Jeremy G. Butler - Television: critical methods and applications

Cover

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title	:	Television : Critical Methods and Applications LEA's Communication Series
author	:	Butler, Jeremy G.
publisher	:	Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
isbn10 | asin	:	0805842098
print isbn13	:	9780805842098
ebook isbn13	:	9780585385655
language	:	English
subject	Television--Psychological aspects, Television broadcasting--United States, Television criticism.
publication date	:	2002
lcc	:	PN1992.6.B86 2002eb
ddc	:	791.45
subject	:	Television--Psychological aspects, Television broadcasting--United States, Television criticism.

Page i

TELEVISION
C r i t i c a l M e t h o d s a n d
A p p l i c a t i o n s

Page ii

LEAS COMMUNICATION SERIES
Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann, General Editors

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Selected titles in Broadcasting (James E. Fletcher, Advisory Editor) include:

MacFarland Future Radio Programming Strategies: Cultivating Listenership in the Digital
Age, Second Edition

Metallinos Television Aesthetics: Perceptual, Cognitive, and Compositional Bases

Orlik Electronic Media Criticism: Applied Perspectives, Second Edition

Plum Underwriting 101: Selling College Radio

Sterling/Kittross Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting, Third Edition

Webster/Phalen/Lichty Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research,
Second Edition

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For a complete list of titles in LEAs Communication Series, please contact Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Page iii

Second Edition

J E R E M Y G. B U T L E R

The University of Alabama

Page iv

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Butler, Jeremy G., 1954
Television : critical methods and applications / Jeremy G. Butler.2nd ed.
p. cm.(LEA's communication series)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8058-4209-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. TelevisionPsychological aspects. 2. TelevisionSemiotics. 3. Television
broadcastingUnited States. 4. Television criticism. I. Title. II. Series.

PN1992.6 .B86 2001

791.45dc21

2001023192

Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Page v

Preface	ix
PART ONE	Understanding Televisions Structures and Systems
Chapter 1	Televisions Ebb and Flow
Polysemy, Heterogeneity, Contradiction
Interruption and Sequence
Segmentation
Chapter 2

Narrative Structure: Television Stories 13The Theatrical Film14The Made-for-Television Film or MOW20The Television Series22The Television Serial27Chapter 3 Building Narrative: Character, Actor, Star 33Building Characters34Building Performances40The Star System?51 Chapter 4 Beyond and Beside Narrative Structure 59Televisions Reality60Reality Television: Forms and Modes62Reality Television: Genres71PART TWO Televisions Style: Image and Sound Chapter 5 Style and Setting: Mise-en-Scene 93Set Design93Costume Design104Lighting Design106Actor Movement111

Page vi

Chapter 6 Style and the Camera: Videography and
Cinematography 115The Fundamentals of Camera Style: Shared Video andFilm Characteristics116Distinguishing Video and Film129Chapter 7 Style and Editing 143Single-Camera Mode of Production144Multiple-Camera Mode of Production162Chapter 8 Style and Sound 173Types of Television Sound174Purposes of Sound on Television177Acoustic Properties and Sound Technology181Space, Time, and Narrative188Chapter 9 A History of Television Style (by Gary A. Copeland)191Technological Manifest Destiny192Visual Elements of Television Style194Aural Elements of Television Style210PART THREE Special Topics in Television FormChapter 10 Music Television (by Blaine Allan) 219Music Television and Music Video219Antecedents and Influences221How Music Television Organizes Time224How Music Television Relates to Its Audience228Types of Music Video230The Sound of Video235The Look of Video237Sample Analysis243Chapter 11 Animated Television: The Narrative Cartoon253Beginnings253The Aesthetics of the 1930s Sound Cartoon: Disneys Domination257UPA Abstraction: The Challenge to Disney Naturalism260Televisions Arrival: Economic Realignment265Contemporary TV Cartooning271Chapter 12 The Television Commercial281U.S. TVs Economic Structure282The Polysemy of Commodities288The Persuasive Style of Commercials302PART FOUR Critical Analysis: MethodologyChapter 13 Alternatives to Empirical Study333Empirical Research and Television334

Page vii

The Auteur Theory337Genre Study338Semiotics343Ideological Criticism348Ideological Criticism and Feminism351Appendix Sample Analyses357Sample Narrative Analysis357Sample Non-narrative Analysis359Glossary361Index387

Page viii

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Page ix

Should we take television seriously?

Should we take television seriously as a cultural or aesthetic medium, as a text capable of producing meaning? Should we take When Animals Attack seriously? Should we commission studies on As the World Turns visual style? Should an interpretation of the discourse of The Beverly Hillbillies be permitted in an academic journal? And, most pertinent to this book, should there be college courses on these programs? Should The Simpsons be allowed in todays syllabi?

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