‘I owe it to those women to own it’: Women, Media Production and Intergenerational Dialogue through Oral History

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 518-537
Author(s):  
Melanie Bell
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Media Industries ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
The Media ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
Use Of Knowledge ◽  
Successes And Failures

While the academy is faced with increasing calls for its research to be socially relevant, a long-established principle of feminism has been the discovery and use of knowledge produced by, for and about women. Informed by feminist debates, the Histories of Women in the British Film and Television Industries project undertook a number of engagement activities drawing on the oral histories of women who had worked in the British media industries. These included workshops with trade union members and media practitioners which explored continuity and change in women's experiences of the media workplace. This article reflects on this suite of engagement activities, their successes and failures, and the possibilities and limitations of feminist-informed impact in and through the academy.

Winner of the 2011 ASMI PG essay prize: Popular Italian cinema, the media, and the economic miracle: rethinkingcommedia all'italiana

Modern Italy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Fullwood
Keyword(s):  
Italian Society ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Media Industries ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Economic Miracle ◽  
The Media ◽  
Consumer Lifestyles ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This article seeks to reposition the popular cinematic genrecommedia all'italianawithin the context of the rapid expansion of the media industries which accompanied Italy's postwar economic miracle. The article looks at three distinct aspects of the relationship betweencommedia all'italianaand other media. First, it outlines the important role played by the media during the boom in disseminating images of consumer lifestyles, and highlights the way in whichcommedia all'italianaparticipated in this process. Second, through a discussion of media appearances by Vittorio Gassman and Nino Manfredi, the article emphasises the extent to which theircommedia all'italianastar personas were constructed and circulated in a multimedia context. Finally, it examines how the genre represented other media, focusing in particular on the representation of gender in advertising scenes. Through close readings ofcommedia all'italianaadvertising scenes, the article notes points of continuity with and difference from advertising imagery that was circulating at the time. The article argues that in order to further our understanding ofcommedia all'italianaand its relationship to Italian society, it is essential to understand the genre's relationship to other media production of the period, which both influenced the comedies' representations and was influenced by them in turn.

Suicide and the Media

Crisis ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Warwick Blood ◽  
Jane Pirkis
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Causal Association ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Media Portrayal ◽  
The Media ◽  
Actual Suicide ◽  
Multiple Meanings

Summary: The body of evidence suggests that there is a causal association between nonfictional media reporting of suicide (in newspapers, on television, and in books) and actual suicide, and that there may be one between fictional media portrayal (in film and television, in music, and in plays) and actual suicide. This finding has been explained by social learning theory. The majority of studies upon which this finding is based fall into the media “effects tradition,” which has been criticized for its positivist-like approach that fails to take into account of media content or the capacity of audiences to make meaning out of messages. A cultural studies approach that relies on discourse and frame analyses to explore meanings, and that qualitatively examines the multiple meanings that audiences give to media messages, could complement the effects tradition. Together, these approaches have the potential to clarify the notion of what constitutes responsible reporting of suicide, and to broaden the framework for evaluating media performance.

Drama production and audiences as ‘affective superaddressee’ in an illiberal democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 136754942110086
Author(s):  
Siao Yuong Fong
Keyword(s):  
Writing Process ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Media Industries ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Television Drama ◽  
Film Research ◽  
Production Decisions ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
History Of

There is a long history of television and film research that highlights the essential roles audiences play in everyday production decisions. Based largely on Western media industries, these studies’ investigations of producer–audience relationships have revolved predominantly around the market concerns of liberal media models. So how do producer–audience relationships work when it comes to illiberal contexts of media production? Using Singapore as a case study, this article argues that existing approaches to producer–audience relations largely based on liberal media industries like Hollywood are insufficient for thinking through audience power in everyday media production in illiberal contexts. Drawing on insights from affect theory, I examine the materials gathered during an immersive ethnography of the writing process of a Singaporean television drama and propose conceptualizing audiences as an ‘affective superaddressee’, as a productive way to think about the work that situational audiences do in everyday media production in illiberal contexts.

scholarly journals Journalism from Above: Drones and the Media in Critical Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-63
Author(s):  
Jonas Harvard ◽  
Mats Hyvönen ◽  
Ingela Wadbring
Keyword(s):  
Media Production ◽  
Media Technology ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
The Uk ◽  
New Research ◽  
Journalistic Practice

