Tag: In Media Res

Televisuality – KUWTK

Keeping up with the Kardashians is one of the most talked about reality shows in the world. It debuted on October 14th 2007—12 years later and the Kardashians remain being the most discussed family in US (if not worldwide). KUWTK is a reality tv revolving around Kardashian/Jenner “clan”—a family of 6 women—and their dramas. The show has brought an incomprehensible amount of fame and money to all of the members; they have millions of followers on social media, a plethora of merchandise, their own make up line, and so on. The show is on its 15th season and it still manages to remain prevalent in conversation and society.

The show’s 2016 promo is a prime example of modern world’s televisuality. There are many ways it’s similar to post-network era of televisuality. Just like then, style is still the foreground and there is a large emphasis on it. Today most openings are short—nobody’s going to watch it if it’s too long. The brief introduction holds the audience’s attention while maintaining the Kardashian’s signature style. In this promo background music entices the audience, growing more upbeat as the promo progresses. The whole background is black, yet it still manages to be very distracting. From the beginning, the audience can see flashy graphics in the background of main characters’ close-ups. The camera never focuses on just one face—we either see one central person and others in the background or same person’s different shots paralleled throughout the canvas.

Though televisuality today still exists, it’s not entirely same as before. The KUWTK promo contains heavy graphics and it’s difficult to concentrate on one specific thing but it is not as heavy as TV show openings used to be before. In contrary to the televisuality of the past, today we see fewer title sequences. Words don’t just appear out of nowhere, often times we see title of the show, network, and airing time by the end of the promo/opening. Even though everything’s still flashy and visual, we still get a sense of one whole idea. Its black background creates a classy, sleek format to illicit an expectation that the upcoming show will be cool and influential. KUWTK’s promo is an ideal example of modern televisuality: it has everything from graphics and flashes to appealing and cool music background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Mbov0qht8

Breaking Television Show on Orange is the New Black

The clip that I have chosen is from season four of the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. The scene in the clip is of the death of Poussey Washington, one of the inmates at Litchfield Penitentiary, a women’s prison. In the scene, the inmates are protesting by standing on the cafeteria tables when one of the prisoners, Suzanne, has an episode from her mental illness. Upon seeing this, her friend Poussey jumps from the table and is pinned to the ground by a guard that views this action as dangerous. From the guard pinning her down, she loses her consciousness and then dies.

This scene is completely different from anything that one would see on television as little as ten years ago, and it goes directly against the Television Code that we learned about earlier in the semester. There are many aspects of this scene that are contrary to Television Code, especially the negative portrayal of law enforcement officers. The mere fact that there was a protest shows that there was some kind of negative portrayal earlier in the series (maybe even in the episode) that would cause an uproar in the prison (in this case, the prisoners were protesting their unfair treatment by the authorities in the prison). Later, when the correction officer actually does kill Poussey, he is portrayed very negatively because he murdered her, even if it was not on purpose. Murder is inexcusable and puts the correction officer in a negative light.

Another main part of the Television Code that is broken in this scene is the presentation of cruelty. Poussey’s death is an unusually cruel death. She is constrained under the knee and hand of the much larger correction officer. The scene shows her struggling to breath through her eyes widening and the audible, shallow gasps she makes. This is incredibly cruel and is also potentially quite disturbing to viewers. This obviously against the Television Code as part of the reason for the Television Code beginning was to protect viewers from disturbing scenes, especially the younger viewers that the show is aimed towards. These are only two examples from a very short scene of the evolution of television away from the Television Code, but it shows that television is a changing medium that is moving away from traditional family values.

-Annie Cohen

Hill St. Blues in a Hospital

On October 26, 1982 NBC premiered its hit TV hospital drama St. Elsewhere. Known by some as NBC’s attempt to take its gritty police drama Hill Street Blues and place it in the context of a bustling hospital, St. Elsewhere contained many of the same elements that helped make Hill Street Blues standout such as its complex and more than often flawed characters, large ensemble casts, and overlapping serialized plots that would leave audiences on the edge of their seats with weekly cliff hangers.

Many of the characteristics of St. Elsewhere made it a prime example of a Post-Network Era television show, especially as it followed the lead of NBC’s other hit serial drama so closely. However, in Season 3 Episode 8 of St. Elsewhere, entitled “Sweet Dreams” we can see an excellent example of the Post-Network Era concept of televisuality where what is displayed on the screen is made to look cool or appealing to the audience. In the episode many of the staff and patients at Saint Eligius Hospital are suffering from a myriad of sleeping ailments. In particular, the hospital orderly Luther Hawkins falls asleep inside of a supply closet and slips into a vivid dream where he parades around the hospital wearing a flashy white suit and hat accompanied by a trio of beautiful women while hit 70’s Texas based rock band ZZ Top magically transports around the building and plays their 1984 single Legs. While the band plays, Luther and his entourage move from room to room in the hospital, taunting surgeons and security guards with impunity, dancing with patients, drinking glasses of champagne, being showered in money, and otherwise enjoying an extravagant time.

The inclusion of a hit band’s music, showing them on screen (although technically portrayed by members of the St. Elsewhere cast wearing elaborate disguises), having Luther strut around confidently in a stylish outfit, and the appearance of the women (portrayed by the actresses originally appearing in ZZ Top’s MTV music video for Legs) all work to improve the televisuality of the scene and make it seem more visually appealing to audiences.

-Anderson Bradshaw

The Post-Networking Era: Saved by the Narrowcasting!

Saved by the Bell is a classic television show that ran through the 1980s until the early 1990s. The show takes place at Bayside High School in California and is about a group of teenagers and their high school lives. Plots in the show revolve around the group of friends weaving their way through typical high school issues such as relationships, tests, school dances, and things of the sort. The main theme of the show is that the friend group always ends up making up and putting their friendship above everything else. The theme proves the show to be episodic since none of their issues carry into the following episodes.

Saved by the Bell is a prime example of Post-Network Era television, not only due to the years that the show was active, but also due to themes of the show. During this time in television history, the rise of hundreds of channels and the cable boom affected television forever. It was in this time period that producers and companies began to narrowcast or target specific groups or demographics with their productions and channels.

The show itself is a great example of narrowcasting since it appealed to high schoolers in the eighties and nineties. It was full of plenty of drama and it had a high school setting that would catch the eye of young adults, but not older family members. Teenaged girls would probably watch this show for the relationship drama and to see current fashion trends. On the other hand, teenaged boys probably watched more for the comedy and absurdity of the show. The show is narrowcast, and it is easy to see this simply by the setting of the show.

The clip I chose for this assignment is a great example. In this clip, we see that two of the main characters have gone through a high school breakup. Through my short clip, there is only one small scene change but all of the characters still remain in their school. There is also some witty humor, but it is easily understood by high schoolers and young adults. There are also snarky comments made towards both male and female characters in the show. We also see an awkward classroom scene where the teacher cannot understand her students. Overall, Saved by the Bell is a solid example of Post-Network television due to its narrowcasting through its humor and setting.

Sample In Media Res Posts

Here are some sample posts from the blog In Media Res, which your first assignment is modeled after:

1970s Masculinity and Media

We may decide to select our five best submissions to submit for our own themed week on the In Media Res blog. The call for a themed week coordinator is here.

As you write your blog post, think about how to make sense of your clip historically and theoretically. Your post should make reference to other screenings and readings we have done in this unit. It should have a good title that makes us want to read what you have to say. Make sure to select the tag In Media Res and another tag that matches the theme of your post.

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