Organizational Contexts and Television Dramas A Comparative Study of Public and Commercial Television
Eric Kit-Wai MA June, 1993
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of PMlosopliy 、 (Communications) ",: .:’ J—、 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong^、、
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⑩ Acknowledgments
工 wish to thank my mentor and thesis supervisor Dr. Joseph Chan, who has helped me develop my academic interest, let me choose my own path, and given me insightful advice along the way.
工 am also grateful to Dr. Paul Lee, whose critical comments have sharpened the focus of the thesis, and Dr. Choi Po- king, who has been generous in spending time assessing my work.
工 am indebted to my wife Chau-ling for supporting the family during my study. She has tolerated my wanderings in new places and new pursuits for the past ten years. The completion of the thesis is testimony to her support and understanding. Abstract
This study seeks to identify and explain the ideological diversity of the TV dramas produced in different organizational contexts. It is a comparative study of two Hong Kong TV dramas, one produced by public television RTHK, the other by commercial broadcast television TVB.
Discourse analyses of the two dramas indicate that the commercial drama have limited ideological diversity and are pro-establishment in nature, while the public drama are ideologically more diversified and negotiatory. The commercial drama is classified as "choric drama" which resonates with mainstream ideology; the public drama is classified as "lyric drama" which negotiates with the establishment.
The choric/lyric pattern is not case specific. Organizational analyses of the production contexts show that the ideological differences of the two dramas are systematically shaped by organizational factors.
In the context of TVB, the organizational schema of commercialism, working together with popular aesthetics and feedback system of mass rating, creates an unobtrusive cognitive framework which favors creative options with mainstream and conventional ideology.
TVB allocates resources by a strict cost/profit ratio, delegates responsibilities in centralized creative locus, and prefers a more restrictive drama genre of continued series. These restrictive administrative controls limit individual autonomy and thus ideological diversity. The resultant effects of the above cognitive and administrative factors predispose TV dramas of commercial broadcaster TVB towards the choric mode of relatively mainstream and monolithic ideology.
In the context RTHK, the organizational schema of non- commercial ism, working together with elitist aesthetics and feedback system of critical review, creates an unobtrusive cognitive framework which favors creative options with elitist and negotiatory ideology.
RTHK allocates resources by ambiguous public utility measure, delegates responsibilities in decentralized creative loci, and prefers a more flexible drama genre of single-play series, These less restrictive administrative controls allow greater degree of individual autonomy and thus ideological diversity.
The resultant effects of the cognitive and administrative factors predispose TV dramas of public broadcaster RTHK towards the lyric mode of diversified and negotiatory ideologies, Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Formulation of Research Questions 3
1.2 Significance 8
1.3 Structure of the Thesis 11
Chapter 2 Theoretical Review 12
2.1 Television Studies 13
2.2 Media Organization Research 17
2.3 Culture Production Theory 2 0
2.4 Organizational Theory 22
Chapter 3 Methodology 2 6
3.1 Significance and Representativeness 28
3.2 Comparability 30
3.3 Textual Analysis 3 3
3.4 Organizational Analysis 34
Chapter 4 Textual Analysis 3 7
4.1 Television and Ideology 37
4.2 The Comparative Strategy 41
4.3 Discourse of Capitalistic Economy 46
4.4 Discourse of Sino-Hongkong Politics 51
4.5 Discourse of Patriarchal Culture 57
4.6 Choric and Lyric Drama 59 Chapter 5 Organizational Analysis 62
5.1 Configuration of Creative Locus 63
5.2 Organization Schema 66
5.3 Feedback System 7 8
5.4 Track Record & Resources Allocation 90
5.5 Case Control: Context and Genre 97
Chapter 6 Conclusion 109
6.1 Organizational Contexts of GM and BLR 110
6.2 Ideological Effect of Contextual Factor 111
6.3 The Limit of Generalization 115
6.4 Theoretical, Policy & Methodological
Implications 118
6.5 For a Dynamic Model of TV Production 121
6.6 Further Research 124
Bibliography 126
Appendix 1 Interview Questions 13 4
Appendix 2 Name List of Interviewees 13 7 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
Television is the central cultural institute of modern society. Since its inception in the mid-20th century, television has expeditiously replaced film, radio, picture magazine and newspaper to become the most penetrative mass medium. In Comstock‘s (198 9) description, the penetration graph of television resembles a strike of lightning. Not only has television attained quick penetration, it has also become the integral part of the social and cultural fabrics of everyday life. Day and night, television informs, amuses, stirs up emotions, arouses attention, and, above all, inconspicuously represents realities and shares culture through its factual and fictional programs. It is domestic and everywhere. Watching television is a widely practiced ritual from which participants are sharing common cultural norms (Carey, 1989) and constructing frameworks for collective sense making (Silverstone, 1981).
However, television culture is poorly understood despite its centrality in modern culture. The reason for the negligence might be that television medium is semiotically redundant^, aesthetically deficient2 and thus culturally despised. Many elites and media scholars reject television content, especially entertainment content, as an important cultural form worthy of investigation.
