Television Series Research Articles

How backstory and direct address reformulate the Shakespearean character on television: The case of the missing psychological motivation for House of Cards’ Frank Underwood

This article delves into narrative elements of direct address and backstory in television, focusing on House of Cards (2012–19), Shakespeare’s Richard III and Game of Thrones (2011–19). Comparing dramaturgical approaches in stage plays and TV series, the study highlights House of Cards’ unique incorporation of a pragmatic use of the direct address to create ‘world-view’ for character exploration. The analysis extends to Game of Thrones, emphasizing Tyrion Lannister’s self-descriptive addresses revealing a psychological struggle rooted in rejection and backstory. The article proposes a methodological framework linking first lines or direct addresses to character backstories, emphasizing the role of self-descriptive asides in character creation. It introduces the concept of a ‘psychological motivational arc’ within character arcs, exploring how direct addresses contribute to nonlinear character development. Concluding with an in-depth examination of House of Cards’ Frank Underwood, it scrutinizes Willimon’s ‘show, don’t tell’ approach, questioning its potential limitations on character depth and challenging traditional screenwriting advice. The analysis unravels the interplay between direct address, backstory, and character development in television series, offering insights into evolving narrative techniques and their implications for contemporary screenwriting.

Doc Martin and Comedy, with an Hegelian Twist

Buffalo Pictures’ long-running television series Doc Martin (ITV, 2004–22) has recently concluded, eighteen years since production began. Filmed every second year – excepting COVID interruption – in idyllic Cornwall, the show begins with exceptional but irascible London vascular surgeon, Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes), moving into the fictional fishing village of Portwenn as local GP. This show, with its 79 episodes, weaves together situation comedy, medical mystery, drama and idiosyncratic romance. In this article I want to explore layers of comedy in this long-running ‘dramedy’ by heuristically deploying the comedy theory taught by Hegel in his Lectures on Aesthetics. By reference to the ‘three forms of comic action’ found in Hegel’s lectures – the comedies of ‘coincidence’, ‘reduction’ and ‘negation’, to adopt Mark Roche’s terminology – I aim to show how this television serial uses humour to raise questions about what is existentially meaningful within human experience; test the usefulness of Hegel’s ideas on comedy for analysis of contemporary forms of media such as television and film; and contribute to literature on the nature of comedy in television serials, particularly those that utilise situation comedy.

[Patients torn to pieces.]

Dissecting bodies is a common practice in many cultures. But in "big data medicine", the art of dissecting the human body has become an obsession. Indeed, modern biotechnology allows us to see and measure the molecular components of every single cell. But how can we put this immense number of bits and pieces back together again and see the patient as a whole? The first turning point is that proposed by René Descartes, who, inspired by dreams and visions, conceived the idea of unifying all scientific disciplines through the pervasive application of mathematics. Descartes formulates four basic rules, the second (top-down method) and third (bottom-up method) of which become crucial in modern data analysis. An instructive case study considered here is that of pulmonary tuberculosis, where the Cartesian approach of decomposing problems into smaller and smaller "pieces" - from organism to organ and from cellular lesion to the microscopic level - has led to the cure of the disease through antibiotics. This success story inspired Paul Ehrlich who, with the concept of the "magic bullet", defined modern pharmacology. However, this paradigm is being challenged today by multifactorial diseases and big data medicine, where the enormous availability of clinical and molecular data must be integrated to arrive at a therapeutic decision. The Cartesian approach shows its limitations today, as witnessed by the similar difficulty in fields other than medicine, illustrated here by the case of choosing to produce a successful television series based on user profiling. The take-home message is that the amount of data collected does not automatically guarantee success but that, instead of being data-driven, a collective "human" overview and assessment is inevitable. That is, close collaboration between clinicians and data analysts, integrating expertise, is needed to address challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases through imagination and not mere extrapolation.

Suggestive answers strategy in human-chatbot interaction: a route to engaged critical decision making.

