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Fiske: Theory of Television Drama
Fiske: Theory of Television Drama
Fiske: Theory of Television Drama
TELEVISION
CULTURE
Chapter
9
Reading
Character
television
is
centrally
concerned
with
the
representa3on
of
people
Overview
of
Theory
Representa3on
in
TV
drama
is
dierent
to
that
in
Film
and
News
due
to
the
formal
conven3ons
of
TV
drama:
series
&
serials
/
mid
shots,
close
ups,
2
and
3
shots
to
establish
iden33es
and
camera
movement
to
focus
on
individuals
Idea
1
TV
audiences
have
unique
relaFonships
with
the
representaFon
of
characters
compared
to
other
Media
forms
due
to
the
structure
of
TV
series,
stylisFc
convenFons
and
developed
familiarity
with
a
programmes
characters:
the
constant
repe33on
of
a
character
means
that
characters
live
in
similar
3me
scales
to
their
audience.
They
have
a
past,
a
present
and
a
future
that
appear
to
exceed
their
textual
existence,
so
that
audience
members
are
invited
to
relate
to
them
in
terms
of
familiarity
and
iden3ca3onthis
oers
the
viewer
a
quite
dierent
rela3onship
to
the
character
from
that
oered
by
lm,
where
the
end
of
the
lm
is
normally
the
end
of
the
character.
Idea
2
The
representaFon
of
characters
in
TV
drama
is
a
complex
form
of
representaFon
for
it
is
constructed
by:
the
text
(use
of
mid
shots,
close
ups,
two
and
3
shots
etc)
the
narra3ve
(role
of
the
character
in
the
way
the
plot
develops)
the
body
of
the
player
(what
the
actor
looks
like),
and
The
performance
of
the
actor.
the
rela3onship
between
the
real
world
of
the
player
and
the
represented
one
of
the
character
and
the
real
world
of
the
viewer
and
that
of
the
character
/player
they
watch
Idea
2
model
Constructed
Representa3on
by
the
writers
&
producers
THE
CHARACTER
Physical
appearance
of
actor
playing
the
character
Stereotypical
individual
characteris3cs
of
represented
character
Idea
3
TV
audiences
are
invited
to
see
characters
as
real.
Individual
characters
are
given
some
stereotypical
characterisFcs,
they
may
be
like
someone
we
know
or
have
known
and
we
gain
pleasure
from
seeing
how
they
experience
their
lives:
Realism
proposes
that
a
character
represents
a
real
person.
The
text
provides
us
with
adequate
pointers
to
the
characteris3cs
of
the
person
being
portrayed:
we,
the
viewers,
then
call
upon
our
life
experience
of
understanding
real
peopleto
ll
out
the
characteris3cs
in
our
imagina3on
so
that
we
make
the
character
into
a
real
person
whom
we
know
and
has
a
life
outside
the
text
Idea 4
Characters
in
TV
drama
are
read
as
individuals
but
also
the
representaFon
of
social
posiFons
and
the
values
embodied
in
them.
Audiences
are
made
up
of
dierent
people
with
dierent
viewpoints
so
how
they
read
a
representaFon
of
young
people
will
depend
on
their
own
experience
of
young
people.
Idea
5
Any
viewer
may
nd
in
her
/
himself
a
number
of
points
of
relaFonship
with
the
personal
/
social
and
ideological
values
seen
in
any
character:
A
viewer
implicates
him
/
herself
with
a
character
when
that
character
is
in
a
similar
social
situa3on
or
embodies
similar
social
values
to
the
viewer,
and
this
implica3on
oers
the
reward
of
pleasure.
They
allow
space
for
the
viewer
to
read
character
and
incident
as
bearers
of
social
value
and
thus
to
nego3ate
readings
that
relate
to
his
or
her
social
posi3on