Literature, Television, and Cultural Values

Abstract

It is still extremely rare for television to be studied in British Universities, except in departments of Media Studies, which are themselves even rarer. More common has been the development of Media Studies within existing Literature departments where film is usually the privileged medium to be studied. But the relationship between the study of literature and the study of mass media is still an uneasy one whose principal difficulty lies in the question of cultural value. For underlying the study of literature there is often an unexamined notion of cultural worthiness, a notion which, while just about workable for the study of film, is decidedly limiting for any serious study of television. The question 'why study television?' is still often asked. Behind this question are more anxious ones. How is it possible to study television, since traditional literary critical approaches do not seem applicable? And if there has to be a whole new approach to television, does that have implications for how literature is studied? The answer to the question 'why study television?' is at one level perfectly obvious. Television, radio, and film are by far the most popular and influential contemporary cultural forms. There is therefore an evident need to understand the determinants of these forms