Abstract

This dissertation questions the fate of television arts by looking at the historical development and contemporary uses of production codes and practices. Drawing on critical analysis of discourses on trade and professional journals, program text, interviews, and observation, I tell the tragic story of television's path away from its artistic and democratic potential. What happened to this medium? How and why do we have the current look and sound of television, especially in the age of digital reproduction? What are the political and cultural implications for democracy? As I address these questions, I argue that media scholars must understand the connection between conceptions of television as a medium of the public sphere and the production practices through which television operates. In particular, I call for equal attention to the study of the production contexts of television as a complex nexus where industrial, cultural, economic, aesthetic, individual interests struggle over the construction of what we see and hear on television, while negotiating each party's own understanding of the imagined audience. In this context, this dissertation examines the “rules” of production, the rise of television liveness, the cultural politics of sound, the ideological use of television lighting in music videos, the political role of production style on Korean television case, and the influence of digital technology. I argue that public sphere aspirations have been replaced by various media hungers, which have become a driving force for further technological development, leading to the overemphasis on appearance and packaging in television production.

Citation

Heo, C. Production, art and the public sphere: Critical studies in television. Ph.D. thesis, The University of Iowa. Retrieved January 30, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/119758/.

This record was imported from ProQuest on October 23, 2013. [Original Record]

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Keywords

• General Sociology
• Mass Communications
• Technology of Education