1. TV viewing is a low involvement activity (Barwise & Ethrenberg, 1988). In order to attract the attention of the inattentive audience, television in general tends to use all semiotic channel of communication. Salter (1992) describes five semiotic channels of television: Image, graphics, voice, music, sound effects. 2. Traditionally, artistic works call for subtlety, sophistication, and originality. But television as a mass medium has to be simple and redundant. It must cater for popular tastes and thus is inevitably lacking the sophistication of artistic works. 2
Of course, researchers have long been investigating 七he behavioral and attitudinal effects of television content variables such as sex, violence and persuasive messages. But it is only until recently that more researchers are studying television as cultural and discursive texts.3 This departure from effects research to a critical and interpretive perspective is loosely categorized as TELEVISION STUDIES, which is still a field without well- agreed boundaries.4 As an emerging field, television studies have many unexplored areas; some of them are particularly obvious.
Firstly, media scholars are more concerned with non- fiction than fictional content. Previous studies on television are skewed towards journalistic contents (Elliott, 1977)• Despite the fact that the most popular television programs are dramas and entertainment shows, they are much neglected by media researchers (Attallah, 1984). Secondly, there are more studies on television text than on production context. Many television studies are basically textual analyses of one or two television programs. Much have been written on television texts, but little has been written on how these texts are produced (Cantor & Cantor, 1992:4).
What are the relation between television texts and their organizational contexts? What are the mechanisms within the organizational contexts that shape and influence the ideological content of television dramas? What are their selection and creation processes? The analyses of television text and its production context can enable us to answer these significant questions and understand better how television culture is produced and presented inside billions of television home across the globe in the late-20th century.
3. See Barker & Timberg (1991) for a review. 4. See Hartley (1992) Allen (1992) and Burn et al. (1989). 3
1.1 FORMULATION OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study atteiapts to explore the television organizational conteKt that shapes and influences the ideology of television dramas.
Television Organizational Contexts in Hong Kong
Television Organizational Context refers 七o 七he organizational setting in which television content is selected and developed under controlling and evaluative processes and finally produced into television program to meet the goal of the television organization.
Right now, there are two significant models of television organizational context in Hong Kong: Commercial broadcast television which provides free television services and primarily relies on advertising revenues, and public broadcast television which provides television services by government funding.^
Commercial broadcast television: Hong Kong is served by two commercial broadcast TV stations, Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and Asia Television Limited (ATV), which were established two decades ago. Broadcast TV has attained quick penetration and is now accessible to 98% of the population. The majority of programs provided by the two commercial broadcasters are in-house local productions- (Chan & Lee, 1991) . As many as eight to nine hours of first-run Cantonese programs are produced and screened everyday by TVB and ATV (Chan & Choi, 1989). The most popular programs are drama serials which dominate the prime time hours, attract the widest atteirtion, and have become a major cultural force 七hat
5. There are o七heirs emerging television organizational contexts: Satellite television has been introduced recently and cable television service will be launched in the near future. 4
consolidates indigenous cultural identity of the Hong Kong audience (K.C/Chan, 1990). Despite the recent rating decline, prime time dramas are still being watched by one third of the population every evening. Since the early 197 0s, TVB has continuously outmaneuvered its rival ATV (formerly RTV 6) and grasped more than 80% of prime time viewers. During the prime-time hours of every weekday- evening, it releases three lines of first-run dramas which reflect the changing lifestyle and shared aspiration of the people of Hong Kong.
Public Television: The government broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) established its television arm in 1971. RTHK is officially a government broadcaster and relies on government funding. However, the television section, particularly the drama unit, has been operating autonomously with minimal government interference. Since the mid-1980s, the government has been working on a corporatization project to turn RTHK into a public broadcaster. Prompted by this policy, RTHK has been consciously pushing for the public broadcasting ideal of editorial independence. The project is suffering from prolonged political procrastination and is likely to be discarded (See Lee, 1992; K.C.Chan, 1990). In the transition from colonial government to the regain of sovereignty by China in 1997, the political power vacuum of the transitory period allows RTHK to operate in an autonomous condition very much in line with the public broadcasting model.^ Its programs have become increasingly critical towards the Chinese government and
6. RTV (Rediffusion Television Ltd.) provided wireless TV services in 1973. It was renamed ATV in 1982. 7. Government broadcasting model differs from public broadcasting model in that it is funded by, accountable to, and thus directly controlled by the government. 8. Public broadcasting model differs from government broadcasting n,odel in 七hat it is funded by and accountable to the public and editorially independent from government control. 5 the colonial government of Hong Kong, playing the dual roles of public and government broadcaster (Ma, 1992). RTHK produces TV programs which are released on borrowed air-time on the commercial television channels. When the licenses of TVB and ATV were renewed in 1988, the government required each of the two Chinese channels to set aside half an hour every weekday evening in prime time for RTHK programs. This arrangement was changed in 1990. Now only one channel is required to carry RTHK programs on weekday prime time; the other channel is required to carry RTHK programs on weekend prime time (K.C. Chan, 1990).
