DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Communication Master of Arts Theses College of Communication Summer 8-9-2013 That’s So Meta: Contemporary Reflexive Television and its Textual Strategies Katherine Lander DePaul University Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Lander, Katherine, "That’s So Meta: Contemporary Reflexive Television and its Textual Strategies" (2013). College of Communication Master of Arts Theses. 18. https://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt/18 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Communication at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Communication Master of Arts Theses by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. That’s So Meta Contemporary Reflexive Television and Its Textual Strategies by Katherine Lander, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of DePaul University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Media and Cinema Studies DePaul University August 2013 Dedication To Adam for Always Knowing That I Was the “Smart One” iii Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my parents for their sustained and unconditional support over the entire process of completing this project. Despite still being unable to coherently explain my topic to others (or to themselves, for that matter), their unwavering belief in me helped not only to motivate me, but also to have confidence both in my work and in myself. I would especially like to thank my mom, who seemed to intuitively know when I needed a break from writing or a simple word of encouragement, the way only a mom can. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my friends and family. I would like to thank my friends for their willingness to provide the occasional distraction from my work and to my family for their long-distance love and support and their continued investment in me. In addition, I would like to thank my DePaul classmates, as their ideas and suggestions inspired me to improve the overall quality of my work. A special thanks goes to Kelly Kessler, whose initial feedback helped me in the earliest stages of formulating this topic that I have come to know so well. Most importantly, I would like to thank my thesis committee, without whom this project would not have been possible. Thank you to Michael DeAngelis for your thoughtful comments and suggestions, both during the writing process, as well as when this paper was nothing more than the final project for MCS 504. Finally, I am tremendously grateful to Paul Booth for his consistently efficient, insightful, and ultimately invaluable feedback. I cannot thank you enough for your dedication to improving my work and for introducing me to Supernatural. Working with you as your student, teaching assistant, and advisee for the past few years has been a truly remarkable experience for me. August 6, 2013 iv Abstract That’s So Meta Contemporary Reflexive Television and Its Narrative Strategies By Katherine Lander, B.A. DePaul University, 2013 Thesis Advisor: Dr. Paul Booth Committee: Dr. Michael DeAngelis This thesis examines existing discourse from the areas of film and literature studies in order to explore the complex textual applications and rhetorical functions of contemporary reflexive television. Characterized by its self-conscious effacement of the boundaries traditionally established by works of fiction, televisual reflexivity uses such interrelated textual strategies as meta-reference, meta-production, and meta-episodes in order to foreground the inherent artifice and mediation of television programming, ultimately conveying a form of implicit, and often parodic, self-analysis and interpretation within the diegesis of a given series. Additionally, the project examines a number of ways in which the emergence of digital media has affected reflexive television programming, illustrating how these reflexive series both project and reflect the types of active audience engagement engendered by digital media, suggesting a fundamental change in the relationship between media producer and consumer. As exemplified through the representative case studies of Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Supernatural, this v thesis illustrates how reflexive television purposefully uses such varied strategies as meta- reference, meta-production, and meta-episodes in order to reflect our current media landscape and the increasingly engaged, media literate, and participatory audience by which it is characterized. vi Table of Contents List of Illustrations……………………………………………………………………….…...…viii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Reflexivity and Digital Media…………………………………………………...………..3 Reflexivity and Postmodernism…………………………………………………………...5 Televisual Reflexivity: A Legacy of Film and Literature…………………………………7 Reflexivity and (Meta-) Parody………………………………………………………….12 Chapter Outline…………………………………………………………………………..16 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….22 Chapter 1: Meta-Reference………………………………………………………………………23 Four Levels of Textual Manifestation……………………………………………………26 Reception and Intention………………………………………………………………….28 Intertextuality…………………………………………………………………………….31 Voiceover Narration and Inside Jokes…………………………………………………...34 Case Study: Arrested Development (2003-2006, 2013)…………………………………36 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….42 Chapter 2: Meta-Production…………………………………………………………………...…44 Commercial Concerns……………………………………………………………………48 Product Placement……………………………………………………………………….51 Direct Address…………………………………………………………………………...56 Case Study: 30 Rock (2006-2013)……………………………………………………….57 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….64 vii Chapter 3: Meta-Episodes………………………………………………………………………..66 Defining Meta-Episodes…………………………………………………………………69 Textual Manifestation……………………………………………………………………72 Intention and Reception………………………………………………………………….78 Case Study: Supernatural (2005- )………………………………………………………80 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….87 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….88 The Distinct Pleasures of Reflexive Television………………………………………….89 Online Participation and Fan Response………………………………………………….91 Chapter Summary………………………………………………………………………..94 Criticism………………………………………………………………………………….97 Notes……………………………………………………………………………………………103 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………108 viii List of Illustrations Illustration 2.1: Flow chart illustrating the fictional subsidiaries of General Electric (GE), as it appears on 30 Rock………………………………………………………………………60 Illustration 3.1: Online fan site depicting the titles of the fictional series of Supernatural books, which are taken directly from previous episodes of the show…………………………...84 1 Introduction A formal and stylistic strategy employed throughout various media genres, texts, and platforms, reflexivity is characterized by its self-conscious destabilization of the conventional boundaries established by works of art. While reflexivity is traditionally recognized within the discourses of film and literature, reflexive television has experienced a recent, yet steady rise in visibility. Like its cinematic and literary counterparts, reflexive television employs the use of various techniques in order to foreground its own artifice and mediation, ultimately calling attention to the formal conventions of the medium. Reflecting a growing trend in television programming, as evidenced by such series as 30 Rock, Supernatural, and Arrested Development, reflexive television conveys a self-conscious awareness of its own creative and cultural contexts, essentially addressing the changing relationship between media producer and consumer. This growing reciprocity between industry and audience is largely enabled by the emergence of digital media, which allows viewers to provide candid feedback that is instantly accessible to industry professionals. Contextualized through existing discourse in the areas of film and literature, and facilitated through the transparency and interactivity afforded by new media, reflexive television purposefully uses such varied techniques as meta-reference, meta- production, and meta-episodes in order to reflect our current media landscape and the increasingly engaged, media literate, and participatory audience through which it is characterized. In service of coherence and clarity, I will use the term “reflexivity” and its multiple variants in order to describe the necessarily purposeful nature of the textual deconstructions that comprise the focus of this study. Additionally, it is important to make clear that when I use the term “deconstruction,” I am not referring to Jacques Derrida’s canonical form of semiotic 2 analysis, but am rather using the term to describe a mode of self-conscious dissection and investigation. While reflexivity is distinguished by its more active connotation, there are other compatible terms that also encapsulate the implicitly critical agenda of reflexivity: self-aware, self-referential, and self-conscious. For the purposes of this study, each of these terms is considered synonymous with the larger distinction of reflexivity, as they effectively convey the characteristic introversion and self-analysis of reflexive television. While these terms will be used interchangeably, I privilege the use of reflexivity due to its wider recognition among critics, scholars, and audiences alike, as well as its inherent emphasis