McGarry 1

Sarah McGarry
Professor Wilson
Writing 2
3 June 2016
Revised WP1
Think about the countless number of episodes you click through during a binge watching
session; now sit back and think about what it was that convinced you to make that selection.
Online streaming providers and review websites have millions of users on a daily basis, and yet
has anyone really taken the time to analyze these genres? In order for any show to actually be
watched, the appropriate research and reading needs to be done. This knowledge can be found by
comparing the two genres of online streaming providers such as Netflix and online review
websites like rottentomatoes.com. Netflix is a company that has proved to be an amazing
distractor, but individuals are blind to the conventions that online streaming providers use to
entice their members. Online streaming providers and review websites are genres that have
strong impacts on the choices that people have when they are trying to decide whether or not to
watch a particular title.
The rhetorical purpose of online streaming websites is to attract more customers to add to
their already millions of members through their carefully thought out conventions. Laura Carroll
explains in her article Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis how
emotional appeals are used to persuade viewers into agreeing with what the author wants. This
genre uses clear, colorful and emotional images to attract the viewer into clicking an advertised
show. On Netflix, the show Friends is depicted with six attractive characters and is paired with
an alluring description, Love, laughter and the best friends you could ask for. Just like real life.

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But with really nice apartments (Netflix). Carroll warns readers to understand rhetoric so that
they will not become mindless consumers who buy into arguments (Carroll 78). These writers
use rhetoric to accomplish their goal of creating a description that is relatable and interesting
enough to convince every viewer to watch something that they did not think to click on before.
Online streaming providers is a genre in of itself, because there is nothing that it can be
compared to and it does an amazing job of taking into account audience expectations. Kerry Dirk
in his article Navigating Genres, explains how the creation of a new genre is based off the
previous responses that individuals make on a situation. One of Netflixs conventions is that it
gives you an option to sort shows or movies by the highest ratings. If an individual were to click
this option, an ordered list of every show would come up and it is expected that the first couple
of titles are the best that Netflix has to offer. The viewer is automatically going to have greater
expectations for the higher ranked shows when compared to the ones that are lower in the list.
Audiences go to websites such as Netflix to be entertained and they expect to have their time
invested into a show or movie that is enjoyable.
Unlike the genre of online streaming websites, it is the purpose of online review websites
to please the readers immediate question of whether or not they should actually invest their time
into watching something. The article How to Read Like a Writer by Mike Bunn, explains how
an opinion column is used to convince readers of something, so the evidence that is used should
have value. A website like rottentomatoes.com has a purpose under real educated entertainment
critics to convince readers that they are writing the truth and that they want the reader to use their
comments to make an assessment on a show that is similar to their own. The critics who
reviewed the show The Office rated it a 90% and left reviews saying how funny and heartfelt

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it is (rottentomatoes.com). Individuals will then trust this critics judgment and will consequently
make the decision to watch this title, because they are convinced that it is worth their time.
Rottentomatoes.com is held to certain audience expectations that reflect the conventions
that online review websites adopt. The genre also uses images, but it does so in a far different
manner that is more concerned with giving a title a grade like appearance. One image is made up
of a tomatometer which rates the healthiness of a tomato to explain to the desired audience
how good a certain movie or show is based on the rating of a professional critic. Another
convention includes an audience score depicted by a full red popcorn bucket which signifies
positive ratings that can be compared to an empty green popcorn bucket that infers how awful a
show is. The impact of this convention is especially used when the audience is between the
choice of two shows or movies. The show Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders received an empty
green bucket with only an audience score of 33%, whereas CSI: NY received a full red bucket
with an 86% rating (rottentomatoes.com). On this information alone, which title are you more
likely to spend your time watching? The context that the information is presented in proves
Carrolls point of how online review websites can meet audience expectations by answering any
doubts that one may have concerning a show or movie.
A genre is a form of expression that has an overall purpose of meeting audience
expectations so they can achieve what they are looking for. A key concept that Dirk used was that
a writer is not responsible for creating a genre, it is actually done at the hand of the audience.
Whether it be reading between show descriptions or using online reviews, an individual is
making a choice. Online streaming providers and review websites have their own agendas and
purpose when it comes to their audiences, but they both use conventions to persuade their readers
into making decisions.

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Works Cited
Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like a Writer." Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing. By
Charles Lowe. Vol. 2. N.p.: Parlor Press, 2010. N. pag. Print.
Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical
Analysis." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. By Charles Lowe. Vol. 1.
N.p.: Parlor Press, 2010. N. pag. Print.
"Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders." Rotten Tomatoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/criminal-minds-beyond-borders/s01/>.
"CSI: NY." Rotten Tomatoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/csi-ny?search=csi%20ny>.
Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. By
Charles Lowe. Vol. 1. N.p.: Parlor Press, 2010. N. pag. Print.
"Friends." Netflix. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Jun. 2016.
<https://www.netflix.com/search/friends?jbv=70153404&jbp=0&jbr=0>.
"The Office." Netflix. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
<https://www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=70136120&jbp=1&jbr=1>.