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Textual Analysis and Representation

There are four main forces at work in media production

Technological
Economical
Cultural
Regulatory

Representation is a cultural force as it relates to tastes, identity and culture shaped interests. But representation is also related to regulation, controlled in the UK by OFCOM. Technology plays heavily as people are able to watch television in different ways, staggered or all at once- this is known as a fragmented audience. Economy weighs in heavily as before and expensive series is made it must e known if it can recoup its losses.

Textual Analysis is a form of media literacy which allows people to understand the narrative of a television drama and make a critical response by deconstructing it. It is built of 3 components

Analysis of micro elements
Conclude from the micro elements a range of macro representations
Consider how different people may respond differently to these representations

Representation

Representation is often done through symbols such as clothing or names which work to immediately represent an idea in the viewers mind i.e. a tie immediately represents a formal man. These symbols can also function as metaphors.

Verisimilitude

This is the construction of a text as a plausible believable world, although it may have its own internal logic i.e. Doctor Who of be grounded in reality like Eastenders there still needs to be some semblance of realty for which the audience can relate. It also often reflects the representations of gender, age and ethnicity as well as social groups, places, time periods and themes. I.e. glaring anachronisms may take remove peoples investment in the programme they are watching.

The main questions within this are

What kind of realism is being attempted by the programme?
Who is being represented in the drama, and how?
Who is not being represented in the drama, and why?
Can we identify any characters that are stereotypical representations?
Is there a dominant view of the world represented in the drama, or are there several different views to choose from?
What different responses might audience members make to these representations?

TV Drama

Television dramas use representation very differently by different genres and even within genre.

Teen Drama is a very broad sub-genre which has a large range of representation i.e. in Skins, Hollyoaks and Grange Hill. In general, however, they tend to deal with social issues concerning their target age group i.e. pregnancy, rape, drug & alcohol abuse, sexuality, youth crimes and relationships; which they do through a range of teenage archetypes.

Shows such as skins represent teenagers as out of control and often hinge on drug fuelled parties, there is some debate as to whether this is an accurate representation of teenage life of an idealistic portrayal viewers aspire to. A show like Grange Hill, however, works to represent a more

Urban type of teen life in which characters typically behaved negatively and often worked as an after school special-esque parable to warn children away from similar behaviour and tended to fall on teen stereotypes such as the a criminal one, a young couple, and a child with troubled home lives. These broad character types are in place so anyone watching will identify with at least one character.

Soap Operas employ distinctive conventions that attempt representation

The constant illusion of real time
Precise continuity
Tease devices and cliff hangers
Combinations of action (information for the viewer) and enigma (questions raised for the viewer)
The dominance of two-shots and over-the-shoulder shots of conversations (over 90 percent of soaps are devoted to conversation between pairs of people)
Establishing shots (of locations) and tableaux (groups of people composed dramatically)
Coverage of current social issues
Meeting places that allow for gossip to circulate
Narrative flow and nostalgic and perhaps outdated depiction of community
Interweaving storylines in each episode
Partial closure of storylines
Music used as motif (for example, the drums at the end of Eastenders)
The dominance of diegetic sound (With the exception of Hollyoaks)
Highly symbolic costumes and set designs (for example the choice of curtains in a family’s house reinforces to the audience what ‘type’ of people they are)
A ‘kitchen sink’ mise-en-scene (naturalistic, domestic, personal)

Period Dramas

High production values and therefore ‘filmic’
Historical authenticity
Representations to be somewhat reflective of modern day issues
If based on literature i.e. Pride and Prejudice then faithful to source, but with some dramatic license to make the material more relevant i.e. Sherlock

Hospital Dramas

Focus on staff relationships
Case-of-the-week type patients used to create drama
Stereotypical characters
Large range of occupational roles, i.e. surgeon and janitor

Crime Dramas

Either procedural with a different case each week with episodes only connected through recurring character(s), usually a policeman, lawyer etc
Serialised, in which there is still often a procedural aspect but the core character’s relationships develop over time
Crime shows set up 5 key binaries:

Crime/ the police
Criminals/ the criminal justice system
Lawyers versus courts
Social workers versus the police
Victims versus the public

Shared Conventions include:

Characters who offer ‘shorthand’ representations of real types of people (or stereotypes)
Narrative which is visually presented and demands high levels of active audience understanding (of what is assumed to happen between edits-the difference between plot and story)
Mise en scene– (costume, props, lighting, locations, elements of performance- these things add up to an instantly recognisable atmosphere which is authentic for the events, themes and people that are represented in the drama)
Camerawork that ensures continuity and creates drama through visual conventions
Dialogue, sound and music which creates a balance between verisimilitude (the believable logic of the texts world which appears real) and drama (dialogue which might be less ‘polished in the real world, music which tells the audience that we should feel scared, happy, tense, romantic, sad or amused).

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