Running Head: MODERN V.

HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

Modern v. Historical Buildings

Alejandra Ortega
The University of Texas at El Paso

MODERN V. HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

Modern v. Historical Buildings

In this Genre Analysis I will be examining, and contrasting two completely opposite
genres. First, I will be analyzing a News article that talks about preserving Historical Buildings
here in El Paso, Texas by completing in-depth surveys. The second genre I will be analyzing is
an image that shows how Green Buildings will benefit the World because of the way these
Buildings are constructed. By analyzing both genres through its similarities and differences, I
will be noting the advantages and disadvantages of both genres. As I said before this analysis
will be an examination of two different genres and I will be giving my own personal opinion for
each of them separately and in contrast with one another.
Audience and Purpose
The planned audience to watch the News Article is people who follow up with what the
government does especially when it comes to decision-making towards Historical Buildings here
in El Paso. The discourse community targeted by the News Article not only want to participate in
the decisions being made when preserving a Historical Building, they also want to take action
and help to stop the demolition of the Historical Buildings in the city. People, who support the
preservation of Historical Buildings in the city of El Paso, will definitely pay close attention to
this type of genre. If the News Article is giving the opportunity to the people to acknowledge the
opportunity being offered to them and they actually take advantage of it and make a difference,
then the author has succeeded with the genre that has been created. If the genre doesnt attract
people to complete these surveys then we can say that the genre wasnt beneficial in any way.
Therefore the author failed with the purpose of creating that specific genre. In El Paso this genre
has definitely worked due to the fact that we still preserve many Historical Buildings. Being that
said we can infer that for this special time, the genre worked out for the citizens our city.

MODERN V. HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

The main purpose for the News Article genre is to inform the people about what is going
on with the Historical Buildings in our city and to let the audience take responsibility and
actually participate with what the government plans on doing with the history of our city. On the
other hand the Green Building genre will be targeting people who look forward into constructing
New Modern Buildings. People whom look forward to see the city become more Modern instead
of staying with the Historical Buildings. In contrast with the News Article genre that targets
people wanting to preserve and not demolish Historical Buildings, the Green Building genre
definitely targets opposite discourse communities. Whereas the Green Building genre wants to
convince people to build more Modern buildings due to the benefits Modern Building generate
towards our Planet. By protecting Historical Buildings, Green Building will be build up in
further areas in the city. By saying that I mean that the News Article genre will be making much
more impact to our city that the Green Building genre.
Rhetorical Issues
The Green Building genre could help spread the world about how these ecological
buildings will benefit in the future. The image only shows small details about the benefits that
will be done after the construction of a building like that, which is good but if you stop and
analyze the image you will have so many questions that will not be answered just by looking at
the image. For example, the image doesnt tell how much the building will cost, or how long will
it take to construct the Green Building. As I just mentioned, the Green Building genre only gives
small resumed details about the building throughout the image and the disadvantage about this is
that just by looking at the picture you will not know exactly how these buildings exactly work
and how beneficial they will be for the environment. The advantage is that just by looking at the
picture if the genre is directly targeting an idea that you believe in, then that means that if it

MODERN V. HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

really attracts your attention then you will do more research about the topic to a bigger extent.
On the other hand the News Article genre gives a lot of information and is very well explained
on the text. By giving out important information such as spending up to $140,000 for an indepth survey of buildings throughout downtown and Segundo Barrio (Polk, 2016) makes you
understand a little more about how much is being spent to complete this in-depth surveys. In
comparison both genres are worded very professionally. In the News Article that works perfectly
fine, on the other hand the Green Building Image is not as successful because there are some big
words being used that some people might not understand. An example will be using the big word
is Insulation which is the word that describes what helps maintain a house warm during the
winter and cold during the summer.
Structure
The structure in the News Article is well done and basic, it starts off by explaining the
main purpose of the article, which are the in-depth historical surveys. From there it says that the
historical surveys received a lot of support form citizens of El Paso, to the extent of thinking to
spend $140,000 for this in-depth surveys going on. The structure of the Green Building genre
will be much simpler compared to the News Article due to the fact that you can not fit as much
information on an image. The image has a building that is briefly labeled in different parts; in
each part there is a small description of each functions. For example theres an arrow pointing
towards the wall and it says, improving insulation. Just like I said on the last paragraph some
people dont know the meaning of big words such as insulation. As smart as it seems to type a
small description of the function being done in that part of the building, if the audience doesnt
know what that world means of course the structure is no fully working.
Style and Language

MODERN V. HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

The style in both genres is formal, which in my opinion means that both genres are very
well developed. Also by using formal language we are able to note that both authors are
confident of their work and of course they will make it look as professional as possible by using
formal language. I must admit that the formal language is not completely followed from
beginning to end in both of the genres but at least the authors try to give that sense of formalism
and that makes the genres stand out a little more.
Conclusion
The concepts of keeping a Historical Building and demolishing a Historical Buildings are
topics that most of the time will give a lot to talk about, either in a positive or negative way.
Similarly, the topic of demolishing Historical Buildings to construct Modern Buildings will be a
factor to start either a conversation or an argument. Throughout the world, there are different
people and every person has their own mind and their own way of thinking. There could be a
person that is totally against the destruction of a Historical Building to construct a completely
new and Modern Building. A person might be preserving and protecting a building because the
building might hold valuable history for the city. There are advantages and disadvantages for
both concepts, whether positive or negative.

MODERN V. HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

References
Polk, A. J. (February 8, 2016). County Commissioners Unanimously Approve Funding for
Survey of Historic Buildings Downtown. KBNA. Retrieved from
http://www.kvia.com/news/county-commissioners-unanimously-approve-funding-forsurvey-of-historic-buildings-downtown/37891656
Zafar, S. (March 4, 2015). Features of a Green Building. EcoMENA. Retrieved from
http://www.ecomena.org/salient-features-of-a-green-building/