Thoughts on Genre
From Joyce Carol Oates' intro* to a collection of H. P. Lovecraft stories:
Readers of genre fiction, unlike readers of what we presume to call "literary fiction," assume a tacit contract between themselves and the writer: they understand that they will be manipulated, but the question is how? and when? and with what skill? and to what purpose? However plot-ridden, fantastical or absurd, populated by whatever pseudo-characters, genre fiction is always resolved, while literary fiction makes no such promises; there is no contract between reader and writer for, in theory at least, each work of literary fiction is original, and, in essence, "about" its own language; anything can happen, or, upon occasion, nothing. Genre fiction is addictive, literary fiction, unfortunately, is not.
You could substitute music, movies, or web art for fiction in the above passage. The idea of a contract between producer and consumer and the artiste who violates the contract may have universal application.
*The original link for this quote was http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/southerr/lovecraft.html but it's broken now. Thanks, USFCA!
Update: through the magic power of the Internet the Library at USFCA sent me a working link. Much appreciation to Randy Souther.