RTHK dramas have been acclaimed as "quality dramas" by the public. The RTHK drama unit has a tradition of getting international television awards (cf. RTHK, 1988). Below the Lion Rock, RTHK earliest long running drama series, is one of the most remembered program in Hong Kong. However, RTHK dramas have lost its popularity in recent years as they change from the grass root to elitist taste.
Defining Ideology and Television Drama
Ideology has been used in three ways: (1) a specific kind of belief; (2) beliefs that are in some sense distorted or false; (3) any set of beliefs irrespective of whether it is true or false.9 The present thesis adopts the third definition. 工deolocrv of television drama refers to the set of beliefs, irrespective of whether it is true of false, authentic or illusionary, that is embedded within the fictional construction of reality of television drama.
9. See Fiske (1980) for critical discussion of the three options. 6
^Qlevisipn dramas are one of the most important forms on television in terms of their popularity and central position in prime-time prograinining. Prograins such, as series, continued serials, soap operas, and so forth are considered as dramas. Their common defining characteristics are that they are all narrative fictions with conflicts (Berger, 1992a)• Sport and news can be dramatic, but they are not fiction• Berger (1992a) and Silverstone (1981) both categorize TV dramas as programs that are strong in the "emotive" scale but low in the "objective" one,
TV dramas can be further divided into different genre. In Hong Kong, the most popular drama genre is continued serials. Continued serial has one single story that continues through twenty to forty episodes. Right now, Hong Kong has two commercial broadcast Cantonese TV channels. They provide three to four hours of continued serials on prime-time every weekday evening. Other less popular drama genres are series and telefilms. Series has the same leading characters but independent story for each episode. Telefilm is a self-contained feature length drama (usually two hours long)• Series and telefilms produced by commercial TV station TVB are well received in the overseas video market but are only released occasionally in Hong Kong on weekend prime-time. The TV dramas produced by Hong Kong government broadcaster RTHK are mostly single-play series. Each single-play series has a common theme but each episode carries independent characters and stories. 7
Research Questions
The research questions of this study can be formulated as follows: Are there ideological differences between the dramas produced by public television RTHK and commercial television TVB? If yes, why? Are the differences arbitrary? Or are they shaped by the different organizational contexts?
The question of ideological differences involves textual analysis of television dramas; the explanation of the differences asks for organizational analysis of the production process of television culture.
The methodology employed is comparative case study of two Hong Kong drama programs, one from the public broadcaster RTHK, another from commercial station TVB, both of them are ranked by respective station as the most important production of 1992. Comparison will be on two levels: Textual analysis of 48 hours of program contents, and a total of 3 2 hours of in-depth interview of 20 production staff. 8
1.2 SIGNIFICANCE
Answers to these research questions have significant theoretical and policy implications:
Theoretical Significance. This study is the first attempt to account for ideological diversity of TV dramas in term of their organizational contexts.
Because of its mass appeal, television easily attracts Marxist label of ideological control. However, this position has been unsatisfactory in explaining the emerging ideological diversity of television contents. Since the early 1980s, more scholars have conceptualized TV as a heterogeneous unity of ideologies (White, 1992), as a cultural forum of diversity (Newcomb & Hirsch, 1984), and as a potentiality of meanings that is able to trigger multiple readings (Fiske, 1987; Allen, 1983), These theses have successfully brought attention to the pluralistic nature of television. But "cultural forum" is a vague concept lacking concrete elaboration. Whereas the polysemic readings proposed by Fiske has been criticized for underestimating the restrictive boundaries of television messages and overestimating the ability of the audience to oppose the preferred meaning of the text (Jensen K.B., 1991a ； Crane, 1992; Budd & Steinman, 1989)• The present study attempts to explain the ideological differences of prime time drama in organizational terms: TV is seen not so much as the conspiracy of the' ruling class. TV is not just conceptualized as a vague "forum" of ideologies. TV is understood in the perspective of culture production processes with ideological diversity caused by contextual differences. 9
Policy Implication, This study has significant policy implication for the public versus commercial television debate. Right now these two television models are in a state of flux on a global level. In Europe, public television system had dominated the broadcasting scene for decades. But in the 1990s, commercial television is mushrooming all over Europe: In 1980, there were around 5 private broadcast TV channels in Europe, but now there are more than 30 (Siune et al.,1992), European public broadcasters are in a deep sense of crisis (Syvertsen； 1991; Blumber, 1992; Steimer, 1992; Richeri, 1986), their cultural strength and weakness are under critical, sometimes painstaking self-examination.
However, in some Asian countries, there have been renewed interest in the public television model: In Hong Kong, the drawn-out project to corporatize the government broadcaster RTHK to public broadcaster has aroused intensive political dispute;^^ meanwhile, the Taiwan government has initialized a plan to build an independent public television station; China takes another turn, the government—controlled broadcasting system has undergone subtle changes towards commercialization.H
In this transitory period, there are prolonged debates between advocates of commercial and public television, but the comparative analyses between the two models have been normative and impressionistic (e.g. Blumber, 1992). The present study will substantiate the discussion by providing a detailed comparison of the drama programs produced in these two organizational contexts. The study will illustrate whether public and commercial television are producing diversified or similar drama content.
