Television

"Emma McEvoy writes, the “Gothic is… dynamic and endlessly reinvents itself.” It has done so once again in FX’s Justified, a show steeped so strongly in the Southern Gothic that it shoulders comfortably alongside Faulkner, O’Connor, and McCullers, filled with complicated characters trapped by tragic repetition of the past. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is circumscribed by not only his own past, particularly his childhood friendship with criminal/ outlaw Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), but also by his family’s legacy and their inescapable tie to the rural and insular Eastern Kentucky setting of Harlan County. The poverty of the region creates a twisted, hardscrabble backdrop that foregrounds violence and desperation, and the derelict, decayed structures that the characters inhabit are often brought starkly into contrast against the wild, verdant natural landscape surrounding them. The twisting topography of the area follows the Gothic tradition of obfuscated landscapes, and here dirt roads and hollers stand in for ubiquitous fog.

The dive bars, ramshackle general stores, roadside motels, and trailer homes of Harlan and surrounding areas also highlight the disparity between blue-collar coal mining country and the gleaming governmental edifices of the Lexington courthouses and posh homes of the Kentucky upper crust. Examining the manner in which this emphasizes the Gothic tradition of separating the barbarous from the civilized and the more specific tradition in the Southern Gothic of bringing into focus the oppressed, ostracized classes of rural settings, illuminates how Justified uses the Gothic as a means of exploring the contemporary character of the American South.
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"Resumen:
Introducción. Aunque hay gran cantidad de estudios sobre los efectos de la violencia en televisión, son escasos los que indagan sobre el porqué del interés o rechazo que despierta. El objetivo de esta investigación es explicitar el discurso acerca del interés o desinterés de los espectadores por la violencia, sus razones, criterios morales, condicionantes. Metodología. Se analizan 16 grupos de discusión realizados en Madrid y segmentados por sexo, edad y nivel educativo Resultados. Se aprecia que los discursos de los espectadores varían del rechazo de la violencia al morbo, pasando por intolerancia, desinterés y autodefensa. Las modalidades ficción o realidad de las emisiones hacen variar estas posiciones de los espectadores. Conclusiones. El discurso de los espectadores desmiente el estereotipo de la atracción generalizada por la violencia. El supuesto atractivo emocional por la violencia es dotado de sentido y de dimensiones de aprendizaje, autoconocimiento y reflexión ética.

Abstract:
Introduction. Although much research has contributed to the study of TV violence effects, the reasons why it arouses interest or rejection has received scant attention. Our objective is to develop an analysis on the discourse about audience interest or lack of interest in TV violence, their arguments, moral criteria and conditions.Methodology. 16 focus groups, carried out in Madrid and segmented by sex, age and educational level are analysed. Results. Audience discourses range from rejection to morbid interest, intolerance, lack of interest and self-protection. These discourses are modulated by the actuality or fictionality of broadcasted products. Conclusions. Audience discourses deny the supposedly generalized attractiveness of violence. And this supposedly emotional attractiveness of violence is being given sense by audience, under dimensions of learning, self-knowledge and moral reflexivity."

"Resumen:
El libro Jóvenes y ficción televisiva. Construcción de identidad y transmedialidad ofrece un completo resultado de investigación centrado en el estudio de la construcción de los jóvenes a través del discurso de las series de ficción españolas, teniendo en cuenta no sólo la representación social, estética y psicológica de los mismos, sino también la contribución de los recursos transmediáticos y de los propios discursos de los internautas, a la construcción de la identidad juvenil en la ficción televisiva."

"With all the changes brought about by digital technology, affecting both film production and reception, several scholars have mused about the future of film studies. For more than a decade, various scholars – including Anne Friedberg (2000), D.N. Rodowick (2008) and, more recently, Dudley Andrew (2009) – have been studying digital technology’s impact on film studies. What will become of film studies when every stage in the production and dissemination of a film has been gradually ‘dematerialised’ (i.e., ‘digitalised’)? What will become of film studies when ‘film’ disappears? This paper would like to offer a partial reply to this important question with reference to a precise period in the history of film theory, the ‘television revolution’ (Gauthier 2012), which could be defined as one of the first (if not the first) periods in which film theorists became aware of the impact of television on cinema (roughly between 1940 and 1960). How did television shape the discourse on cinema and how did certain theoretical ideas come to resist the extreme positions which have often been used to describe the relationship between cinema and television—that of television as a threat to cinema? In what ways did television lead film theorists to look at cinema differently and how did it affect their positions? How did television contribute to the rise of new ideas and methodologies and to shooting down some of the conventional wisdom in film studies? These questions will be at the centre of my concerns as I attempt to evaluate the true impact of television on the discourse on film studies.

I believe that by exploring this precise period of film theory we will discover experiences that could help us understand our own period and those yet to come. I thus follow in the path suggested by D.N. Rodowick, for whom ‘only the history of film theory gives us the basis to understand and to judge the extent and nature of the changes taking place in photographic, cinematographic, electronic, and interactive digital media’ (Rodowick 2008: 394-95). The history of film theory enables us to see ruptures within debates around moving images, but it also, and perhaps more importantly, according to Anne Friedberg, enables us to see continuities—such as the concepts screen, film and viewer (Friedberg 2000: 440). My general objective is to consider the very future of film studies by examining a part of its past."

