Television Genre Research Articles

Cultivating Conceptions of Masculinity: Television and Perceptions of Masculine Gender Role Norms

The potential of television to both reflect and shape cultural understandings of gender roles has long been the subject of social scientific inquiry. The present study employed survey methodology with 420 emerging adult respondents (18–25 years old) in a national U.S. sample to explore associations between amount of time spent viewing television and views about “ideal” masculine gender roles. The viewing of particular television genres was explored in addition to (and controlling for) overall amount of time spent with the medium, using cultivation theory as the theoretical foundation. Results showed significant statistical associations between viewing sitcoms, police and detective programs, sports, and reality television and scores on the Masculine Roles Norms Inventory–Revised scale. Biological sex of respondent (which very closely approximated gender identity in the sample) moderated a number of these relationships, with positive associations between viewing some genres and endorsement of traditional masculine gender roles stronger for biological male compared to biological female respondents.

ВАРІАТИВНЕ ПРОЕКТУВАННЯ КОНСТРУКЦІЇ ТЕЛЕВІЗІЙНОЇ ДРАМАТУРГІЇ: ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ ФІНАЛУ

Мета роботи. Дослідження пов’язане з аналізом стану варіативного проектування конструкту сучасної теледраматургії на прикладі третього фінального акту сценарної побудови та визначенням його подальших векторів розвитку в контексті екранного мистецтва. Методологія дослідження ґрунтується на структурно-функціональному підході, який дозволяє виділити основні структурні елементи телевізійної драматургії, використовуючи методи структуризації та мистецтвознавчого дослідження. Наукова новизна. Сучасна вітчизняна теледраматургія, в контексті теорії створення сценарію екранного твору, сьогодні знаходиться в стані постійних трансформацій. Зважаючи на малу ступінь теоретичних досліджень українських науковців у галузі теледраматургії, наукова новизна полягає в спробі такого теоретичного вивчення в контексті представленої наукової статті. Висновки. Доведено, що зважаючи на активний розвиток екранних мистецтв, який ми нині спостерігаємо, виникнення нових телевізійних жанрів призводить до нових форм оповідей – оповідей варіативних. Сутність варіативності на телебаченні – в залученні глядача в процес творення, співучасті в драматургічній складовій телетвору. Варіативність конструкту фіналів на телебаченні особливо яскраво виражена в жанрах телевізійних шоу, таких як ток-шоу, талант-шоу, реаліті-шоу.Трансформації фіналу в драматургічній телевізійній структурі є важливим процесом розвитку сучасного телевізійного мистецтва, а його вивчення потребує самостійного дослідження теоретиками драматургії екрану, відкриваючи нові перспективи в цьому процесі.

Justifying Trash: Regulating Reality TV in Israel

Reality TV is a highly popular but much criticized television genre. However, little has been written about the attitude of state broadcasting authorities toward this genre and the degree to which it is regulated and controlled in different countries. In this article, we focus on the Second Authority for Television and Radio, the public body that oversees commercial broadcasting in Israel, and look at how it controls the volume and content of reality TV programs while considering factors that are unique to Israeli economics and politics. The findings of this article indicate that in Israel, reality television is legitimized de facto despite perception of its moral shortcomings.

Liquid Surfaces

Exploring the interactions between liquid surfaces and their relationship to the figure of the fille fatale in dark genres of film and television, this paper suggests that the liquid surface not only disrupts our understanding of architecture as a static structural envelope, but also acts to destabilise the image of the innocent girl in science fiction and horror films and television. The discussion focuses on three relatively recent depictions of young girls who confront (or are forced to confront) the liquid surface: Mitsuko’s submersion in the water vessels of an apartment building in Dark Water (2002), Ofelia and the muddy interior of the tree in Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and the watery floor of Eleven’s psychic state in Stranger Things (2016). Working with Jill Stoner’s understanding of minor architectures and their ability to deterritorialise both physical structures and structures of power, the paper asks to what extent the liquid surface encounters of Ofelia, Mitsuko and Eleven exist as reflections of each character’s experiences, or as currents of agency through which the fille fatale reshapes her world. In doing so the research considers the ways in which fictional liquid surfaces operate as a visual minor architecture that elicits a questioning of social and physical norms.

