Theorising Media: Power, Form and Subjectivity

Transcription

1 University Press Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 80 items for: keywords : television Troy Kennedy Martin Lez Cooke Published in print: Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This book provides a full-length study of the screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, whose work for film and television includes Z Cars, The Italian Job, Kelly's Heroes, The Sweeney, Reilly Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness. With a career spanning six decades, Kennedy Martin has seen the rise and fall of the television dramatist, making his debut in the era of studiobased television drama in the late 1950s. This was prior to the transition to filmed drama (for which he argued in a famous manifesto), as the television play was gradually replaced by popular series and serials, for which Kennedy Martin, of course, created some of his best work. Theorising Media: Power, Form and Subjectivity John Corner Published in print: 2011 Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This book explores how issues of power, form and subjectivity feature at the core of all serious thinking about the media, including appreciations of their creativity as well as anxiety about the risks they pose. Drawing widely on an interdisciplinary literature, the author connects his exposition to examples from film, television, radio, photography, painting, web practice, music and writing in order to bring in topics as diverse as reporting the war in Afghanistan, the televising of football, documentary portrayals of 9/11, reality television, the diversity of taste in the arts and the construction of civic identity. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, three big chapters on each of the key notions provide an interconnected discussion of the media activities opened up for exploration and the debates they have provoked. The second part presents examples, arguments and analysis drawing on the Page 1 of 6

2 author's previous work around the core themes, with notes placing them in the context of the whole book. The book brings together concepts both from Social Studies and the Arts and Humanities, addressing a readership wider than the sub-specialisms of media research. It refreshes ideas about why the media matter, and how understanding them better remains a key aim of cultural inquiry and a continuing requirement for public policy. State of Play: Contemporary 'High-end' TV Drama Robin Nelson Published in print: 2007 Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This book updates and develops the arguments of TV drama in transition (1997). It sets its analysis of the aesthetics and compositional principles of texts within a broad conceptual framework (technologies, institutions, economics, cultural trends). Tracing the great value shift from conduit to content (Todreas, 1999), the book's view is relatively optimistic about the future quality of TV drama in a global market-place. But, characteristically taking up questions of worth where others have avoided them, it recognises that certain types of quality are privileged for viewers able to pay, possibly at the expense of viewer preference worldwide for local resonances in television. The mix of arts and cultural studies methodologies makes for an unusual approach. Tony Garnett Stephen Lacey Published in print: Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This is a book-length study of one of the most respected and prolific producers working in British television. From ground-breaking dramas from the 1960s such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home to the must-see series in the 1990s and 2000s such as This Life and The Cops, Tony Garnett has produced some of the most important and influential British television drama. This book charts his career from his early days as an actor to his position as executive producer and head of World Productions, focusing on the ways in which he has helped to define the role of the creative producer, shaping the distinctive politics and aesthetics of the drama he has produced, and enabling and facilitating the contributions of others. Garnett's distinctive contribution to the Page 2 of 6

3 development of a social realist aesthetic is also examined, through the documentary-inspired early single plays to the subversion of genre within popular drama series. Mike Leigh Tony Whitehead Published in print: Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ Mike Leigh may well be Britain's greatest living film director; his worldview has permeated our national consciousness. This book gives detailed readings of the nine feature films he has made for the cinema, as well as an overview of his work for television. Written with the cooperation of Leigh himself, it challenges the critical privileging of realism in histories of British cinema, placing the emphasis instead on the importance of comedy and humour: of jokes and their functions; of laughter as a survival mechanism; and of characterisations and situations that disrupt our preconceptions of realism. Striving for the all-important quality of truth in everything he does, Leigh has consistently shown how ordinary lives are too complex to fit snugly into the conventions of narrative art. From the bittersweet observation of Life is Sweet or Secrets and Lies, to the blistering satire of Naked and the manifest compassion of Vera Drake, he has demonstrated a matchless ability to perceive life's funny side as well as its tragedies. Introduction Troy Kennedy Martin in Troy Kennedy Martin Published in print: Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: Item type: chapter manchester/ This chapter explores the known Kennedy Martin, organised according to the following categories: the single play, the theory and practice of experimental and non-naturalistic television drama and the creation of and contributions to popular drama series. Television, like the film industry, is a collaborative medium and through interviews with some of the people with whom Kennedy Martin has worked, in addition to the analysis of individual productions, this chapter reveals the ways in which the work of Troy Kennedy Martin is the product of collaboration with other writers, producers, script editors and directors. The main Page 3 of 6

