Television studies
Encyclopedia
Television studies is an academic discipline that deals with critical approaches to television
. Usually, it is distinguished from mass-communication research, which tends to approach the topic from an empirical
perspective. Defining the field is problematic; some institutions and syllabuses do not distinguish it from media studies
or classify it as a subfield of popular culture studies
.
Television studies is roughly equivalent to the longer-standing discipline of film studies
in that it is often concerned with textual analysis. For example, analyses of so-called "quality television
," such as Cathy Come Home
and Twin Peaks
, have attracted the interests of researchers for their cinematic
qualities. However, television studies can also incorporate the study of television viewing and how audience
s make meaning from texts, which is commonly known as audience theory
or reception theory
.
, politics
, communication arts, speech, theatre, media and film studies." She argues that television studies developed during the 1970s and 1980s "...from three major bodies of commentary on television: journalism
, literary/dramatic criticism and the social sciences." Critical methods for television have been "...extrapolated from traditional literary and dramatic criticism."
As a result, television studies is marked by a great deal of "disciplinary hybridity." Perhaps because television scholars are approaching the subject from so many different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, there are many debates about how television should be understood and conceptualized from a political and methodological point of view. Another impact of the disciplinary hybridity is the diversity in the types of studies carried out. Early television studies included histories of television, biographies of television producer
s, archival research by historians, and sociological studies of the role the television set played in 1950s homes.
In television studies, television and other mass media
forms are "...conceptualised within frameworks" such as "...ownership; national and international regulation
of media production and distribution; professional ideologies; public opinion; [and] media audiences." As the field of television studies was being developed, it was influenced by the medium's longstanding issue of invoking "distrust, fear and contempt", as a purported cause of social ills. As well, television scholars had to prove that television was different from other "mass media", often by pointing to how television differed from radio and cinema.
In the 1970s and 1980s, television studies developed three strands of commentary: a journalistic approach which reviews recent television program
s; a literary/dramatic criticism approach which examines the television screenwriter in the same way that literary and dramatic criticism examine novels and plays; and the social sciences, which examined the "production, circulation and function of television in contemporary society."
The social science stream examined the social function and effects of television and analyzed the role that television plays in the social order and the public sphere. Some television scholars applied Marxist frameworks or the "critical sociology of the Frankfurt School
". Since the 1970s, feminist television scholars have focused "... on programmes for women and those which have key female protagonists", such as Julie D'Acci's study of the police drama Cagney and Lacey and the "...now substantial literature on soap opera
." Television studies in the 1990s includes "work on the definition and interpretation of the television text and the new media ethnographies of viewing" and histories of "production studies" - how television shows are developed, financed, and produced.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Usually, it is distinguished from mass-communication research, which tends to approach the topic from an empirical
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
perspective. Defining the field is problematic; some institutions and syllabuses do not distinguish it from media studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
or classify it as a subfield of popular culture studies
Popular culture studies
Popular culture studies is the academic discipline studying popular culture from a critical theory perspective. It is generally considered as a combination of communication studies and cultural studies....
.
Television studies is roughly equivalent to the longer-standing discipline of film studies
Film studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies...
in that it is often concerned with textual analysis. For example, analyses of so-called "quality television
Quality television
Quality television is a term used by television scholars, television critics, and broadcasting advocacy groups to describe a genre or style of television programming that they argue is of higher quality, due to its subject matter, style, or content...
," such as Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home is a 1966 BBC television play by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach, about homelessness. An industry poll rated it as the best British television drama ever made. Filmed in a gritty, realistic drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 16...
and Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
, have attracted the interests of researchers for their cinematic
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
qualities. However, television studies can also incorporate the study of television viewing and how audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
s make meaning from texts, which is commonly known as audience theory
Audience theory
Audience theory is an element of thinking that developed within academic literary theory and cultural studies.With a specific focus on rhetoric, some, such as Walter Ong, have suggested that the audience is a construct made up by the rhetoric and the rhetorical situation the text is addressing...
or reception theory
Reception theory
Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text. It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models. In literary studies, reception theory originated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss in...
.
History
Charlotte Brunsdon argues that television studies is an "aspirationally disciplinary name given to the academic study of television." Since it is a relatively new discipline, Brunsdon notes that "...many of the key television scholars are employed in departments of sociologySociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, communication arts, speech, theatre, media and film studies." She argues that television studies developed during the 1970s and 1980s "...from three major bodies of commentary on television: journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, literary/dramatic criticism and the social sciences." Critical methods for television have been "...extrapolated from traditional literary and dramatic criticism."