Translating Genres: Translating Leaders: Trump and Berlusconi

ABSTRACTThis essay argues that Berlusconi and Trump transposed the practices of a hybrid television genre into the political domain. As the genre of reality television by its very nature changes the way reality is represented, mixing “reality” with game and fiction, this translation has transformed the perception of truthfulness of political discourses. Political discourse has moved ever further away from logical argument based on facts to providing the type of raw emotion and hence “authenticity” associated with the genre of reality television. Game and fiction have won over information and logic and both Berlusconi and Trump seek to incorporate and represent their nations in their aging masculine bodies. Understanding how they shift meaning to translate from one sphere to another is essential to their success and our capacity to respond to them.

Empirical examination of the theory of disaster marathon: A case study of the local television coverage following the 2014 Ludian, China earthquake

ABSTRACTDisaster marathon was proposed by media communication scholars to differentiate the genre of disaster television broadcasting from media events. However, its theoretical framework is limited by its omission of findings from disaster social science literature, and its lack of examinations of marathons of domestic natural disasters. Using the August 2014 Yunnan (China) Television Station broadcast The Special Report on the August 3 Earthquake in Ludian, Yunnan, we conduct a qualitative content analysis to empirically examine the disaster marathon concept for natural disasters. During the content analysis, three themes emerge: authorities’ command and control, the involvement of armed forces, and convergence of social support. Our case study findings contradict the disaster marathon conceptualization and conclude that the local television coverage following a natural disaster can also be performed as a series of conventional media events and is consistent with the established disaster coverage literature.

Television Stories and the Cultivation of Moral Reasoning: The Role of Genre Exposure and Narrative Engageability

ABSTRACTThis study explores the potential of television genres to cultivate different types of moral reasoning. In a prolonged exposure experiment, participants (N = 121) were exposed to video material from 1 of 3 genres (crime, medical drama, comedy) over the course of 4 weeks. Using the Neo-Kohlbergian approach (Rest et al., 1999a), the study measured effects of genre exposure on the strength of personal interest reasoning, maintaining norms reasoning, and postconventional reasoning, taking into account individuals’ predisposition to become engaged in narratives (narrative engageability). Although exposure to crime drama had no influence, medical drama raised maintaining norms reasoning and lowered postconventional reasoning. Exposure to comedy raised postconventional reasoning. Narrative engageability emerged as a strong predictor, showing that the propensity to become engaged in narratives is positively related to postconventional reasoning and negatively related to maintaining norms reasoning.

Automatic Recovery and Verification of Subtitles for Large Collections of Video Clips

This paper describes an experimental system that can create good quality subtitle files for video clips derived from broadcast content. The system is designed to run automatically without the need for human verification. The approach utilises existing metadata sources, an off-air broadcast archive and an archive of original subtitle files along with audio fingerprinting and speech-to-text technology to identify the source programme. It then locates the position of the video clip, verifies the match between the video clip and the subtitles and create a new subtitle file. This paper also reports on the results of the work using a large corpus of over 7,000 video clips and further, smaller sets of clips from different television genres, and explores where improvements might be made. It also looks at the limitations of the current approach discussing alternative methods for providing subtitles for video clips.

A Slippery Slope

Prior to the mid-nineties, Italian television did not produce any soap operas. Daytime serials were imported mainly from the USA. Unexpectedly, the most commercial television genre was produced for the first time by the public service broadcaster: Un posto al sole was aired by RAI in 1996. The commercial competitor Mediaset immediately responded with Vivere in 1998 and CentoVetrine in 2001. Today, Un posto al sole is still on air, while both Mediaset’s soaps were cancelled. The paper will focus on the rise and fall of domestic long-running daytime serials, on the different choices taken by the two competitors and on the perspectives of the genre in Italian schedules.

Ambivalent apocalypse: The influence of the Book of Revelation in films and television

Abstract Apocalyptic texts are a popular genre of film and television that commonly present humanity as decimated, or threatened by decimation. Zombie apocalyptic themes have become popular and are seen in 28 Days later (Boyle, 2002), I am Legend (Lawrence, 2008), The Walking Dead (2010–present) and Fear the Walking Dead (2015–present). Other films feature further other end-of-the-world scenarios, including cataclysmic natural disasters, pestilence and invasion. There are numerous examples of post-apocalypse texts, including Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968), Mad Max 2 (Miller, 1981), Reign of Fire (Bowman, 2002), The Day After Tomorrow (Emmerich, 2004), Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006), Left Behind (Armstrong, 2014) and Knowing (Proyes, 2009). The focus of the narrative in these texts, whether it be zombie plague or extinction-level event asteroid, is on how the characters in these stories come to terms with disaster, either before or after the apocalyptic event. Other texts examine cataclysmic events that befall the earth, such as Deep Impact (Leder, 1998), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) or 2012 (Emmerich, 2009). All these texts highlight prevailing attitudes and cultural anxieties, and can also be discussed in terms of the differences in the representation of disaster after September 11, 2001. This article examines the connection of these texts to religious prophecies from the Bible (Revelation) and how popular culture texts demonstrate an ambivalent relationship to predictions of apocalypse.