10. See Lee (1992) for a review. 11. See Chan (1993) for an analysis of media commercialization in China. 10
Media pluralism is an often stated goal of media policy. Some believe that it can be achieved by technological advancements which allow the proliferation of TV channels (e.g. Doyle, 1992; Brody, 1992). Others believe that media pluralism can be achieved by opening up the television market to allow more commercial competition. For example, Peacock (1986) has put forward an influential policy which is based on the philosophy of choice, commercial competition and consumer sovereignty. Peacock‘s proposition has great influence on the commercialization of the public broadcasting system in Europe.
However, some critics are expressing reservations. More commercial channels may only provide "more of the same" programs.The present study will have significant policy implication related to the policy objective of media pluralism. This study will show whether public and commercial television have tendency to produce dramas with different ideological contents.
12. Also see Home Office, Broadcasting in the 1990s: Competition, Choice and Quality, (London, HMSO, 1988). 13. McKibben (1992) analyzes the programs provided through 150 channels of an entire day in New York and finds out that the programs are mostly re-runs or familiar network programs. Also see Rowland (1990). 11
1,3 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
The study will begin with a theoretical review. The theoretical landscape of television researches will be sketched. Relevant concepts, issues, and perspectives will be discussed.
Chapter three is on methodology.工 will provide a detailed exposition of the methodological design, the comparative logic, and the actual research process.
Chapter four is the textual analysis of the drama contents to see whether the ideological contents of the two dramas are different.
Chapter five seeks to account for the comparative pattern found in the textual analysis. Their production contexts are explored to see whether there are organizational factors that systematically shape the ideological contents of the selected drama.
In chapter six, I will summarize the findings and discuss the generalizations that can be made from this study. The thesis will end with a discussion on the theoretical and research implications of this study. Chapter 2 THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter has three purposes. First, to posit this study within the theoretical landscape of television research. Second, to identify some unresolved problems in the field. Third, to spell out the possible contributions of this study to the advancement of the field.
Research in television drama production has four interconnected research traditions: Television studies, media organization research, cultural production theory and organization theory. The foci of each approach are outlined in Fig. 1.
Figure 1: Theoretical Contexts of TV Production Research
TELEVISION STUDIES Three Research Areas: Textual Analysis Television Audience Research * Television Production Research *
MEDIA ORGANIZATION RESEARCH Two Foci of Investigation : Content Processing, Constraint of Autonomy
> ( CULTURE PRODUCTION THEORY 7 Key question: How do cultural products / vary under different conditions of / production and consumption? “
ORGMsriZATIONAL THEORY Key question: How do individuals cooperate to achieve personal and/or collective goals? 13
2 . 1 TELEVISION STUDIES
Television studies has received increasing attention in recent years, but it is still not a standard academic field (Hartley, 1992; Allen, 1992). Television studies does not have a well-defined normative boundary, yet there is an understood orientation: It is a conscious departure from the research agenda of studying the behavioral and attitudinal influence of a single television variable to a more holistic research engagement with the television medium (Barker & Tijiiberg, 1992)• From this orientation, television studies are heading towards three general directions, namely, textual analysis of television programs, ethnographical study of television audience, and television production research, Textual analysis applies semiotics, structuralism, genre theory, narrative theory, etc., to explore the meaning structure of television. Television audience research represents the interest in explaining how meanings are activated within the interpretative community of television audience. Television production research includes studies of the organizational contexts and processes of television production.
Of these three, the study of television production contexts is the least researched. Although much have been written on television contents, little has been written on the processes of content selection and production (Cantor & Cantor, 1992). Besides, those studies on TV organization concern more on the non-fiction content (Elliott, 197-7) • There are only a handful of studies on the production of entertainment content, especially drama series, despite the fact that prime-time dramas have always been the most popular television program. The present study is a supplement to this much neglected area of television drama production research.
1. Allen (1992) and Burn et al.(1989) are two anthologies of sample works of television studies; also see Barker et al. (1992) for an integrative review. 14
So far there are five major works of television production research. In a pioneering article, Elliott and Chaney proposed a sociological approach for the study of television production process (Elliott & Chaney, 1969). The proposal was put into practice resulting in The Making- of a TV Series, one of the major forerunners of TV production research (Elliott, 1972). The study provides detailed production process of a television program and is able to identity key decision making points. He argues that although the TV program is based on the producer‘s ideas and experiences, organizational factors are limiting the range of options the producer can take. Elliott' s woirk ITepITesents a sociological perspective that focuses on the PROCESS of television production.2
The second major work is Cantor's The Hollywood Television Producer (1971). Cantor‘s work is different from Elliott‘s micro-level case analysis, it is a mid- level occupational analysis based on taped interviews with 59 television producers. The focus is on OCCUPATION variables. The expanded scope of inquiry enables Cantor to identify different group of producers who, because of their different occupational background and career expectation, experience different degree of organizational constraint.