As a result, television studies is marked by a great deal of "disciplinary hybridity." Perhaps because television scholars are approaching the subject from so many different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, there are many debates about how television should be understood and conceptualized from a political and methodological point of view. Another impact of the disciplinary hybridity is the diversity in the types of studies carried out. Early television studies included histories of television, biographies of television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
s, archival research by historians, and sociological studies of the role the television set played in 1950s homes.
In television studies, television and other mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
forms are "...conceptualised within frameworks" such as "...ownership; national and international regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
of media production and distribution; professional ideologies; public opinion; [and] media audiences." As the field of television studies was being developed, it was influenced by the medium's longstanding issue of invoking "distrust, fear and contempt", as a purported cause of social ills. As well, television scholars had to prove that television was different from other "mass media", often by pointing to how television differed from radio and cinema.
In the 1970s and 1980s, television studies developed three strands of commentary: a journalistic approach which reviews recent television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
s; a literary/dramatic criticism approach which examines the television screenwriter in the same way that literary and dramatic criticism examine novels and plays; and the social sciences, which examined the "production, circulation and function of television in contemporary society."
The social science stream examined the social function and effects of television and analyzed the role that television plays in the social order and the public sphere. Some television scholars applied Marxist frameworks or the "critical sociology of the Frankfurt School
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
". Since the 1970s, feminist television scholars have focused "... on programmes for women and those which have key female protagonists", such as Julie D'Acci's study of the police drama Cagney and Lacey and the "...now substantial literature on soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
." Television studies in the 1990s includes "work on the definition and interpretation of the television text and the new media ethnographies of viewing" and histories of "production studies" - how television shows are developed, financed, and produced.
Television scholars
Scholars who principally work in television studies include:- Robert C. AllenRobert C. AllenRobert C. Allen is Professor of Economic History at Oxford University and a fellow of Nuffield College.He obtained his BA at Carleton College in 1969 and his PhD at Harvard University in 1975...
- Ien AngIen AngIen Ang is Professor of Cultural Studies at the Centre for Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney , Australia, where she was the founding director and is currently an ARC Professorial Fellow...
- Glen Creeber
- Jane FeuerJane FeuerJane Feuer is Professor of film studies in the English and Communication Departments at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a film and television studies scholar and one of the founders of Console-ing Passions, a biennial conference in feminism, television, video and new media.She is the author of...
- John FiskeJohn Fiske (media studies)John Fiske is a media scholar who has taught around the world, most notably as Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His areas of interest include popular culture, mass culture, and television studies...
- Christine Geraghty
- John HartleyJohn Hartley (academic)John Hartley is an ARC Federation Fellow and a Distinguished Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, where he is Research Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation. He was Foundation Dean of the Creative Industries Faculty at QUT, and before that...
- Henry JenkinsHenry JenkinsHenry Jenkins III is an American media scholar and currently a Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC School of Cinematic Arts...
- Toby MillerToby MillerToby Miller is a British/Australian-American interdisciplinary social scientist with areas of concentration including cultural studies and media studies. He is also the author of several books, numerous articles, and is a guest commentator on television and radio programs across the globe...
- Jason MittellJason MittellJason Mittell is an associate professor of American studies and film and media culture at Middlebury College whose research interests include the history of television, media, culture, and new media. He is author of two books, Genre and Television and Television and American Culture...
- David Morley
- Horace Newcomb
- Neil PostmanNeil PostmanNeil Postman was an American author, media theorist and cultural critic, who is best known by the general public for his 1985 book about television, Amusing Ourselves to Death. For more than forty years, he was associated with New York University...
- Lynn SpigelLynn SpigelLynn Spigel is the Frances E. Willard Professor of Screen Cultures at the School of Communication at Northwestern University. She has written extensively on numerous topics including post war culture and popular media. She has also edited numerous anthologies including Television after TV and...
- Raymond WilliamsRaymond WilliamsRaymond Henry Williams was a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. He was an influential figure within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature are a significant contribution to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts...
See also
- Four Arguments for the Elimination of TelevisionFour Arguments for the Elimination of TelevisionFour Arguments for the Elimination of Television is a book written by Jerry Mander which argues that there are a number of problems with the medium of television...