Television in Portugal (2000-2016): the curious case of Portuguese fiction

Portuguese television has always struggled with the country’s demography, geography and permeability to foreign contents. Until 2001, Portuguese television was unable to fulfil any of the Directives regarding minimum European production quotas, and one of its key features was the undisputed dominance of Brazilian telenovelas over Portuguese audiences. Today the situation has changed dramatically and the number of Portuguese telenovelas being broadcasted raised exponentially, as well as its ratings and share. In this article we will examine a very specific period, from 2000 to 2016, and study the dramatic fiction produced in Portugal during this timeframe. We will analyse Portuguese telenovela’s hegemony over prime-time, and the impact it is having on other television genres.

Representations of Food Waste in Reality Food Television: An Exploratory Analysis of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

Food waste is a global issue with serious economic and environmental implications. Although a number of psychosocial and cultural factors have been identified, little attention has been paid to how food waste is culturally presented, circulated, and mediated. In this exploratory study, we consider how food waste is presented in the thriving genre of reality food television. Specifically, we conducted a content and discourse analysis of UK television programme, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (RKN). We found that visual and discursive references to food waste are associated with business, food, and personal incompetency in RKN. Furthermore, food handling was constructed as a moral issue. In RKN, food waste is not resolved via specific educational interventions for food waste prevention, but through attention to broader personal, business, and food incompetencies, which are value-laden and morally relevant. We discuss the symbolic dimensions of the transformation of food into food waste by drawing on Mary Douglas’ ideas of matter out of place. We suggest that food waste research and behavior change could benefit from addressing personal, professional, and moral competencies which may not be directly related to food, but which may reduce food waste. Our analysis of food waste in a televised environment extends waste research in specific geographical locations and spatial contexts.

TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENRES OF MODERN TELEVISION PROGRAMS

Research aim. To analyse classification of genres of modern television, and educe reasons, that assisted birth of the new CRT forms, переосмисленню of traditional genres, becoming of new types of the televisional broadcasting. To extend an idea about genre aspects and investigate progress of genres trends on modern television.Research methodology. By means of analysis of modern telecasts, to investigate socio-economic and political changes in the state, that influenced on diffusions of all genre system, educe reasons that assisted the origin of new genre formations, and also educe basic progress of television trends in a historical aspect.The scientific novelty. In the process of evolution of televisional genres, types and formats of телемовлення it is observed the tendency of the integrated selection of telecasts, diffusion, hybridization of genres, became, new genre formations appear due to confluence, or substituting for one genres other. In connection with it it is expedient to consider a progress of genres trend on modern television, to find out and set reasons of origin of new genres, external and internal copulas between them, to systematize practical knowledge on the basis of scientific approach.Conclusions. In the process of research reasons, that assisted переосмисленню of traditional genres, birth of new, becoming of new types of telecasts, were educеd. It was found out, that in connection with the evolution of genres, next to concepts diffusion and differentiation of genres arise up concept of confluence of genres, and the permanent process of washed out of genre borders results not only in the origin of hybrid genre forms but also permanent genre enriching. A study of genres, their possibilities and characteristic signs is especially important for a journalist, as exactly genres determine the specific of their work and professional activity. In genres maintenance of the program, her subjects and range of problems, methods of work of journalist, form of intermingling, shows up with a spectator. Inculcating the newest digital technologies, using riches of expressive facilities, телевізійники constantly extend and diversify the genre palette of the programs.

Choosing love? Tensions and transformations of modern marriage in Married at First Sight

Anthropologists and sociologists frequently suggest that marriage is undergoing rapid, worldwide transformation. Yet, while trends in nuptiality and divorce are used to demonstrate its decline, heterosexual marriage based on romantic love remains a cultural ideal in many contexts. This tension is reflected in cultural products like television programmes, including the increasingly popular genre of reality romance television. In this paper, we focus on an Australian version of a recent programme format, Married at First Sight (MaFS), in which ‘singles’ are matched by ‘relationship experts’ and then meet for the first time at their wedding ceremonies. The show purports to document singles’ lives prior to, during and following their weddings. By considering the content and structure of the show, as well as public and media responses to it, we explore Married at First Sight Australia in the context of other reality romance programmes produced and popular in Australia. We propose that the show offers a discourse of marriage based on objective compatibility rather than individual choice, but nonetheless dependent upon scripts of romantic love. Further, MaFS reflects (uneven) realities and popular understandings of transformation in modern Australian marriage.