In this study, we proposed a novel chatbot interaction strategy based on the suggestive ending of answers. This strategy is inspired by the cliffhanger ending narrative technique, which ends a story without specifying conclusions to spark readers' curiosity as to what will happen next and is often used in television series. Common chatbots provide relevant and comprehensive answers to users' questions. In contrast, chatbots with our proposed strategy end their answers with hints potentially interest-triggering users. The suggestive ending strategy aims to stimulate users' inquisition for critical decision-making, relating to a psychological phenomenon where humans are often urged to finish the uncompleted tasks they have initiated. We demonstrated the implication of our strategy by conducting an online user study involving 300 participants, where they used chatbots to perform three decision-making tasks. We adopted a between-subjects factorial experimental design and compared between the following UIs: (1) plain chatbot-it provides a generated answer when participants issue a question; (2) expositive chatbot-it provides a generated answer for a question, adding short summaries of a positive and negative person's opinion for the answer; (3) suggestive chatbot-it provides a generated answer for a question, which ends with a suggestion of a positive and negative person for the answer. We found that users of the suggestive chatbot were inclined to ask more questions to the bot, engage in prolonged decision-making and information-seeking actions, and formulate their opinions from various perspectives. These findings vary with the users' experience with plain and expositive chatbots.

Imagination, Identification, Intensification: Rhetorical Strategies for Climate Fiction on Television

ABSTRACT Television climate fiction is an emerging, promising genre for environmental communication. Because audience uptake of this genre’s early texts will likely influence future texts’ production, it is important to attend to early texts’ persuasive successes and shortcomings. Thus, I rhetorically analyze Extrapolations (2023), a climate-fiction television series intended to provoke climate action from its audience. This analysis reveals three rhetorical strategies as critical to the genre’s persuasiveness: imagination, which helps audiences envision and evaluate information being presented to them; identification, which fosters feelings of connection and responsibility from audiences; and intensification, which moves audiences to act by imbuing emotion into the delivery of information. I show how these strategies can serve as a conceptual framework for developing and assessing climate fiction in popular media, and I suggest ways in which these strategies can more effectively motivate climate action.

Organisational Expertise in Hollywood: How the Government, Social Movements, and Think Tanks Consult TV and Film Makers

AbstractExisting studies show that when Hollywood professionals develop and produce films and television series, they consult experts in social and political issues. These experts may be private individuals or representatives of various governmental, social movement, or research organisations. Drawing on ethnography and interviews, I focus on organisational experts and explore how they provide their expertise to Hollywood. I argue that these organisations form a peculiar social space surrounding Hollywood, which I refer to as ‘the relational space of organisational expertise provision’, which demonstrates some field effects like similar practices and habitus, but does not show overt competition. I argue that the provision of organisational expertise in Hollywood is undertaken by organisational boundary spanners who operate within this relational space through the enactment of expertise networks, the construction of connecting interfaces, and the trading of expertise as short-lived, or proxy, capital. These findings contribute to the Bourdieusian field analysis and sociology of expertise by elucidating how social spaces interact, how social agents gain power through the inter-field exchange of expertise, and what happens in the field of power.

Nemone Lethbridge’s play Baby Blues on BBC television: maternal mental illness narratives, stigma and support in 1970s Britain

ABSTRACT In December 1973, the BBC aired Nemone Lethbridge’s auto-fictional play Baby Blues as one of their influential ‘Play for Today’ (PfT) series (1970–1984). This article explores the impact of Lethbridge’s controversial television play, which drew attention to taboo topics, such as infertility, caesarean section childbirth, infanticide, suicide, and, separately, motherhood ageism and dismissive medical professionals. It will illustrate how Lethbridge’s play Baby Blues was part of a broader change in discussing maternal mental illness and creating support for women experiencing postnatal depression and psychosis, instigated by the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM). The article situates Baby Blues within the wider history of the PfT series, with its focus on socio-political issues, and highlights the challenges Lethbridge faced in bringing the play to production. It analyses the mixed responses to the play, many of which were critical, and how this led to Lethbridge’s launching of a grass-roots self-help group, Depressives Anonymous (DA), in 1974, which was—and still is—a long-lasting legacy of Baby Blues. The article builds on the history of maternal mental illness as explored in women’s narratives and its association with stigma, support and feminism, alongside the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television series PfT, in 1970s Britain.