4 objective is to explore the work of one writer in relation to historical developments in British television drama. The book therefore adopts a largely chronological structure, starting with Kennedy Martin's early television scripts, which were broadcast live, and tracing his involvement in the aesthetic debates that accompanied technological and institutional changes in British television. Conclusion Peter Buse, Núria Triana Toribio, and Andy Willis in The Cinema of Alex de la Iglesia Published in print: 2007 Published Online: July ISBN: eisbn: Item type: chapter manchester/ This chapter provides a synoptic view on the contributions of Álex de la Inglesia, a unique filmmaker. Jordi Sánchez Navarro, in Freaks en acción notes that de la Iglesia's films address an audience fluent in television, superhero comics, the costumbrista humour of Bruguera's comic strips, the sense of adventure of Tintin, the cinema of genres, Hitchcock and Star Wars. De la Iglesia's two projects immediately after Crimen Ferpecto the television movie La habitación del niño and the feature-length Oxford Crimes appear to illustrate the bifurcation in the director's work. Oxford Crimes is a literary adaptation based on the novel The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martínez, and is to be filmed in English with a British cast. It is a thriller, and is therefore firmly rooted in a popular genre. A sense of place: Regional British television drama, Lez Cooke Published in print: Published Online: May 2015 ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This pioneering study examines regional British television drama from its beginnings on the BBC and ITV in the 1950s to the arrival of Channel Four in It discusses the ways in which regionalism, regional culture and regional identity have been defined historically, outlines the history of regional broadcasting in the UK, and includes two detailed case studies of Granada Television and BBC English Regions Drama representing contrasting examples of regional television drama production during what is often described as the golden age of British television. The conclusion brings the study up to date by discussing Page 4 of 6

5 recent developments in regional drama production, and by considering future possibilities. A Sense of Place is based on original research and draws on interviews by the author with writers, producers, directors and executives including John Finch, Denis Forman, Alan Plater, David Rose, Philip Saville and Herbert Wise. It analyses a wide range of television plays, series and serials, including many previously given little attention such as The Younger Generation (1961), The Villains ( ), City 68 ( ), Second City Firsts ( ), Trinity Tales (1975) and Empire Road ( ). Written in a scholarly but accessible style the book uncovers a forgotten history of British television drama that will be of interest to lecturers and students of television, media and cultural studies, as well as the general reader with an interest in the history of British television. Jimmy McGovern Steve Blandford Published in print: 2013 Published Online: September 2013 ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This is the first book-length study of one of the most significant of all British television writers, Jimmy McGovern. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all his work for television including early writing on Brookside, major documentary dramas such as Hillsborough and Sunday and more recent series such as The Street and Accused. Whilst the book is firmly focused on McGovern s own work, the range of his output over the period in which he has been working also provides something of an overview of the radical changes in television drama commissioning that have taken place during this time. Without compromising his deeply-held convictions McGovern has managed to adapt to an ever changing environment, often using his position as a sought-after writer to defy industry trends. The book also challenges the notion of McGovern as an uncomplicated social realist in stylistic terms. Looking particularly at his later work, a case is made for McGovern employing a greater range of narrative approaches, albeit subtly and within boundaries that allow him to continue to write for large popular audiences. Finally it is worth pointing to the book s examination of McGovern s role in recent years as a mentor to new voices, frequently acting as a creative producer on series that he part-writes and part brings through different less-experienced names. Page 5 of 6

6 The BBC's Irish troubles: Television, conflict and Northern Ireland Robert Savage Published in print: 2015 Published Online: January 2016 ISBN: eisbn: manchester/ This book explores how news and information about the conflict in Northern Ireland was disseminated through the most accessible, powerful and popular form of media: television. It focuses on the BBC and considers how its broadcasts complicated the Troubles by challenging decisions, policies and tactics developed by governments trying to defeat a stubborn insurgency that threatened national security. The BBC s Irish Troubles explores the incessant wrangling between political elites, civil servants, military officials, broadcasting authorities and journalists about what should and should not be featured on the regional and national networks of BBC television. In many cases the anxiety and controversy created by these political skirmishes challenged the ability of the medium to accurately inform citizens of important events taking place within the United Kingdom, thereby undermining the BBC s role as a public service provider. The crisis in Northern Ireland tested the integrity and independence of the BBC, one of the most trusted and respected media outlets in the world. Throughout the conflict, the BBC was attacked, threatened and bullied, by a variety of actors but did its best to stand its ground and maintain editorial independence and journalistic credibility. In spite of the infamous broadcasting restrictions put in place in 1988, professional staff remained determined to provide the public with informed news and information about the crisis. Senior broadcasting officials pushed back against awkward government efforts to silence voices that, although unpalatable, were critical to comprehending and eventually resolving a long and bloody conflict. Page 6 of 6