Information activity of christian denominations in modern Ukraine in the television space: functional, genre and content dimensions

The purpose of the article is to analyze different aspects of information activity through the prism of television content of Christian denominations. The information product of the Christian television space is researched; functional, genre and content specifics are studied. Methodology is systematic, comparative, axiological methods and approaches that allow deeply penetrate into the confessional information environment of the television section. Information activities of Ukraine Christian denominations are represented in societal, praxeological segment. The specific of Christian television genre and content was analyzed. It is characterized by the use of this media channel as a mean of implementing its own religious mission, information and interpretation of denominations position on various aspects of society and human life to the believers and the general public, a powerful spiritual enlightenment. It has been found that the Christian television space contributes to deepening of individualistic and sometimes consumeristic approaches of modern man to religion, to own choice of religion and religious practices

Ratifying Greatness: Franklin D. Roosevelt in Film and Television

Scholars rank Franklin D. Roosevelt as a great President, and Hollywood agrees. During his presidency and in the decades that followed, Roosevelt appeared in various film and television productions, emerging as an idealized leader who overcomes physical disability, inspires the public, and pursues wise policies. The origins of, reasons behind, and manifestations of this tenaciously consistent image are the subject of this article. The process began with FDR's own successful leadership and media (including film) savvy. It was sustained by the influence of Roosevelt's family and admirers in the entertainment industry. It seldom has been challenged, even as portraits of FDR widened across of a variety of film and television genres from the 1970s onward.

Innovación y consolidación del «infoentretenimiento» político: una perspectiva histórica

Este artículo examina los programas pioneros de «infoentretenimiento» político emitidos por la televisión en España debido a su relevancia desde el punto de vista de la historia televisiva más reciente y teniendo en cuenta el vacío historiográfico existente en torno a estas emisiones. El trabajo parte de los estudios publicados sobre este género televisivo y los estilemas predominantes en los programas de «infoentretenimiento» actuales que se emiten en la TDT (Berrocal et al., 2014; Berrocal, Campos & Redondo, 2014; Ortells, 2011). El estudio busca analizar, desde el punto de vista cualitativo y a través de una ficha de análisis aplicada a una muestra de dichos espacios pioneros, si en dichos programas aparecían ya los estilemas que definen el «infoentretenimiento» político en la actualidad.

The Morality of Television Genres: Norm Violations and Their Narrative Context in Four Popular Genres of Serial Fiction

ABSTRACTIn a quantitative content analysis, social norm violations and their narrative context are analyzed in 225 episodes of 15 television series of four popular television genres (crime drama, medical drama, sitcom, and daily soap). Extending previous studies, the authors’ results indicate that aggressive norm violations are only a fraction of all norm violations, which are dominated by lying/deception, swearing/use of vulgar language, and verbal attacks. The narrative context shows that norm violations are often motivated by egoism, receive low punishment, are rarely forgiven and seldom reflected by the characters; this, however, depends on the type of norm violation. Genre differences were observed and their potential for effects on audiences’ moral thinking is discussed.

