TV Theory 9th Febraury 2017

What do we mean by race?
-Skin Colour? (too reductive on spectrum! Not purely defined by genetics)
-Broadly, shared cultural identity, history and experience shaped by marginalisation/ exclusion.
-'The Other'- that which is alien/ different to homogenous group or culture.

Critical contexts:
-Ideology
-Hegemony
-Pluralism
-Meditation
-Reception Theory

Ideology
-A set of opinions, values, beliefs and assumptions constructed and presented by a media text.

Ideology and Hegemony
-Hegemony is a dominant ideology within society.
-In sitcom traditionally reflected in the 'nuclear family'.

Mediation and Representation
-What we see is not objective reality or truth, but firstly the filmmaker's version of reality: what they have mediated.

Reception Theory
-How we as the audience mediate texts, and the factors that might influence us.

A (very brief) history
-Dominant grouping is superior
-Other cultural groupings are 'inferior' by virtue of difference.
-Defined by crude stereotypes.

 Love Thy Neighbour (1972-76)
-Sitcom written by and for dominant society (HEGEMONY)
-Reflects manifestations of 'the other' and Freud's 'narcissism of minor differences'.

Black-ish (contemporary US sitcom)

-Sitcom written by and for pluralistic society: IDENTITY POLITICS.