In the last decade, the development of small, remotely operated multicopters with cameras, so-called drones, has made aerial photography easily available. Consumers and institutions now use drones in a variety of ways, both for personal entertainment and professionally. The application of drones in media production and journalism is of particular interest, as it provides insight into the complex interplay between technology, the economic and legal constraints of the media market, professional cultures and audience preferences. The thematic issue <em>Journalism from Above: Drones, the Media, and the Transformation of Journalistic Practice</em> presents new research concerning the role of drones in journalism and media production. The issue brings together scholars representing a variety of approaches and perspectives. A broad selection of empirical cases from Finland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US form the basis of an exploration of the changing relations between the media, technology and society. The articles address topics such as: Adaption of drone technology in the newsrooms; audience preferences and reactions in a changing media landscape; the relation between journalists and public authorities who use drones; and attitudes from journalistic practitioners as well as historical and future perspectives.

scholarly journals Researching around our subjects

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-188
Author(s):  
Frances C. Galt
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Television History ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Concentric Circles ◽  
Women's Film ◽  
Oral History Interviews ◽  
Union Activism

This article explores the opportunities and obstacles of researching women’s trade union activism in the British film and television industries between 1933 and 2017. The surviving material on women’s union participation is incomplete and fragmented, and so my research has combined an examination of archival material—the union’s journal and the meeting minutes, correspondence and ephemera of three iterations of its equality committee—with new and existing oral history interviews. Sherry J. Katz has termed this methodological approach “researching around our subjects”, which involves “working outward in concentric circles of related sources” to reconstruct women’s experiences (90). While “researching around my subjects” was a challenging and time-consuming process, it was also a rewarding one, producing important insights into union activism as it relates to gender and breaking new ground in both women’s labour and women’s film and television history. This article concludes with a case study on the appointment of Sarah Benton as researcher for the ACTT’s Patterns report in 1973, revealing the benefits of this methodological approach in reconstructing events which have been effectively erased from the official record.

scholarly journals The Invisible Institution? Reconstructing the History of BAFTA and the 1958 Merger of the British Film Academy with the Guild of Television Producers and Directors

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-472
Author(s):  
Emma Pett ◽  
Helen Warner
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
British Society ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Post War ◽  
Training Schemes ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Television Producers

As a cultural institution of national and global significance, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is notably absent from existing scholarship on the media industries. More importantly, BAFTA's role as an independent arts charity set up by the industry to support and develop new talent is often overlooked. Instead, references to BAFTA made by media and film scholars most frequently take the form of footnotes or digressions that detail particular awards or nominations. Drawing on a range of archival sources, including BAFTA's own records, we address this significant omission within existing scholarship on the British cultural and creative industries. In particular, we examine the period 1947–68, focusing on the 1958 merger of the British Film Academy with the Guild of Television Producers and Directors to form a new institution, known as the Society of Film and Television Arts (SFTA, later renamed BAFTA). This was achieved despite the well-documented tensions existing between the two industries throughout the period, which we identify and analyse within this historical context. We argue that a crucial factor driving the 1958 merger was the desire to develop quality training schemes across both industries. This, in turn, was partly enabled by an egalitarian turn in post-war British society towards the development of greater social equality and mobility. In reconstructing these events, we therefore interrogate and reassess the role played by this key national institution on the development of the creative and cultural industries, offering an expansion and revision of scholarship on media histories of post-war Britain.

Revisiting the synopticon: Reconsidering Mathiesen’s ‘The Viewer Society’ in the age of Web 2.0

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Reciprocal System ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Many

Thomas Mathiesen’s ‘The Viewer Society’ has been widely influential. Mathiesen posited, alongside the panopticon, a reciprocal system of control, the synopticon, in which ‘the many’ watch ‘the few’. I point to the value of Mathiesen’s arguments but also suggest a reconsideration. I consider where recent challenges to theorizing surveillance as panoptic leave the synopticon. The synopticon is tied to a top—down, instrumental way of theorizing the media. It neglects resistance, alternative currents in media production and reception, the role of culture and the increasing centrality of the internet. Mathiesen’s piece is most useful in a narrower way, in highlighting how surveillance and the mass media interact, rather than in thinking about the role of the media in control more generally.

Masterchef‘s Amateur Makeovers

2012 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Seale
Keyword(s):  
Television Program ◽  
Media Industries ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
The Media

The media industries are becoming increasingly reliant on amateur labour, and Australia's highest rating television program, MasterChef Australia, is no exception. The show's grand narrative of ‘making over’ home cooks into professionals is at odds with its calculatedly ambivalent representation and deployment of the trope of the amateur. This article proposes that MasterChef is instead invested in deferring the attainment of professional status so as to ensure the continued provision of inexpensive labour and content provided by amateurs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document