Topic: How do different genres appeal to different kinds of people? What is your favorite genre and why does it appeal to you?
Different Personalities,
Different Genre Preferences
I intended to start writing this essay yesterday, but couldn’t resist the temptation of reading 'Cuckoo's Calling', J.K Rowling’s detective novel, and 'Sherlock Holmes', the classic crime novel. I really enjoyed the procedures of solving mysteries and the thrilling climaxes. The monstrous crimes that took place in those stories were breath-taking. Watching the detectives stumbling on crucial evidence after days of (or months of) careful research delighted me: Yes, as you might already notice, my favorite fictional genre is the crime novel. I like it so much. But, is everybody fond of crime novels just like me? Of course not! It is very unlikely that everybody likes the same fictional genre. Apparently different individuals have different genre preferences. It is common sense, everybody knows it. However, most people may not know the relationship between personality and genre preference. Why is your energetic adolescent son such a great fan of Edgar Allen Poe? What personality of yours made you read science fiction during your holiday? You may find out the answers to these questions while reading this essay. In this essay, I’m going to deal with the three most popular fictional genres (comedy, science fiction and horror) and the typical personalities of the people fond of these genres.
The first fictional genre is ‘comedy’. Psychologists found out a great deal about the relationship between fictional genre preference and personality after conducting various experiments for decades. Especially, the findings about the personalities of comedy film (or comic book/novel) lovers are truly remarkable. Comedy is the fictional genre full of fun and excitement. Also their plots are generally unpredictable most of the time. So it may be quite natural that comedy lovers are more open minded and fun loving than others. And this means: when you suggest a new and creative project to your boss who is a great fan of comedy films, he or she is more likely to accept your proposal than your boss who loves to watch romantic dramas (romantic story lovers are known to be a little bit conventional).
Then what about the science fiction mania? Science fiction is, as you may all know, stories about the implication of actual, imagined, or potential scientific technology. Tons of impossible and surprising things take place in the stories: humans are able to talk with their pets, robots and humanoids demonstrate and riot against human beings, mars becomes the battlefield of aliens and humans, and so on. Science fiction lovers generally want to run away from reality by having amazing experiences indirectly. Whenever their everyday lives become boring and stressful, reading science fiction gives a new energy. They tend to read books or watch movies to pass time, relax, and motivate themselves.
Finally, the horror story lovers: the people who love to read books and watch films that can frighten them (and sometimes even disgust them). Their personality slightly resembles the personality of science fiction lovers: they want to escape from the boring daily grind with the help of fictional stories. They feel excitement and thrill by indirectly experiencing impossible and dreadful events. Horror story lovers enjoy taking risks and experiencing thrilling adventures. Then, does it mean that they are outgoing? Well, there is an on-going debate on this problem. Many research and experiments proved that horror story lovers are outgoing and energetic. But some latest researches found out that horror story lovers are less extroverted and somewhat gloomy. So we can’t be sure about this point to this day. Maybe we can wait a few more years for a more apparent result.
So now you know about the relationship between personality and fictional genre preference, and the only thing left for you to do is applying that knowledge to your own life. Psychological researches and findings are worthwhile only when we use them. Maybe you can find a perfect novel for your parents who are so tired from hard and boring work these days. Maybe you can assume your new classmates’ personality by asking them their favorite fictional genres. The chances to use this knowledge are certainly infinite!
References
Raymond H. Hamden, M. Christine Badsilio, Elena Andriotis and Naila El-Abiary, Movie Genre Preference Personality Inventory (Dubai: The Foundation for International Human Relations, 2012)
“List of Literary Genres” Wikipedia (English), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_genres