""As the enigmatic Doctor so often reminds us, he is not human, but rather a Time Lord, one who “walks in eternity.” Yet he still seeks out human companions to share his travels, companions who not only highlight his non-human nature but who also make him more human, who remind the Doctor of the immediacy and poignancy of the short human life span and render him less alien and more empathic. Of all the fellow travellers that interact with the Doctor, no one serves as a better foil—or makes the Doctor more human as a result—than Captain Jack Harkness.
Throughout the series, Captain Jack’s intermittent presence affects the Doctor in a profound way, both inspiring competition in the Doctor as well as bringing the differences between the two into clear contrast. The Doctor becomes more human while competing with Jack for Rose’s affections, leading to the Doctor declaring he has remembered he can dance and proceeding to do so with Rose as Jack watches (“The Doctor Dances”, 1.10). Sexuality in Doctor Who is distinctly linked to humanity, and Jack, a 51st century “omnisexual” human, is a hypersexual being who brings the Doctor’s lingering asexuality into greater focus as well as giving the Doctor—who is accustomed to being the center of attention—a good old-fashioned rivalry, thus making the Doctor more human as a result of his interactions with Jack. Following Jack’s resurrection and subsequent (almost) immortality, he too becomes, like the Doctor, a unique being—not quite human yet still surrounded by them and often fighting on their behalf. They both make hard choices and act as a sort of gray hero, both moral relativists with the benefit of a long perspective. This only perfects Jack’s role as a foil for the Doctor, and the more they have in common, the more they are revealed to be polar opposites, two beings who in fact both “walk in eternity.”
""

"Chapter list:

-- Empirical uncertainty : some difficulties in placing obesity centerstage
-- Normative uncertainty : what do we want from policies to address childhood obesity
-- Childhood obesity and parental responsibility
-- Childhood obesity interventions, equity and social justice
-- Stigma and weight bias : implications for childhood obesity interventions
-- Childhood obesity and the "obesogenic environment"
-- Price policies as strategies for obesity prevention
-- Responding to food marketing targeted at children : regulation, social marketing and media literacy
-- Schools and childhood obesity
-- Childhood obesity : some practical implications."

""En los últimos años, la televisión en España ha llenado su programación de realities que se presentan como una forma de mejorar la vida de los ciudadanos y que pretenden tener efectos tangibles en la realidad. Así, familias con hijos conflictivos, con problemas económicos o con casas en malas condiciones, mujeres que no están a gusto con su cuerpo, cantantes amateurs que quieren ser estrellas de la canción y un largo etcétera acuden a la televisión en busca de ayuda para ser transformados. Estos programas son los makeover shows.
El presente libro tiene como objetivo identificar qué narraciones, modelos sociales y valores se representan en estos programas a través de un análisis detallado del contenido y la forma narrativa y audiovisual de ocho makeover shows españoles: Cambio Radical, Desnudas, Esta casa era una ruina, Supernanny, Hermano Mayor, Ajuste de Cuentas, Operación Triunfo y Fama, ¡a bailar!.
A lo largo de estas páginas, veremos que los makeover shows son programas autoritarios que moldean a sus participantes, así como a la realidad representada y que, al mismo tiempo, legitiman la privatización del estado del bienestar y el individualismo, representan la identidad como algo maleable y prescriben la disciplina como método para mejorar personal y profesionalmente.""

"Resumen
Este artículo analiza las características de las series de ficción de producción iberoamericana con más audiencia en España durante el año 2010 con el objetivo de determinar las preferencias de la audiencia de cara a los programadores y establecer pautas de producción con una perspectiva más diversa y educativa. Se presenta un análisis de audiencia y un estudio del perfil social y demográfico de los personajes de dichas series. Las conclusiones demuestran la necesidad de introducir una mayor diversidad en la construcción de los personajes para atender a un telespectador que demanda un producto de ficción más representativo respecto a la sociedad actual.

Laburpena
Artikulu honek aztergai ditu Espainian 2010 urtean zehar audientzia handiena izan zuten produkzio iberoamerikarreko fikziozko telesailak. Helburua audientziaren zaletasunak zehaztea da, honela programatzaileek datu horiek erabili eta produkziojarraibideak ikuspuntu ezberdin eta hezitzaileagoan ezartzeko. Telesail horien audientzia-analisia eta fikzio horietan agertzen diren pertsonaien profil sozial eta demografikoaren azterketa aurkezten da. Ondorioek erakusten dute komenigarria litzatekeela pertsonaien eraketan aniztasun handiagoaegotea, ikus-entzuleak gaur egungo gizartea hobeto islatzen duten fikzio-produktuak eskatzen baititu.


Abstract
This article analyses the characteristics of the Ibero-American most watched TV series in Spain in 2010 with the aim of define the viewer’s preferences and to establish guidelines for the producers that take into account a more diverse and educational perspective. We present an audience analysis, as well as, a content analysis of the demographic and social roles of the characters in these TV series. The article reflects on the need for greater diversity in the construction of the characters in order to satisfy viewers’ expectations."