The third major work is Gitlin‘s Inside Prime Time (1983) , a macro-level analysis of TV industry. He interviews hundreds of producers, executives and writers to examine the functioning of the industry in general and program selection and processing in particular. The emphasis is on capitalistic HEGEMONY. The economic structure is described as the overriding determinant of content processing.
2. M. Alvarado's Hazell： the making of a TV series (1978) is a parallel of Elliott work. Tulloch & Alvarado's Doctor Who： The Unfolding Texts (1983〉， also focuses on production process, is an integrative account of the production history of the long running series Doctor Who. 15
The fourth major work is Newcorab and Alley's The Producer's Medium (1983). They interview the most influential producers of American Television and put forwards a theoretical position: TV is a producer medium in which influential producers are able to express their world views, beliefs and values in their programs. This represents an interpretive approach which focuses on the producers' IDIOSYNCRASY as the source of creativity and content variation.
The fifth major work is Cantor and Cantor‘s Prime-Time Television (1992) . In their book, Cantor and Cantor integrate research results and data from a variety of sources to give a holistic and integrative account of the organizational contexts of prime time dramas. They point out that TV dramas are primarily controlled by- organizational ,legal, political, and economic constraints, not by the creators and producers. The book was first published in 1981. In the 1992 edition, they add in the factor of contextual changes； they make important revisions which take into account the historical change of, audience tastes and television production context. Cantors‘ work represents an INTEGRATIVE APPROACH of studying the production of television culture.
Running through previous researches, some basic questions stand out: What is the role of individual creativity in the television production contexts? What are the options opened and closed to the producers and creators? How do these options systematically affect the selection and production of television content? These questions rest on two pivots: Creative constraint and content diversity. 16
Creative Constraint. The major disagreement between these researchers is the question of whether television organization is constraining the individual to an extent that creativity is hampered. Newcomb and Alley (19 83) point out that influential producers have powerful creative control, they can bypass constraint, and go around restrictions to achieve their creative ends. On the other hand, Cantors (1992, 1971) and Gitlin(1983) argue that creativity and autonomy are highly controlled. Cantor traces the control on the organizational level, while Gitlin notes that constraints are the result of capitalistic hegemony.
Content Diversity. Many producers are having progressive and innovative ideas that are not reflected in the programs they produce. Cantor & Cantor (1992) argues that television organization is constraining the producers to offer mainstream contents. Gitlin (1983) claims that television is operating within the capitalistic economy, the profit motive has hegemonic control over the producers to produce programs that maintain the status quo. In contrast, Newcomb and Alley (198 3) argue that TV is a cultural forum of diversified ideologies. The reason for the apparent diversity is that television dramas are reflecting their creators‘ idiosyncratic values.
There are some other television production researches,^ but the above five are enough to represent the range of approaches in the field.
3. See Newcomb (1991) for a review. 17
2.2 MEDIA 0RGMII2ATI0N RESEARCH
The issues of creative constraint and content diversity can also be found in the broader field of media organization research.
Research interest in media organizations began in the 1960s.4 Media organizations have been analyzed from the occupational, production routine, and institutional perspectives. Occupational perspective focuses on occupational variables such as values and careers of the individual communicator (e.g. Cantor, 1971; Johnstone et al. 1976) . The production routine perspective asks how media routine is influencing the judgment of content selection and processing (e.g. Tuchman, 1978). Institutional perspective is an integrative approach that studies media industry as a whole (e.g. Hirsch, 1981; Tunstall, 1991; Turow, 1984, 1985).
Media organization researches, no matter on which level of analysis, are generally centered on the two pivots of investigation mentioned earlieri Individual autonomy, and content variation. ‘
Analyses focusing on individual autonomy look into problems such as role conflicts, organizational constraints, room for creativity and level of autonomy. Despite some minor variations, the majority of media organization researches assert that media organizations are constraining individual creativity. In the introduction of an anthology on media organization research, Ettema and Whitney (1982:8) write: "The view of constraint as a powerful and often destructive limitation imposed by organization upon the professional autonomy or creative freedom of individuals is dominant view here."
4. See Tuchman (1988) for a general review; Elliott (1977) for a review in British context. 18
Another focus of media organization researches is content processing. Organizations are seen by most scholars in the field as limiting content selection. Surveys and studies have shown that reporters and TV producers are more liberal than their news stories and programs. They cover a fairly wide range of ideological stands, but the resulting programming does not reflect it.5
The present comparative study tries to understand how organizational context influences television content. Existing television production and media organization researches give contradictory answer to the research question asked in this paper. Most of them say organization is limiting the range of content, but Newcomb and Alley say important producers can bypass organizational constraints to produce the content they want.
