Summary
Summary FAM1000S Exam Notes: Television Section
- Institution
- University Of Cape Town (UCT)
summary of information about television in fam1000s course. info on other sections included in different summaries
[Show more]
Content preview
Television1
,Television Narrative
Television narratives
Are changing
Old rules no longer apply
o Were defined by television structure in relation to films
Television: connectivity
- Unifies media + home
- Replace by numerous media technologies > laptops
Traditional television audiences
Collective family viewing
Access to events as they happen
o ‘liveness’
Intimacy
Viewers tune in at broadcast times
Television
- Episodic + serial
- Transient
- Often derivative
- Emphasizes a lack of narrative closure
- Narratives are smaller in scale + scope
Realist not epic
- Domestic
- Analysing television
As a medium > flow + segmentation
Audiences
‘Liveness’
Genres
Narrative
Flow
Scheduling + serial nature of texts
Characteristics of TV + audience’s experience
Segmentation/fragmentation
Individual shows broken by ads/short texts
Groups of texts vs. Unique/individual texts
Repetitious + routine
- Content
Domestic concerns + commodities
Privileges character over plot + familiarity over difference/escapist fantasy
Intertextual + self-referential
2
, Commercial + educational concerns
Immediacy + reality > “reality genres”
- Style
Dialogue driven > sound dominates picture in TV
Predominance of close-ups + interior/staged settings
Direct address > acknowledge + involve audience
Conversational/informal tone
- The role of television
Express cultural consensus + concerns
Naturalise the culture’s dominant value system
Celebrate/showcase/interrogate/justify the actions of cultural representatives
Public figures
Celebrities
Politicians
Reinforce + question societies ways of dealing with conflict
Transmit a feeling of socio-cultural citizenship + involvement
Extend range + reach of the viewer’s experience + sphere of moral concern
Enrich our understanding of the world + global issues
As our theoretical ideas about television develop, the medium also rapidly changes
- Television focuses on close groupings or relationships that become substitute families
Narrative complexity
- Definition
Redefinition of episodic forms under the influence of serial narration
Distinct narrational mode
Predicated on specific facets of storytelling
Challenging the norms of what the medium can do
- Narrative confronts television style
- Foregrounds ongoing stories across a range of genres
- Widens the scope of serialisation beyond the traditional model of the soap opera
- Influences
Convergence of film + TV aesthetics > rise in critical reception of television narrative
drama
Changes in TV programming away from syndication
Changes in technology > viewing platforms
Difference between humour and comedy
- Comedy = genre
- Humour = element of any text/incident
- Comedy =
The representation of an ignoble act that invokes disgust
This manifests as some form of unjustified good fortune/inappropriate behaviour
This doesn’t cause the viewer discomfort > recognised as a form of ridiculous
3
, - Forms of comedy
Wit
Wordplay
Cultural references
“aristocratic aspect” of comedy (Frank Muir)
Slapstick
Action induces laughter
Humour
Observation of everyday life + people
- Humour as
Immanent
Psychological theories > humour is a reversal or destabilization of a state of
equilibrium which is then restored
Negotiated
Social theory where humour is contextualized + must be
encoded/decoded/interpreted/misinterpreted + reliant on social contexts +
permissions
- Comedy
Comedy is about class
Often upper classes are the object of scorn + humorous contempt
Characters are stuck with one another
Main characters
Represent broad aspects of social personalities
Often contrasting aspects
Respond mechanically to stimulus from plot
4
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through EFT, credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying this summary from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller byrondevin. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy this summary for R130,00. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
53068 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy summaries for 14 years now