side
effects that typically follow from the abuse of video games. With that I was able to allow the
older generation and younger generation to understand how video games affect the body
significantly through the translated genres.

Bibliography
Bajovic, Mirjana. "Violent Video Gaming and Moral ReasoningIn Adolescents:
Is There an Association." EBSCO Host. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2015.
<http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=55a615acb206-4440-9c8e-6e0ca988eb85%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=128>.

Losh, Elizabeth, and Jonathan Alexander. "Writing Identities." N.p.: n.p., n.d.
114+. Print.

McCloud, Scott. "Writing With Pictures." N.p.: n.p., n.d. 10. Print.
1.