Television Series as a Didactic Tool in the Initial Training of Secondary School Teachers

Within the context of Pre-Service Secondary Teacher Education, skills development (PSTE) requires, among other things, the cultivation of critical thinking among future teachers, who must also acquire conflict prevention and resolution skills. To this end, the students of a master’s degree in Secondary School Teacher Training at a Spanish University were asked to analyse, in small groups, the conflicts featured in a television series. The research objective was to learn more about trainee teachers’ opinions regarding this methodology. The results indicate that they had favourable opinions about this method and were highly satisfied with the learning process and with the teamwork. Significant differences according to sex and age were observed. This suggests that forming more heterogeneous work groups in the future would be a good idea. The results also suggest that critical thinking was a good predictor of student satisfaction with the methodology. It would, therefore, be a good idea to develop critical thinking in more depth during PSTE.

Fold in the Cheese? An Approach to Teaching Qualitative Data Analysis to Students

There are many elements of qualitative data analysis that may appear intangible to novice researchers. In this article, I present an approach to a data analysis workshop with students, where I do my best to avoid the instruction to “fold in the cheese,” as per the television series Schitt’s Creek. Students attend 90-minute workshops where they use an assortment of buttons to practice different strategies of qualitative analysis. The tactile mechanism of sorting objects has proven invaluable in workshops, as it helps students to physically organize their thoughts and takes pressure off to find the “right” answer. The nature of the items could also be adapted to meet students’ accessibility needs. The workshop has improved the quality of student writing in methods chapters and built students’ confidence as they approach their own data analysis processes, especially for master’s students and research assistants, where a full-length course may not be feasible.

“Taking Comedy Seriously”: Humour in Lisa McGee’s Girls and Dolls

Laughter in the midst of tragedy can be one of life’s most disturbing, cathartic and enlightening experiences, a maxim experienced in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, one of the most painful periods of Irish history. Northern Irish playwrights were acutely aware of this when dealing with violence in their plays and so, however grim the events they depicted, the comic element was very much present. After the Good Friday Agreement, along with the change in the political situation in Northern Ireland, there was a generational change in the theatre. What seems to characterise this new wave is the ironic distance taken towards the sectarian divide and the consequences of the conflict on Northern Irish society, which is revealed above all in their use of humour. Lisa McGee, one of the most important representatives of the new generation thanks to the popularity of her television series Derry Girls, had already shown her maturity in her 2006 play Girls and Dolls, performed by Tinderbox the same year. McGee mixes the tragic and the comic to present the terrible consequences of childhood trauma alongside the violence of the late Troubles, while raising questions about guilt, the meaning of friendship and the subtle ways in which violence affects us. This article aims to analyse the different uses of humour employed by McGee to deal with tragic episodes and their theatrical effect, drawing on the existing research on humour in literature and McGee’s own observations given in an interview with the author on 3 March 2023.

Crematorio: An X-ray of corruption in contemporary Spain – A conversation with the Sánchez-Cabezudo brothers

The brothers Jorge and Alberto Sanchez-Cabezudo have a very important role in the leap in quality taken by Spanish series in the second decade of the twenty-first century. With referents such as The Sopranos (1999–2007) and The Wire (2002–08), they adapted film language and narrative style to television series with Crematorio (2011) and La Zona (The Zone) (2017–18). In this interview we talk specifically about Crematorio as a social and political critique of contemporary Spain.

Stigmatizing female success: The affective economies of leftover women in popular television dramas in China

This article sheds light on the media representations of successful women using the theorization of affective economies. We focus on four female characters in three popular television series: Andy in Ode to Joy (2016–17), Su Mingyu in All Is Well (2019) and Luo Zijun and Tang Jing in The First Half of My Life (2017). First, we begin by using television content analysis to examine the ways women are subjected to the paradoxical cultural values that stigmatize unmarried women as shengnü (‘leftover women’) while promoting the neo-liberal ideal of duli nüxing (‘independent women’). Second, to explore the affective economies of successful women and how feelings and cultural values are circulated among the female audience, we conduct an in-depth analysis of interviews with 21 female viewers in China. Third, we employ feminist critical discourse analysis to examine how these popular television dramas reflect changing gender norms in China, where new types of relationships are now deemed acceptable. We argue that these series have represented changing gender norms that successful women can achieve happiness by securing a ‘carefree’ romantic relationship, replacing marriage as the new happy ending.

