Essay #4 - Jeff Jacobson - Hybridization in the United Kingdom: The British Place in Media Production

When looking at UK media production, one will often see a fear that US media production will dominate or destroy British influences. While it is true that US programming is a major force in the world of television, upon closer examination we can see that British production has many influences converging, including its own vaunted history. This hybridization of influences means that while there is some influence from the US, it is not the only influence. The UK does and will certainly experience influences from a variety of sectors, but this will not turn it into a clone of another culture; rather, the UK will continue to create its own unique media culture, though perhaps one that is slightly different from its historic past.

British television has a long history of critically acclaimed television production. The 1950s and 60s are referred to as the ?new wave? in British television (Cooke, 2005, p. 24). The programs produced then were vaunted for their ?working-class realism,? especially as the programs transitioned from live studio productions to shows shot on location with film (Cooke, p. 24). Characters in the shows spoke with dialects authentic to the northern, working-class regions (Cooke, p. 25). This broke away from the dominance of London?s upper-class culture and created television that spoke ?to, and for, its working-class audience? (Cooke, p. 25). Since then, British television has continued to break new ground and find critical acclaim.

However, in recent years, many American imports have received critical acclaim at the expense of British programming, with some declaring American drama to be ?generally superior to that made in Britain? (Cooke, 2005, p. 23). Whether that is true or not could certainly be debated and would ultimately be at least partially a matter of opinion, but to state that there is no good British television would certainly be false. Lez Cooke points to 5 indicators that British dramatic television is experiencing a new ?new wave? (p. 25). These are: (1) a return to regional locations, (2) the presentation ?of a new working-class,? (3) innovative styles and postmodern visuals, (4) use of music in propelling the narrative, and (5) greater diversity in characters (Cooke, p. 25). While there may be some American influences on this, the result is still a distinctly British style.

Doreen Massey (1993) points out that with a progressive sense of place we would recognize a number of influences, and even identities, in a space (pp. 65?67). We do well to consider what influences have developed this current British style, the ?place? where British television is at the moment. One obvious source is the strong history of British television that many of the current producers have grown-up on and experienced throughout their lives. One example is the way we see regionalism and working-class representations in Cooke?s assessment of both the new ?new wave? and the old (2005, pp. 24?25). Another source, one whose amount of influence is debated, is current and past American productions. Some critics draw comparisons between British police shows such as Cardiac arrest, This life, and The cops, and American shows like Homicide: Life on the streets or NYPD blue (Cooke, pp. 27?28). Some of this influence is denied by the producers; Tony Garnett is quoted by Cooke as saying:

If people really look at these shows they?ll see that they?re not similar. But if they see a fairly busy camera, the illiterates who write about these things, the cine-illiterates, will say that they?re the same. In fact, the visual style and the lighting on Cardiac was very much the creation of David Hayman. (p. 28)

This highlights another influence: the ?wobbly camera? comes from the use of new, low-cost digital video techniques in production (Cooke, pp. 27?28). This is a result of the influence from the spread of technology, what Arjun Appadurai called ?technoscapes? (1990, pp. 297?298). Along with that is the ?finanscape,? manifest here in the need to cut costs and work with less budget in an era of increased competition (Appadurai, p. 298). This has been a point of pride for British digital channel ITV2, which in September 2006 had roughly double the viewership share of its nearest rivals while operating on a significantly smaller budget (Clarke, 2006, ¶6?7). Thus, these new British dramas are not merely copycats of American imports, but are the result of a complex interaction between a variety of cultural flows.

The success of this new wave is starting to become evident. While many of these shows have been on smaller channels, Cooke (2005) points out that many of these shows or elements of this new wave are finding their way into the programming of the major British channels (p. 30). Quality television is a good thing no matter its source, and just because one source that was previously not seen as good improves (in this case American), it does not mean that the old standard bearer (in this case Britain) cannot continue to improve and innovate as well. Likely, this new wave of British television will soon gain greater recognition for its own contributions to quality programming.

References
Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global economy. Theory, Culture & Society, 7, 295?310.
Clarke, S. (2006). ITV2?s formula for success. Television, 43 (10), 14?15. Retrieved June 14, 2007, from: http://www.rts.org.uk/magazine_det.asp?id=5063&sec_id=862
Cooke, L. (2005). A ?new wave? in British television drama. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, (115), 23?32.
Massey, D. (1993). Power-geometry and a Progressive Sense of Place. In, J. Bird, et al. (Eds.), Mapping the futures: Local cultures, global change (pp. 59?69). London: Routledge.

Posted at 02:37PM Jun 15, 2007 by Jeff Jacobson in General  |  Comments[0]