Heritage and Post-Heritage: Investigating the Style, Form and Genre of Period Drama in 2010s British Television

<p>This project analyses six period drama productions in British television of the 2010s, expanding Claire Monk’s term of ‘post-heritage’ into a critical framework. Its case studies establish a cycle of progressive representations of the past in recent television drama, which operate against the assumptions of ‘heritage’ nostalgia forwarded by earlier scholars. The post-heritage framework consists of five guiding elements: interrogation, subversion, subjectivity, self-consciousness and ambiguity. These inform the analysis of the project’s case studies, while also allowing the existence of post-heritage elements to be recognised in earlier period drama productions. The thesis is split into three distinct parts, which allow the heritage and post-heritage elements of the case studies to be associated with the characteristics and theoretical concepts of television drama. The first chapter of each part evaluates the institutional context of its case study, identifying its impact upon production through textual examples from the programme. The second chapter of each part focuses on close analysis, demonstrating the extent to which post-heritage elements can assist innovation in television drama. Part I focuses on televisual style, identifying the naturalist, realist and modernist aesthetics of television drama. Scholarly sources are used to connect these with periods of British television history. This aesthetic discussion leads to theoretical concepts of identity and culture, which informs the case study analyses that follow in chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 concerns the BBC/Masterpiece revival of Upstairs Downstairs (2010-12), identifying its more developed post-heritage point of view in comparison to Downton Abbey (ITV/Masterpiece, 2010-15) and the original Upstairs, Downstairs (ITV, 1971-75). It also considers the circumstances that hindered the production of the BBC series’ second season and contributed to its cancellation, establishing the impact of these on the programme’s representation of the past. Chapter 2’s case study is Dancing on the Edge (BBC, 2013), the interwar narrative of which allows the part’s themes of identity and culture to be explored. The project’s second part analyses televisual form, assessing the increasing hybridity between series and serial forms in twenty-first century television. The theoretical focus of part II is narratives of trauma, influenced by the dichotomy between Cathy Caruth and Dominick LaCapra’s concepts of the traumatic experience. Chapter 3’s analysis of The Crown (Netflix, 2016-present) reveals a Caruthian approach to trauma, its narrative impact recurring endlessly and allowing the British monarchy’s tenuous position from the 1950s to reflect upon the present day. Chapter 4, meanwhile, considers the LaCaprian trauma expressed in The Living and the Dead (BBC/BBC America, 2016), suggesting a process of ‘working through’ that can find a resolution. These diverse approaches to trauma are connected to The Crown and The Living and the Dead’s grounding in serial and series form respectively, asserting the continued importance of this distinction. The third and final part of the project turns to the analysis of television genre, with innovative works of literary adaptation used to explore the relationship between generic hybridity and a post-heritage approach to depictions of the past. The introduction to part III outlines the history of ‘classic serial’ adaptations on the BBC and the innovations to the genre apparent since the 1990s. Following this, chapter 5 uses the case study of Dickensian (BBC, 2015-16) to identify the potential of soap opera characteristics in establishing a work of adaptation. Dickensian takes advantage of the soap genre’s economies of scale, while also establishing the difficulties this creates at a narrative level. Lastly, chapter 6 analyses the generic features of comedy within Parade’s End (BBC/HBO, 2012), asserting its use of televisual features to offer both a revised reading of Ford Madox Ford’s novels and a realisation of their literary characteristics on screen. The thesis concludes by placing the post-heritage critical framework in the context of broader trends in television drama of the 2010s, justifying its place in the field of television studies.</p>

Heritage and Post-Heritage: Investigating the Style, Form and Genre of Period Drama in 2010s British Television