Amid these contradictory accounts, one important relation can be identified: Those that describe a higher degree of individual autonomy tend to talk more of content innovation and diversity (Newcomb & Alley, 1983； Feuer, 19 87; Ettema, 1982). Studies that describe a higher degree of organizational constraint usually talk about the production of media contents which are mainstream and stereotyped (Cantor & Cantor, 1992； Gitlin, 1983; Tuchman, 1974)• And, the most important source of constraint is the capitalistic system in which the media organizations are operating. The profit motive is often seen as the major constraining factor that is responsible for the mainstreaming of inedia contents (Gitlin 1983; Tuchman, 1974).
5. Discussed in Perrow (1986: 179-182). 19
Feuer‘s description of an American independent production house MTM is especially illuminating in this context.6 MTM is catering for commercial broadcast television network, but its drama programs have been perceived as "quality TV" that are more liberal and sophisticated than "regular TV.“ The organizational context of MTM is described as giving producers "the freest hand in the business."7 Autonomy is seen as a factor for content innovation.
On the surface, existing researches seem to fall into either ends of the constraint vs autonomy polarization. However, this polarization can be conceptualized as a dynamic interplay of constraint and autonomy: Organizational context with higher degree of constraint has a relatively stronger mainstreaming effect on television contents, while organizational context with higher degree of creative autonomy tends to produce more liberal contents. This dynamic relation will be proved useful in the organizational analysis in chapter five.
The recurrent issues of creative constraint and content processing have theoretical roots that can be traced to culture production theory and organization theory (See figure 1)• Culture production theory deals mainly with the diversity of cultural content processing while organization theory is more concerned with how individuals cooperate to achieve personal and organizational goals.
6. Feuer,s work (1987) is a genre study of MTM programs, so it is not included in the major television production researches mentioned in section 2.1. 7. Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1974; quoted in Feuer (1987). 20
2•3 CULTURE PRODUCTION THEORY
In the beginning of the 2 0th Century, elite culture had been continuously under the threat of the fast-growing mass culture. Some saw mass produced culture as "low,“ repetitive, and demoralizing,* others saw it as progressive and widening cultural access.8 Bypassing this emotionally loaded debate, the production of culture perspective takes an alternative path to explore the production process of culture. This perspective entered the research scene in 197 6, when Peterson made it a proposal on a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist (1976b). Papers were than grouped into an anthology under the same title The Production of Culture (Peterson, 1976a).
Peterson defines culture production as the process of creation, manufacture, marketing, distribution, exhibiting, inculcation, evaluation, and consumption of culture products. He calls this a "genetic" perspective of culture which can solve the high~culture~vs~low- culture debate, analogous to the solution of the nature- vs-nurture debate through the study of genetics. The variations of cultural contents are claimed to have a genetic source in the production process. On the basis of this proposition, Peterson (1982) develops specific constraints that shape the culture production process.
It is Sander (1982) who redefines the production of culture perspective and brings in an interpretive dimension. He emphasizes shared conventions rather than structural constraints. The behavior of cultural producers is not determined by abstract organizational forces; instead, organization is the result of human cooperative interaction.
8. See Cans (1974) for a critical review. 2i
The most recent work on culture production is Crane's book-length study under the same title The Production of Culture (1992) • Crane suminarizes the main concern of cultural production theory as follows:
"It is impossible to understand the nature and role of recorded culture in contemporary society without examining the characteristics of the organizations in which it is produced and disseminated. The production of culture theory has been concerned with the effects of different types of organization structures (DiMaggio, 1977) and different type of markets (Peterson & Berger, 1975) on the diversity and range of cultural products.“ (1992:4)
Crane attempts to answer these questions in the production contexts of TV, film, radio, prints, and urban performing arts. She is basically explaining content variations in contextual terms.
The production of culture perspective has only been proposed for less than twenty years. Culture production theory is still in the stage of refining its research perspective. Little first hand research has been done. However, as a research perspective, culture production theory is of great heuristic value to this study. The culture production perspective can avoid the high-vs-low culture debate, surpass Marxist ideological criticism of cultural texts, and go beyond textual description into the "genetics" of textual creation. 22
2.4 ORGANIZATION THEORY
The theoretical root of culture production theory is embedded in organization theory. Conceptual tools of organization theory are indispensable in the analyses of cultural production processes.
Contemporary organization theories are complicated and pluralistic; generalization is difficult (Reed, 1992). But the general shift is from the bureaucratic model, which emphasizes goal specificity and mean-end standardization, to a more natural and open model, which emphasizes dynamic participation and environmental relation (Scott, 1987). Amid these changes, an important theoretical differentiation has developed: Organization theorists begin to categorize organizations into types.
At the early days of organization research, scholars were attempting to formulate THE ideal type of organization. Not until the seventies had theorists built into their models with the consideration of different types of organizations. Some have maintained that rational bureaucratic system and the natural participatory system are at variance not because of one being superior than the other, but because each focuses on a different end of a single continuum representing the range of organizational forms: There are some organizations that work better in highly formalized structures, while others work better in a participatory mode. Perrow gives an influential classification of organization according to the nature of its technology, that is, the type of work done to achieve goals (Perrow, 1967)•
When technology is well understood, predictable, routine, and repetitive, a bureaucratic structure is most efficient• 23
Where technology is not well understood, generally because the "raw material" that each person works on is poorly understood and possibly reactive, or self activating, the task is nonroutine. Such units are difficult to bureaucratize and work better by delegation and participation (Perrow, 1967; 1986).
