http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/45/
more to come...
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
texts to use
CSI and The Bill
Popularity of these sorts of narratives to British culture and on British TV. Exploring the ways that criminals and police are represented, and the pleasures these texts offfer/anxieties they address. What sort of cops are they and what sort of representation of law and justice does this create?
Reading academic texts on police narratives on TV and representations of crime, criminality, police, the law and justice.
Primary research will be explore these representations in your chosen media texts, then try to uncover what sort of reasons audiences give for enjoying them or watching them. So you need to identify a group of fans fo cop shows. What are the pleasures they say they get from the tv progs, and how does what they say confirm or problematise the theories about crime narratives you have read about in your secondary academic reading? (For example, one theory is that so many crime narratives are available in our culture because we NEED to be REASSURED that society is basically good and functions well, and that criminals get caught. Another theory is that crime narratives allow us to experience transgression from our straight and narrow right side of the law lives...). How are criminals portrayed? Is criminality seen as a socially caused thing, or are criminals just plain bad?
Popularity of these sorts of narratives to British culture and on British TV. Exploring the ways that criminals and police are represented, and the pleasures these texts offfer/anxieties they address. What sort of cops are they and what sort of representation of law and justice does this create?
Reading academic texts on police narratives on TV and representations of crime, criminality, police, the law and justice.
Primary research will be explore these representations in your chosen media texts, then try to uncover what sort of reasons audiences give for enjoying them or watching them. So you need to identify a group of fans fo cop shows. What are the pleasures they say they get from the tv progs, and how does what they say confirm or problematise the theories about crime narratives you have read about in your secondary academic reading? (For example, one theory is that so many crime narratives are available in our culture because we NEED to be REASSURED that society is basically good and functions well, and that criminals get caught. Another theory is that crime narratives allow us to experience transgression from our straight and narrow right side of the law lives...). How are criminals portrayed? Is criminality seen as a socially caused thing, or are criminals just plain bad?
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
The second of the links is good for you. The first is somewhat old hat now and also quite advanced and rather generalised and the last I don't know but I wouldn't bother with it.
A comparison between UK and US texts is not going to lead you into easy primary research. I still think the question “why are we so interested in narratives about crime and policing, and what can they tell us about contemporary culture?” is a better one. You certainly could look at US stuff which is popular here, as well as UK stuff, but wouldn't need to focus on the differences.
Sean
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Are these helpful readings?
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=V1j5g8pvLxQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA116&dq=%22Kidd-Hewftt%22+%22Crime+and+the+media%22+&ots=qR_hVE5sH_&sig=df-uJjfiiCDPv09q2jCKQ3ueBMI
http://www.itpmag.demon.co.uk/Downloads/TVCrime.pdf
http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199249374/resources/synopses/ch12.doc
I think i'm going to define my topic as 'comparisons between US and UK crime dramas' or something along those lines.
http://www.itpmag.demon.co.uk/Downloads/TVCrime.pdf
http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199249374/resources/synopses/ch12.doc
I think i'm going to define my topic as 'comparisons between US and UK crime dramas' or something along those lines.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Your first ideas
Crime and the Media
Criminality and authority in the media.
Too broad. You need to narrow the texts you’ll look at. You could focus on cop shows, or on reality tv shows, or even on a comparison between examples of each, but I don’t want you to do “the media”. My suggestion would be to look at CSI as a US show and contrast with The Bill as a UK show, maybe exploring the differences (US crime is commonly perceived as “worse” that UK crime, and you could explore the differences there). I have some reading on cop shows I can give you to get started.
An idea might be “why are we so interested in narratives about crime and policing, and what can they tell us about contemporary culture?”
Criminality and authority in the media.
Too broad. You need to narrow the texts you’ll look at. You could focus on cop shows, or on reality tv shows, or even on a comparison between examples of each, but I don’t want you to do “the media”. My suggestion would be to look at CSI as a US show and contrast with The Bill as a UK show, maybe exploring the differences (US crime is commonly perceived as “worse” that UK crime, and you could explore the differences there). I have some reading on cop shows I can give you to get started.
An idea might be “why are we so interested in narratives about crime and policing, and what can they tell us about contemporary culture?”
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