- Study of media explores its ability to not only create a meaning from the images it puts together, but how it helps the audience understand themselves and the world around them
- Media's impact in society in terms of ability to frame
Intertextuality - to suggest that texts do not exist in isolation, but instead are naturally influenced by other works
- Thus any work is a process of repetition and transformation
- "Any text is the absorption and transformation of another" (Kristeva, 1986, 37)
- Therefore there are traces of other works always present in any 'new' work
- It may include overt references in a new piece of work or more subtle references or it may before to the conventions of that particular media
Genre and intertextuality
- This is also true of the genre into which we place a piece of work
- This is because it necessitates us to understand those 'genre conventions' in order to understand the meanings the piece of work holds e.g. horror, Sci-fi etc
- Therefore this could include pastiche
- As genres evolve and hybridise
- e.g. comedy-horror
- The reader is able to understand not just the narrative, but the conventions which it uses to tell that narrative which in themselves contain other references and meanings
Intertextuality and storytelling
- This creates a far more complex and dynamic relationship between the audience and the media text
- What does this say about:
Our understanding of news content? what intertextual relationships are exploited?
Equally what about our relationship to television adaptations? what televisual 'benchmarks' exist?
Authenticity and fact
- Much of the debate surrounding both fiction adaptation and news content revolves around authenticity and fact
- How reliable are they
- How accurate is the media product to the original material?
- News - themes such as ethics, representation and legality are at the fore
- Fiction adaptation - can include the same themes
Should authenticity and fact be a concern only where we are dealing with reality or also with imagination and creativity?
- Not only facts being main concern
- Be creative/engage audience
- Good storytelling
- Facts being shown on screen and in narrative
What are the challenges of storytelling in both TV news journalism and fictional filmmaking?
- Censorship
- Way its told - book is something you can read but on screen can be boring
- Timeframes - a slow medium / short hand what we're talking about
After all they both relate to the same conventions and time based constraints on moving image storytelling?
What opportunities and threats does new media offer in this regard in terms of authenticity and fact?
- More formats
- Spreads quicker
- How active and passive are the audience? New media you are more active and more engaged.
- This medium evolves in how it tells the stories
Themes to explore in adaptation/translation fiction and fact for tv:
- Truth and accuracy
- Taste and decency
- Historical accuracy
- Factual accuracy
- Realism
Truth and accuracy in fiction
- e.g. BBC Four biographical drama (biopics)
- When dealing with contentious or sensitive storylines e.g. Eastenders and cot death/baby swap storyline
Historical accuracy
- When translating a historical event or person into a story for the big or small screen there is a potential con lift between the needs of storytelling, constraints on time on screen and commercial demands
- Difficult path to treat between storytelling and retelling real events
A most unusual case
Garrow's Law
- Drama derived from real cases from archives
- Decided to adapt into drama rather than present as a documentary
- Employed a consultant on legal and historical matter to ensure accuracy
- However dramatic interventions were necessary on many occasions
- Characters were also merged for simplicity in storytelling
- Won the Royal television Society award
- "Convenience of drama"
- Characters and integrity
- Drama - why not documentary? - Audiences
- Interpret and translate
Essay question - think about implications of storytelling
- Similarly storytelling in news and contractions of time mean that information is filtered and retold - what is the impact of this on truth and accuracy?
Representing reality and the law
- Both news journalism and fiction can be subject to legal action for inaccuracies
- Misrepresentation, slander and libel are potential charges which could result
- The simple fact is that audiences are potentially educated
What is the appeal of the Classics?
- Adaptations of classics can be seen as an exercise in 'nostalgia'
- Continued appeal of classics means they are frequently part of tv schedules
Dickens
- Most adapted author of all time
- All his novels have been adapted in some way
- Mass appeal
- Its literary form has become more elitist in recent times, however the screen adaptations continue to appeal to him
- Dickens has become a character himself
Classics and public service role
- Broadcasters may utilise classics as a source of adaptation to satisfy the public service remit
- But with this comes an additional pressure - the need to be 'faithful
Enduring social concerns
- They are able to fit into modern treatments and approaches - universality of themes
- He did so through stories involving caricatures of the people he sought to bring to book
Challenges when adapting a classic novel
- Very difficult not to subvert from the original
- The lens in which you explore a classic, you compare them to where we are now in terms of culture etc.
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