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this issueLiterature and Fine ArtsChadaga, Julie Bekman. Optical Play: Glass, Vision, and Spectacle in Russian Culture.Du Quenoy, Paul. Alexander Serov and the Birth of the Russian Modern.Sleptsov, Vasily. Hard Times: A Novel of Liberals and Radicals in 1860s Russia.Brunson, Molly. Russian Realisms: Literature and Painting, 1840–1890.Friesen, Leonard. Transcendent Love: Dostoevsky and the Search for a Global Ethic.Belknap, Robert L. Plots.Solovyov, Vladimir. The Burning Bush: Writings on Jews and Judaism.Knapp, Liza. Anna Karenina and Others: Tolstoy's Labyrinth of Plots.Bialostosky, Don. Mikhail Bakhtin. Rhetoric, Poetics, Dialogics, Rhetoreticality.Kliger, Ilya, and Boris Maslov, eds. Persistent Forms: Explorations in Historical Poetics.Kelly, Martha M. F. Unorthodox Beauty: Russian Modernism and Its New Religious Aesthetic.Poplavsky, Boris. Apollon Bezobrazov.Mancosu, Paolo. Zhivago's Secret Journey: From Typescript to Book.De Vries, Gerard. Silent Love: The Annotation and Interpretation of Nabokov's The Real Life of Sebastian Knight.Lipovetsky, Mark, and Lisa Ryoko Wakamiya, eds. Late and Post‐Soviet Russian Literature: A Reader. Book 1. Perestroika and the Post‐Soviet Period.Lipovetsky, Mark, and Lisa Ryoko Wakamiya, eds. Late and Post‐Soviet Russian Literature: A Reader. Book 2. Thaw and Stagnation.Prokhorov, Alexander, and Elena Prokhorova. Film and Television Genres of the Late Soviet Era.HistoryGeffert, Bryn, and Theofanis G. Stavrou, eds. Eastern Orthodox Christianity: The Essential Texts.Raffensperger, Christian. Ties of Kinship: Genealogy and Dynastic Marriage in Kyivan Rus'.Monahan, Erika. The Merchants of Siberia: Trade in Early Modern Eurasia.Chrissidis, Nikolaos A. An Academy at the Court of the Tsars: Greek Scholars and Jesuit Education in Early Modern Russia.Kelly, Aileen. The Discovery of Chance: The Life and Times of Alexander Herzen.Rabow‐Edling, Susanna. Married to the Empire: Three Governors' Wives in Russian America, 1829–1864.Nalivkin, Vladimir, and Maria Nalivkina. Muslim Women in the Fergana Valley: A 19th‐Century Ethnography from Central Asia.Marchenia, P. P., A. O. Lanshin, and S. Iu. Razin. Narod i vlast' v rossiiskoi/smute.Marchenia, P. P., et al. Krest'ianstvo i vlast' v istorii Rossii XX veka.Marchenia, P. P., et al. Rossiia i revoliutsiia: Proshloe i nastoiashchee sistemnykh krizisov russkoi istorii.Marchenia, P. P., et al. Stalinizm i krest'ianstvo.Demidov, Sergei S., and Boris V. Levshin, eds. The Case of Academician Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin.Lees, Lorraine M., and Williams S. Rodner, eds. An American Diplomat in Bolshevik Russia: DeWitt Clinton Poole.Oosterlinck, Kim. Hope Springs Eternal: French Bondholders and the Repudiation of Russian Sovereign Debt.Goldman, Wendy Z., and Donald Filtzer, eds. Hunger and War: Food Provisioning in the Soviet Union during World War II.Kilian, Jürgen. Wehrmacht und Besatzungsherrschaft im Russischen Nordwesten 1941–1944: Praxis und Alltag im Militärverwaltungsgebiet der Heersgruppe Nord.Kucherenko, Olga. Soviet Street Children and the Second World War: Welfare and Social Control under Stalin.Polišenská, Milada. Czechoslovak Diplomacy and the Gulag: Deportation of Czechoslovak Citizens to the USSR and the Negotiation for their Repatriation, 1945–1953.Liber, George O. Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914–1954.Rubenstein, Joshua. The Last Days of Stalin.Sanchez‐Sibony, Oscar. Red Globalization: The Political Economy of the Soviet Cold War from Stalin to Khrushchev.Peters, Benjamin. How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet.Florin, Moritz. Kirgistan und die sowjetische Moderne.Braithwaite, Rodric. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–89.Tax Choldin, Marianna. Garden of Broken Statues: Exploring Censorship in Russia.Social Sciences, Contemporary Russia, and OtherJohnson, Juliet. Priests of Prosperity: How Central Bankers Transformed the Postcommunist World.Kaliszewska, Iwona, and Maciej Falkowski. Veiled and Unveiled in Chechnya and Daghestan.Ryazanova‐Clarke, Lara, ed. The Russian Language Outside the Nation.Polese, Abel. Limits of a Post‐Soviet State: How Informality Replaces, Renegotiates, and Reshapes Governance in Contemporary Ukraine.

From Good to Bad and Everything in Between: An Analysis of Genre Differences in the Representation of Moral Nature

This study explores the presence of different moral natures—neutral, good, bad, ambivalent—and its association with sociodemographic characteristics in 3 television genres, through content analysis (N = 3,993). Results show that morally ambivalent characters dominate the cast of fiction, whereas neutral characters form a majority in news and information programming. In all genres, morally ambivalent characters are typed by social and professional transgression, while morally bad characters are typed by transgressions of the law. Although two thirds of all transgressions are punished, morally bad characters are always punished, whereas morally ambivalent characters more often get away without consequences.