Pengenalan Anime Sebagai Budaya Populer Jepang

Japanese culture has a unique wealth of traditions, modern impressions, and continuity between the past and the present. Within this culture, key elements such as Shinto, social etiquette, traditional arts, and popular culture, including anime, have a significant impact both locally and globally. Anime is a term used to refer to animation originating from Japan. This term internationally refers to any type of animation from Japan, whether in the form of films, television series, or short videos. Anime has a distinctive art style, with characters having big eyes, colorful hair, and dramatic facial expressions. It spans a wide range of genres, from action, adventure, drama, comedy, fantasy, horror, to science fiction. The purpose of this activity is to introduce Japanese popular culture through anime into cross-disciplinary curricula, aiming to enhance students’ critical and creative thinking skills, collaboration abilities, and technological proficiency. The methods employed in this activity include lectures and project-based learning. This activity was attended by students from various departments and study programs, with 32 registered students. The outcomes of this activity demonstrate an improvement in students’ understanding of popular Japanese anime culture, critical and creative thinking skills, collaboration abilities, and technological proficiency. Tangible output includes interactive learning videos. This activity introducing Japanese popular culture, anime, has made a positive contribution to cross-disciplinary curricula. It is hoped that this activity will continue to be integrated into cross-disciplinary curricula in the future.

Before Stockholm: Emotions and Victimhood in Mediterranean Kidnapping Narratives, 1866–1921

Abstract Fifty years ago, the infamous bank robbery and ensuing hostage crisis that took place in a Stockholm bank gave rise to the so-called ‘Stockholm syndrome’. Though never recognized as a valid medical diagnosis, the (allegedly) pathological relationship between kidnapper and hostage has become an omnipresent media phenomenon that inspires movies and television series to this day. However, this forced bond was not always seen as problematic. The years between 1860 and 1910 witnessed the rise of kidnappings in the Mediterranean world (Southern Italy, Greece, the Ottoman Balkan region, and Morocco) involving English, American, and European hostages. Today, we know about these incidents from autobiographical narratives by the former captives. They painted a surprisingly favourable picture of their captors – and found enthusiastic audiences for their stories. Looking at the interplay of feelings, coercion, and empowerment, the article opens up a new perspective on the history of emotions that brings both victims and perpetrators into the picture.

(Re-)Writing the Holocaust After Brexit: The Afterlives of British Fiction

ABSTRACT This article examines the representation of a Nazi-occupied Britain in post-2016 reworkings of earlier alternative histories in which Britain lost the war. It does so by placing the 2017 television series SS-GB and C. J. Carey’s 2021 novel Widowland in conversation with their original counterparts: Len Deighton’s 1978 novel of the same name and Robert Harris’ Fatherland of 1992, respectively. Each text therefore has to imagine the consequences of Nazi victory for the Jews of Britain. Appearing in a post-Brexit context in which questions of national sovereignty and identity have been contentiously brought to the fore, these adaptations reveal a tendency towards British heroism in the face of European domination, and reinforce the isolationist messages that had been central to the referendum’s ‘Leave’ campaign. In each case, the British setting reveals the potential for political danger to be found close to home. The encroachment of what had been considered the European malaise of antisemitic murder into the British present is articulated through the act of revision and adaptation. This article shows how the themes of the original works were employed post-2016, and asks why the wartime murder of the Jews is ultimately not their central concern.