<p>This project analyses six period drama productions in British television of the 2010s, expanding Claire Monk’s term of ‘post-heritage’ into a critical framework. Its case studies establish a cycle of progressive representations of the past in recent television drama, which operate against the assumptions of ‘heritage’ nostalgia forwarded by earlier scholars. The post-heritage framework consists of five guiding elements: interrogation, subversion, subjectivity, self-consciousness and ambiguity. These inform the analysis of the project’s case studies, while also allowing the existence of post-heritage elements to be recognised in earlier period drama productions. The thesis is split into three distinct parts, which allow the heritage and post-heritage elements of the case studies to be associated with the characteristics and theoretical concepts of television drama. The first chapter of each part evaluates the institutional context of its case study, identifying its impact upon production through textual examples from the programme. The second chapter of each part focuses on close analysis, demonstrating the extent to which post-heritage elements can assist innovation in television drama. Part I focuses on televisual style, identifying the naturalist, realist and modernist aesthetics of television drama. Scholarly sources are used to connect these with periods of British television history. This aesthetic discussion leads to theoretical concepts of identity and culture, which informs the case study analyses that follow in chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 concerns the BBC/Masterpiece revival of Upstairs Downstairs (2010-12), identifying its more developed post-heritage point of view in comparison to Downton Abbey (ITV/Masterpiece, 2010-15) and the original Upstairs, Downstairs (ITV, 1971-75). It also considers the circumstances that hindered the production of the BBC series’ second season and contributed to its cancellation, establishing the impact of these on the programme’s representation of the past. Chapter 2’s case study is Dancing on the Edge (BBC, 2013), the interwar narrative of which allows the part’s themes of identity and culture to be explored. The project’s second part analyses televisual form, assessing the increasing hybridity between series and serial forms in twenty-first century television. The theoretical focus of part II is narratives of trauma, influenced by the dichotomy between Cathy Caruth and Dominick LaCapra’s concepts of the traumatic experience. Chapter 3’s analysis of The Crown (Netflix, 2016-present) reveals a Caruthian approach to trauma, its narrative impact recurring endlessly and allowing the British monarchy’s tenuous position from the 1950s to reflect upon the present day. Chapter 4, meanwhile, considers the LaCaprian trauma expressed in The Living and the Dead (BBC/BBC America, 2016), suggesting a process of ‘working through’ that can find a resolution. These diverse approaches to trauma are connected to The Crown and The Living and the Dead’s grounding in serial and series form respectively, asserting the continued importance of this distinction. The third and final part of the project turns to the analysis of television genre, with innovative works of literary adaptation used to explore the relationship between generic hybridity and a post-heritage approach to depictions of the past. The introduction to part III outlines the history of ‘classic serial’ adaptations on the BBC and the innovations to the genre apparent since the 1990s. Following this, chapter 5 uses the case study of Dickensian (BBC, 2015-16) to identify the potential of soap opera characteristics in establishing a work of adaptation. Dickensian takes advantage of the soap genre’s economies of scale, while also establishing the difficulties this creates at a narrative level. Lastly, chapter 6 analyses the generic features of comedy within Parade’s End (BBC/HBO, 2012), asserting its use of televisual features to offer both a revised reading of Ford Madox Ford’s novels and a realisation of their literary characteristics on screen. The thesis concludes by placing the post-heritage critical framework in the context of broader trends in television drama of the 2010s, justifying its place in the field of television studies.</p>

Symbolic Communication of Tourism Images in Soap Opera Televisions

Tourism in Bali is growing so rapidly that it continues to increase every year. The increasing number of foreign and domestic tourist arrivals leads to an increase in domestic services and promotions. Arief Yahya assessed that film had become a useful medium and contributed greatly to promoting Indonesian tourism. The aim of this research is to know how soap opera and film could be used as a means of promotion to know about Tourism in Bali and other state problems: (1) How Broadcasting as a mass communication activity functions as a medium of information, education, entertainment, health, control and social control; (2) How to carry out the function of soap opera and film as a means of promoting Tourism inBali;(3), How broadcasting also has economic and cultural functions. Theory and Method: Symbolic Theory and Method use perception and qualitative analysis which explore by watching the eat, pray, and love films and some soap operas whose shooting take place in Bali. They can serve as a reference for the industrial world to make films that can inspire audiences to come to the place or location of the film, and also a reference for tourists who would come to Bali.

MTV’s The Hills: A Leading American Docusoap

<p>This thesis explores the relatively uncharted academic territory of the American docusoap, and case studies The Hills as a pertinent example of this burgeoning television genre. Docusoap is a ‘mixed-genre’ that enhances factual material with the story-telling techniques of fictional drama. Whilst many academics have studied the origins of British docusoap and have registered the influence upon it of ‘public service’ objectives in programming, less attention has been paid to the emergence of the docusoap in the commercially-driven American television context. It is in this context that the docusoap has entailed a more overt blending of the attributes of ‘documentary’ and ‘soap opera’ for purely entertainment purposes. Testifying to the need to reconcile risk with conservatism in a commercially-driven schedule context, the generic mix within The Hills draws from the genres of soap opera and ‘reality’ TV, both of which bring the advantages and assurances of a well-demonstrated audience popularity. Having recently completed its sixth and final season, The Hills exemplifies current developments within the American docusoap form. This docusoap details the lives of a group of attractive, affluent young people in their early twenties who work and socialise within the entertainment and fashion industries of Los Angeles. Significantly, The Hills maintains the voyeuristic allure of a ‘reality’ TV premise and enhances this by adapting the melodramatic aesthetics and distinctive narrative strategies of soap opera to a degree that is more overt than other docusoaps, aside, of course, from that which characterised its forerunner, Laguna Beach. This thesis undertakes a close examination of the generic and institutional positioning of The Hills in four distinct chapters. Chapter One examines the generic position of docusoap as a ‘mixed-genre’ and the institutional role The Hills performs for the youth-oriented MTV network. Chapter Two analyses the specific fictional narrative techniques The Hills uses to enhance its documented footage whilst Chapter Three addresses the controversies that have emerged due to this docusoap’s blending of the fictional and the factual. Finally, Chapter Four details how the docusoap’s ability to appeal to lucrative young viewers positions The Hills as a powerful promotional tool for MTV’s consumerist messages.</p>

