Notes

Textual analysis

The Representing Text
Representation is linked and shaped by: 

1. Technological (fragmented audience, can now watch programmes at whatever times audience wants thanks to new technology, might not appeal to all)
2. Economic (TV is expensive to create, has to be in line with predicted sales)
3. Cultural (relates to tastes, identity and interests that are shaped by the culture we inhabit)
4. Regulation (People have legal means to respond to representations that they consider harmful or inaccurate)

Textual analysis allows us to analyse details in the scenes (micro, e.g. camera angles and movement, lighting, character styling...). This then allows you to see the representations being created in the scene.

Have to think about how viewers will interpret the scene

Representation

Everything, even real life TV is constructed through TV, re-representation

Some objects have become representations of things, and carries cultural meaning, for examples, some men wear ties to seem more formal/professional

Metaphor

Gauntlett (2007) did research using Lego in that he asked people to make metaphorical models of their identity, he didn't expect them to make models that actually resemble what they are representing. through this he could get a better sense of how people see themselves

Verisimilitude

Verisimilitude is the construction of a realistic world. 

May have its own knowledge with little similarity to our world (Doctor who) or share logic with our world and attempt to show reality (Coronation Street)

To explore representations think about, what realism is being attempted? Who/who isn't being represented? Any stereotypical characters? Dominant view of the world? what different responses could viewers have to representations?

Representational Codes

The drama depends on the juxtaposition. 

Without the audiences complicity in understand the contrast the text is meaningless

With 'codes' in place, viewers can have a variety of responses

Representation in Crisis

As it is now more accessible for people to put videos on the Internet, representations of people in the media is changing because of the representations people give of themselves

Television Dramas

British TV still attracts huge viewing audiences and many of the shows are watched as one off peak time broadcasts but British TV drama is no longer as big as it was

Background to TV Drama

Understanding of how serious fictional television engages its viewers by representing real world events is expected

Sub-genres such as teen drams, soap operas, costume dramas, medical/hospital dramas, etc. have different conventions, typical scheduling patters, target audiences and expectations

Teen Dramas

Broad sub-culture, but do not set out to appeal to such a broad audience

Generally a balance between social issues concerning target audience (alcohol and drug abuse, sexuality...) and creating and attractive representational range of recognisable character types

Soap Operas

Have a range of conventions such as cliff hangers, coverage of current social issues, interweaving story lines, and partial closure of story lines to add up to an overall representations of 'real life' that tries to be both realistic and melodramatic

Often affected by popular story lines (outside of the TV drama, real life)

Period Dramas

Expensive to produce because of demands of authenticity, which usually makes them more 'filmic' in quality

Time period context could be changed or some characters changed to suit drama and give a different set of potential meanings

As well as deconstructing representations in a period drama, should also look at contemporary view on the time period portrayed

Hospital Dramas

Balance two different narrative themes; public health and the treatment of illness and workplace interactions and relationship, this shares many conventions with soap operas

Range of characters with different occupations and ideals about the public which can sometimes be stereotypes

'Recurring types' in this form of drama could be, surgeons, consultants, social workers, children, parents, elderly, religious groups...

Crime Dramas

Two types, one-off crime drams, which tend to focus on the kinds of crimes that cause most anxiety (in particular, murder) and long-running crime dramas which will have a variety of sub-plots and show relationships between characters

Dunne (2006) suggests that media representations of crime set up five key areas:

• Crime/police
• Criminals/criminal justice system
• Lawyers vs. courts
• Social workers vs. police
• Victims vs. the public

Ethnography

Concerned with resisting large-scale assumptions about groups, asses limitations 

Often concerned with social class but not exclusive to that focus