This conceptualization is of tremendous value to this study. It gives hint for solving the unresolved problem of creativity vs constraint in television production and media organization research. In the routine/nonroutine continuum, media organizations cannot fit well into either ends. They exhibit characteristics of both routine and nonroutine technologies. Media organizations desperately need rational, bureaucratic and standardized routine to cope with the pressure of meeting deadline and processing massive media flow, but at the same time, they need the charismatic, creative, participatory nonroutine processes to meet the idiosyncratic demands of creativity and the unexpected nature of media production.
Failing to grasp this dual nature of media organization will easily result in a static framework of analysis which overemphasizes either the control by the routine or the autonomy of the non-routine. Television production researches that adopt a static mode of analysis are often caught up in either end of the creativity vs constraint polarization. The present study argues for a dynamic model of interaction between routine and nonroutine demands, The formulation of this dynamic model will be made explicit in chapter six. 24
Concluding Remark
As seen from the above review, the wide range of researches on television studies and media organization research exhibit two interlocked research problems - content selection and creative constrains — which are rooted respectively in culture production theory and organization theory. In this theoretical landscape, the present study is making three new attempts :
First, it integrates production research with textual analysis. Most production researches study content processing and focus only on the organization aspects and ignore the analysis of the texts. On the other hand, the majority of television studies are limited to the textual analysis of one of two TV programs. They are being criticized for converting all "processes" into "artifacts" (Williams, 1990) and not taking into account the influential factors of production contexts (Cantor & Cantor, 1992). Similar criticism has recently appeared within the tradition of structural analysis itself: In the 1992 edition of The Channel of Discourse, Reassembled, Seiter (1992) points out that this kind of analysis stubbornly restricts itself to the texts. It ignores the contingency of meaning and cannot explain television economics, production, and the audience. The present study avoids the one-sidedness of each of these approaches by relating texts to the contexts.
Second, this study seeks to answer the basic question of culture production theory with grounded comparative study. So far, all that have been written on culture production are unsubstantiated theories and formal propositions about the production of high culture and popular culture. This study provides first hand comparison of an elite drama and a commercial drama, thereby relating content diversity to concrete production process. 25
Third, it tries to account for the issue of creative constrain七 by formulating a dynamic model of television production. As 工 have mentioned earlier, most TV production researches are either emphasizing bureaucratic control at the expense of creativity, or the vice versa. Recognizing the seemingly contradictory routine/ nonroutine nature of television organization, this study explores how creativity is exercised in the autonomous- yet-constrained dynamics. Public television is often regarded to be more autonomous, while commercial television more restrained. These two production contexts will provide the contextual variances for causal comparative analysis. Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY
This paper intends to examine the relation between the ideology of the TV drama and the television organizational contexts.
This can be done by several methodological options. It can be done by ethnographic analysis of a single organizational context. This option has been adopted in many television production researches (e.g. Elliott, 1972; Alvarado, 1978; Ettema, 1982). However, descriptive study of a single organizational context has limited contextual variance for convincing causal analysis. This method is difficult to meet the research objective of explaining ideological diversity in terms of organizational context.
Another option is by quantitative analysis of the co- relation between ideological content of TV dramas produced by different organizational contexts. This is good for establishing generalizations of relation between types of content and types of television organization. But it has difficulties in either doing qualitative ideological analysis of drama content or understanding the internal logic between drama texts and their organizational contexts.
The method of comparative case study is the option that best suits our re'search questions for two reasons: Firstly, case study allows in-depth ideological analyses. Secondly, the comparison of commercial and public television contexts provides the organizational variance to illuminate the casual influence of organizational context on the ideological construction of drama content. 27
Two Hong Kong Cantonese drama programs are selected for case comparison: BELOW THE LION ROCK 中子山下， BLR below) produced by the public broadcaster RTHK 1, and THE GREED OF MAN (大游代， GM below) produced by the commercial television TVB. Comparison will be based on textual analysis of the programs and taped interview of the production staff.
A frequent criticism of most qualitative research has been the lack of explicit research design and procedures (Jankowski and Wester, 1991).工ntintoli (1985) argues that "pseudoethnographies" that superficially engage a social construction of reality are disservice to the field. Their comments are well taken and 工 shall provide an explicit exposition on the methodological design, its comparative logic, and the actual research process.
The aim of the comparative method is to elucidate causes by examining the similarity and difference among cases. Following Ragin (1989) and Mill (1967), the logic of our comparison goes like this:
(1) selecting theoretically significant cases which show (2) similarities in category but are (3) different in their output (in this case, ideological differences of the two dramas); (4) in order to explain the paradox (similar cases with different output), theoretically important differences in the production process are examined. These steps will be elaborated in turn.
