Approaches to Surveillance in Contemporary British Television Comedy Stephanie Clayton
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Approaches to Surveillance in Contemporary British Television Comedy Stephanie Clayton Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies April 2019 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. 2 Acknowledgements: I consider it a great privilege to have had the opportunity to complete a PhD. All my sincere and heartfelt thanks to my supervisors, Dr Brett Mills and Prof Su Holmes for their mentorship and guidance. Thank you to my examiners, Dr Melanie Williams and Prof Jane Roscoe for their insightful questions and comments and to Dr Richard Hand for chairing my Viva. To all the women I have met, learned from, and befriended in academia thank you for continuing to support and inspire me. To the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, thank you for your continued care and for keeping me alive. And most importantly, to my Mom and Dad for everything (if I started listing specific things, it would be longer than the thesis that follows). 3 Abstract: In 2001, the year David Lyon coined the term ‘surveillance society’, the study of surveillance was in its infancy. Visual and audio surveillance were well-established and digital and biometric surveillance were on the rise. Today, stories about digital surveillance and data-mining are often in the popular press. Despite the increased concern with digital surveillance and protecting one’s data online, visual surveillance continues to be an area of concern. Although surveillance has often be linked to reality television and even drama, it has never been examined in comedy programmes. This thesis argues that like other popular genres, comedy programmes reveal cultural attitudes about visual surveillance. This thesis examines four British comedy programmes, Scot Squad, People Just Do Nothing, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda that, through their use of various surveillance aesthetics and themes, work through issues in living in a surveillance society. Examining the interplay between comedy and surveillance through textual analysis reveals that rather than just accepting the surveillance society and the visual surveillance that is a part of that, comedy allows for a space for resistance. Through parody, Scot Squad and People Just Do Nothing offer an imitation of non-fiction formats such as the reality crime genre and the docusoap that highlight the problems and limits of surveillance whilst also normalising surveillance procedures. Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda also work through issues of surveillance with their direct address, attempting to control the mechanisms of surveillance. This thesis argues that comedy provides a space for resistance to the surveillance society and, as such, adds evidence to the idea that comedy has potential as radical opposition to power. 4 Contents Acknowledgements: ............................................................................................................ 2 Abstract:............................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 7 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 10 Gap/intervention ....................................................................................................... 11 Time/Place Justification ............................................................................................. 12 Justification of Programmes ...................................................................................... 13 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 14 Theoretical Framework.............................................................................................. 16 Parameters/Limits ..................................................................................................... 17 Explanation of Chapters ............................................................................................ 18 Chapter One: Reviewing the Literature ............................................................................. 21 Documentary ............................................................................................................. 21 Documentary Realism................................................................................................ 23 Documentary’s social purpose .................................................................................. 25 The Legacy of Liveness ............................................................................................... 27 Documentary Hybridity ............................................................................................. 28 Theories of Humour and Comedy Studies ................................................................. 32 Television Comedy ..................................................................................................... 36 Surveillance ................................................................................................................ 38 Surveillance in Non-Fiction programming ................................................................. 39 Surveillance in Fiction programming ......................................................................... 42 Surveillance Aesthetics .............................................................................................. 44 The Representation of Surveillance........................................................................... 46 Surveillance and Witness ........................................................................................... 49 Surveillance and Disclosure ....................................................................................... 51 Surveillance and the Body ......................................................................................... 52 Chapter Two: Representation and Normalisation of Surveillance in Scot Squad ............. 55 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 55 Systems of Surveillance and the Construction of Power........................................... 56 The Panoptic Schema of the CCTV network .............................................................. 59 The Limitations of the Panoptic Schema ................................................................... 60 5 The Synoptic Schema ................................................................................................. 61 The Issue of Spectacle ............................................................................................... 63 The Generic Influences in Scot Squad ....................................................................... 64 Scot Squad’s Aesthetics ............................................................................................. 67 Scot Squad’s Themes ................................................................................................. 76 Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter Three: Surveillance as Witness in People Just Do Nothing ................................. 84 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 84 Witness ...................................................................................................................... 86 Media Witnessing ...................................................................................................... 88 Cringe Comedy and Empathy .................................................................................... 94 Hybrids ....................................................................................................................... 97 People Just Do Nothing as Mockusoap .................................................................... 101 The Different Looks to Camera ................................................................................ 103 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 106 Chapter Four: Surveillance as Disclosure in Mrs Brown’s Boys ....................................... 108 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 108 Self-Speaking............................................................................................................ 109 Confession and Disclosure ....................................................................................... 109 Representational Forms of Self-Speaking Prior to Television ................................. 113 Representations of the Confessional Space on Television ...................................... 115 Direct Address.......................................................................................................... 118 Metalepsis...............................................................................................................