MTV’s The Hills: A Leading American Docusoap

<p>This thesis explores the relatively uncharted academic territory of the American docusoap, and case studies The Hills as a pertinent example of this burgeoning television genre. Docusoap is a ‘mixed-genre’ that enhances factual material with the story-telling techniques of fictional drama. Whilst many academics have studied the origins of British docusoap and have registered the influence upon it of ‘public service’ objectives in programming, less attention has been paid to the emergence of the docusoap in the commercially-driven American television context. It is in this context that the docusoap has entailed a more overt blending of the attributes of ‘documentary’ and ‘soap opera’ for purely entertainment purposes. Testifying to the need to reconcile risk with conservatism in a commercially-driven schedule context, the generic mix within The Hills draws from the genres of soap opera and ‘reality’ TV, both of which bring the advantages and assurances of a well-demonstrated audience popularity. Having recently completed its sixth and final season, The Hills exemplifies current developments within the American docusoap form. This docusoap details the lives of a group of attractive, affluent young people in their early twenties who work and socialise within the entertainment and fashion industries of Los Angeles. Significantly, The Hills maintains the voyeuristic allure of a ‘reality’ TV premise and enhances this by adapting the melodramatic aesthetics and distinctive narrative strategies of soap opera to a degree that is more overt than other docusoaps, aside, of course, from that which characterised its forerunner, Laguna Beach. This thesis undertakes a close examination of the generic and institutional positioning of The Hills in four distinct chapters. Chapter One examines the generic position of docusoap as a ‘mixed-genre’ and the institutional role The Hills performs for the youth-oriented MTV network. Chapter Two analyses the specific fictional narrative techniques The Hills uses to enhance its documented footage whilst Chapter Three addresses the controversies that have emerged due to this docusoap’s blending of the fictional and the factual. Finally, Chapter Four details how the docusoap’s ability to appeal to lucrative young viewers positions The Hills as a powerful promotional tool for MTV’s consumerist messages.</p>

Interrogating (In)visibilities

Critical attention to invisible disability raises interesting questions about the social and corporeal (in)visibility of disability. The article conceptualizes invisible disability in relation to the visible body, while maintaining the category’s ties with social visibility. To explore invisible disability, economies of visibility—originally proposed in black feminist media scholarship—is developed as a lens to explore the connections between (in)visible embodiment and social visibility in media texts. The lens is used to examine the representation of characters with invisible disability and visible disability in the case study of the popular Australian soap opera Home and Away. The examination illuminates economies of visibility as a productive way of grappling with how invisible disability vexes the visual binary of disabled/able-bodied.

Ang gámit ng temang-awit panteleserye

Mahalagang-mahalaga ang musika sa teleserye, lalo pa’t bílang soap opera, nakabalangkas ang anyo nito sa melodrama. Sa kaso ng teleserye, ang pagkasangkapan sa musika ay higit na mapahahalagahan sa pagbaling sa matatawag na temang-awit panteleserye o theme song, na madalas ginagamit hindi lámang bilang pananda ng kaakuhan ng palabas o mohon ng simula’t wakas nito, kundi pati na rin bílang kabuuang temang musikal. Ibig kong maghain ng ilang kaisipan hinggil sa gámit, at siyempre, halaga ng mga ito bílang musikal na suhay ng teleseryeng babád sa melodrama. Upang maging masaklaw ako sa pagtalakay kahit papaano, ibabalangkas ko ang aking paggalugad sa gámit ng temang-awit panteleserye sa naging paraan ko ng pagkakasaysayan sa naging pag-angkop, pag-unlad, at pagbago sa teleserye. Ang papel na ito ay pagpapalawig ng aking pakasaysayang lápit sa teleserye habang ipinaliliwanag ang tatlong gámit na aking inihain—ang pagiging reiterasyon ng salaysay o naratibo ng palabas; ang pagiging tagapagpaigting ng drama at tema; at ang pagiging tagapagpalawig ng teleserye bílang telebiswal na produkto.