Dancemania: Analyzing the Commercialization of Dance Crew Competitions

This research delves into the intricate landscape of commercialization within dance crew competitions, employing a focused examination of prominent television series, notably the widely recognized "Dancemania." As the dance competition model gains unprecedented popularity and financial success, there is a discernible risk that the core authenticity of this expressive art form may be compromised. Rather than adhering to artistic values, there is a growing concern that these competitions may veer towards catering primarily to mass entertainment tastes. To comprehensively unravel the increasing commercial influences and economic incentives shaping the competition format, this study employs a multifaceted approach. Interviews and surveys are conducted, drawing perspectives from dance professionals, competitors, and television producers intimately involved in the dance competition milieu. Through qualitative insights and firsthand accounts, the paper aims to shed light on the evolving dynamics propelled by commercial interests. Quantitative data analysis forms a critical component of this research, uncovering correlations that exist between success metrics and influential factors, such as viewership ratings, which may take precedence over the technical prowess of dance ability. The findings from this analysis serve as a catalyst for discussions surrounding potential policy and structural adjustments. The overarching objective is to realign the priorities of competitive dance with a renewed emphasis on artistic values, countering the prevailing trend of prioritizing commercial interests. This research signals the need for holistic interventions and shifts in the competition landscape to preserve the inherent artistic integrity of dance within a commercialized context.

INFLUENCE OF TELEVISION SERIALS ON THE EMOTIONAL STABILITY OF HOMEMAKERS

The present study titled “Influence of television serials on the emotional stability of homemakers” aims to discussed about the relationship between demographic features such as age, gender, marital status and education qualification of home makers who are regularly watching television serials on emotional stability and the reasons for watching television serials. Convenience sampling method was adopted for the selection of sample of 97 homemakers in Palakkad district. Friedman test, independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA was adopted to study the relationship. It was found that there is no substantial difference between age, gender of the homemakers on emotional stability. But the factor marital status and education qualification has a significant relation with the emotional stability. Relaxation is found to be the most important reason for watching television serials by the homemakers.

The Role of Turkish TV Series in the Formation of Perception about Turkey and Turkish People: The Cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan

We can say that television still plays an important role in the area of visual media. TV series, commercials and entertainment programs occupy a large place in the daily life of viewers. In particular, the perception, attitude and, accordingly, attitude change in viewers resulting from television series is a phenomenon that gives rise to curiosity in researchers. Therefore, this study aims to measure the level of perception about Turkey and Turkish people in viewers created by Turkish TV series broadcast abroad. The main claim of our research is that Turkish TV series can lead to a country and nation perception in viewers, while the viewers might develop an interest in and affinity with Turkey and Turkish people. In the framework of these arguments, a fieldwork was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan, which was the research universe of the present study. In the light of the data obtained, the perceptions of the viewers about the personality traits of Turkish people, their perceptions of Turkey's power, life in Turkey and Turkey's active role were influential on the wish to have an affinity with Turkey. Increased interest in Turkey was found to have resulted in increased wish to have an affinity with Turkish people and Turkey.

The Reception of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables in the Brazilian Context

Applying the theoretical contributions of the reception theories of Hans Robert Jauss, this short essay discusses the reception of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables in the Brazilian context, reflecting on the reasons that this novel became popular and flourished in several translations and adaptations only recently; more specifically, the essay relates this to the growth of reading levels, a government initiative for public school libraries, and the television series adaptation Anne with an “E.”

Prostitution adjacent: the politics and performance of mediated motherhood and sex work

ABSTRACT American television producers have created a slew of television series that focus on motherhood’s experience and meanings. This paper examines how SMILF (Showtime, 2017–2019) and The Deuce (HBO, 2017-) depict the intersection of motherhood and sex work under a capitalist and neoliberal society. Both series aired in 2017 when U.S. conversations around women’s bodily agency increased and thus, intervene in historical and current debates regarding women’s bodies and motherhood. I situate this paper within feminist television criticism informed by motherhood studies to examine cultural meanings circulated by each series. This paper reveals the connections between sex workers and mothers concerning their gendered labor and how this intersection displays neoliberal paradigms that govern mothers. While both series explore sex work seriously in the context of motherhood, I argue that SMILF and The Deuce suggest their characters’ labor is only moral if carried out for the sake of their children. Ultimately, these series complicate discourses around motherhood and sex work and reinforce dominant neoliberal narratives around the morality of motherhood in American culture.