- Media psychologyMedia PsychologyMedia Psychology seeks an understanding of how people perceive, interpret, use, and respond to a media-rich world. In doing so, media psychologists can identify potential benefits and problems and promote the development of positive media ....
- Social aspects of televisionSocial aspects of televisionThe social aspects of television are influences this medium has had on society since its inception. The belief that this impact has been dramatic has been largely unchallenged in media theory since its inception...
- Television production
Journals
The following journals are either devoted to television studies or, at the least, frequently include TV-studies essays.- Cinema JournalCinema JournalThe Cinema Journal is published by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies . It features articles on film studies, television studies, media studies, visual arts, cultural studies, film and media history, and moving image studies....
— published by the Society for Cinema and Media StudiesSociety for Cinema and Media StudiesThe Society for Cinema and Media Studies is an organization of professors and scholars. Its home office is at the University of Oklahoma, but it has members throughout the world....
. - Critical Studies in Television: Scholarly Studies in Small Screen Fictions — a print journal and online research resource, published by Manchester University Press.
- FlowFlow (journal)Flow is an online journal of television and media studies, published by the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. It was conceived by graduate students Christopher Lucas and Avi Santo and launched in October 2004....
— an online journal of television and media studies published biweekly by the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. - Journal of Film and VideoJournal of Film and VideoThe Journal of Film and Video is the official academic journal of the University Film and Video Association. It features articles on film and video production, history, theory, criticism, and aesthetics. The journal is published by the University of Illinois Press and the current editor is Stephen...
— published by the University Film and Video AssociationUniversity Film and Video AssociationThe University Film and Video Association is an organization of professors, scholars, and film and video makers. Although it is based in the U.S., it has members throughout the world.Its stated description is:...
. - Jump CutJump Cut (journal)Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media is a refereed journal devoted to the analysis of film, television, video and related media. Its stated goal is to approach its subject from a "nonsectarian left, feminist, and anti-imperialist" perspective...
— review of contemporary media. - Screen — film and TV journal, particularly influential during the 1970s and 1980s.
- The Velvet Light Trap — long-running film and media journal.
Further reading
- Allen, Robert C. and Annette Hill, eds., The Television Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2004)
- Bignell, Jonathan. An Introduction to Television Studies (New York: Routledge, 2004)
- Boddy, William. Fifties Television: The Industry And Its Critics. Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1990.
- Brandt, George. British Television Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
- Casey, Bernadette; Neil Casey, Ben Calvert, Liam French, Justin Lewis, Television Studies: The Key Concepts (New York: Routlege, 2002)
- Corner, John. Critical Ideas in Television Studies (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999)
- Feuer, Jane, Paul Kerr, and Tise Vahimagi. MTM: "Quality TelevisionQuality TeleVisionQ was a commercial television station in the Philippines and it is owned and operated by GMA Network, Inc. An airtime block agreement between GMA Network Inc. and ZOE Broadcasting Network started its commercial operation in November 2005 using DZOE-TV channel 11 frequency...
." London: British Film Institute, 1984. - Fiske, JohnJohn Fiske (media studies)John Fiske is a media scholar who has taught around the world, most notably as Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His areas of interest include popular culture, mass culture, and television studies...
. Television Culture. London: Methuen, 1987. - Fiske, John and John Hartley. Reading Television. London: Methuen, 1978.
- Geraghty, Christine and David Lusted, eds., The Television Studies Book (New York: Arnold, 1998)
- Goldie, Grace Wyndham. Facing The Nation: Television And Politics, 1936-1976. London: The Bodley Head, 1978.
- Hall, Stuart. Early Writings On Television. London: Routledge, 1997.
- Halloran, James. The Effects Of Television. London: Panther, 1970.
- Kaplan, E. Ann. Regarding Television. Los Angeles: American Film Institute, 1983.
- Miller, Toby ed., Television Studies (London: BFI, 2002).
- Morley, David. Television, Audiences And Cultural Power. London: Routledge, 1992.
- Newcomb, Horace. TV: The Most Popular Art. New York: Doubleday, 1974.
- Newcomb, Horace, and Paul Hirsch. "Television as a Cultural Forum: Implications for Research." In Newcomb, Horace, editor. Television: The Critical View. New York: Oxford, 1994.
- Williams, Raymond. Television, Technology And Cultural Form. London: Fontana, 1974.
- Sartori. Homo Videns.