1. Officially, Radio Television Hong Kong is a government broadcaster. Since the mid-1980s, the government of Hong Kong has been working on a corporatization project to make RTHK a public broadcaster. Although the project has been suffering from political procrastination, the RTHK drama unit, at the time of the production of BLR, was still enjoying full autonomy. See Ma (1992) for a discussion of this dual role of public and government broadcasting of RTHK. 28
3-1 SIGNIFICANCE & REPRESENTATIVENESS OF THE SELECTED CASES
There are a few good reasons for selecting GM and BLR. First, they are prime-time dramas. Drama is the most popular genre, yet it is not well studied by media researchers. Not until recently, there has been a heavy bias towards the study of journalistic and factual programming. Popular dramas are much neglected (Attallah, 1984； Elliott, 1977).
Second, the two selected dramas are products of the two significant organizational contexts of public and commercial television, which are now in a stage of flux on a globe level. Despite the prolonged debate between advocates of commercial and public television, the comparative analyses between the two models of television organization have been impressionistic. The present study will provide detailed comparison of the production of television drama in these two organizational contexts.
Third, both GM and BLR were positioned by the executives of respective television station to be the most important production of 1992. All the production staff interviewed said that GM was a prestigious assignment. Whereas BLR was considered by the RTHK staff as the most ambitious production of RTHK‘s drama unit in recent years.
The fourth reason is that the production team of GM and BLR represent the' collaboration of the best staff of TVB and RTHK respectively, from producers and directors to scriptwriters and production crews. Out of the twenty RTHK and TVB staff interviewed in this study, only three had worked in the TV industry for less then ten years, all others had stayed in their respective television stations for more than ten years, five of them more than twenty years. 29
The fifth reason is that both dramas generated a great amount of public discussion. According to the records of RTHK's public relation unit, BLR was the most discussed program in recent years. On the other hand, GM, like other typical commercial dramas, was criticized of being violent, melodramatic and manipulative. According to the records of audience complaint of the Broadcasting Authority, GM was the single drama program that received the largest number of complaints in the past two years. In term of rating, GM didn't appear to be a super-hit as anticipated, but managed to be among the top ten programs of 1992. Besides, GM had become a rare instance in recent • years that a TV drama was heatedly discussed in the newspaper. Critical comments were mixed and polarized. The program was either highly praised or severely condemned.2
To summarize, the two organizational contexts represent the two significant television models of public television (RTHK) and commercial broadcast television (TVB) • The interviewees are among the most-valued production staff of the respective TV stations. Both texts are among the exemplary productions of the respective television system.
2. See Next Magazine, Oct. 30, 1992: 15-21; Nov. 27, 1992: 124; Eastweek, Dec. 3, 1992: 30. 30
3.2 COMPARABILITY
Perrow (1967) points out that organizations should be compared only if they are within the same organization type. On the level of organizational contexts, both GM and BLR are produced in the contexts with technologies that are mostly non-routine on the creative side and ( bureaucrat!zed on the management side. Both BLR and GM are in the same textual category. Both texts are drama, which is fictional, emotively strong and categorically different from reality-based non-fiction content (Berger, 1992a; Silverstone, 1981).
Both BLR and GM are conceptualized and produced within the same period 3, both with the intention of reflecting the changes of Hong Kong. Since both GM and RTHK are fictional representation of the Hong Kong society, they provide a rare chance for comparative investigation of the discursive construction of the Hong Kong in the 1990s.
However, most natural cases have loose ends that resist neat comparison. The present cases are no exception. The major comparative interference is the difference in genre. GM is a 40-episode continued serial of a single story. Whereas BLR is an 8-episode single-play series with different characters and stories for each episode.
Ideally, comparison should be made between significant dramas of the same genre. But right now, TVB does not produce single-play series, and RTHK does not produce serials. Comparison can only be made between TVB serial and RTHK single-play series.
3. Idea research of BLR started in December 1991 and the program was released in September 1992; research of GM started in Jan. 1992; the prog-am was released in November 1992, BLR was released on Saturday prime-time, TVB Jade, from 08/08/92 to 03/10/92. GM was released from 05/10/92 to 27/11/92 on weekday prime-time, TVB Jade* 3:1
Single-play series had had a brief appearance in TVB in the mid—1980s but faded away in the late—198 0s, They were of marginal significance to TVB. The most important genre of TVB dramas is serial. Whereas the most important genre of RTHK dramas is single-play series. It would not be worthwhile to sacrifice significance for genre similarity - by comparing BLR with past single-play series produced by TVB. I shall make explicit the difficulties of comparing BLR and GM. In addition, measures will be employed to reduce the interference caused.
The genre difference posts questions on textual comparison and causal analysis.
On the textual level, the internal variance within BLR (which has 8 stories) should be accounted for when it is compared with GM (which has only one story).
To reduce the interference caused by internal variance of BLR, textual analysis of the programs will focus on the qualitative differences of ideological paradigm. Semiotically speaking, television dramas have two lines of forces: the horizontal, syntagmatic sequence of events； and the vertical, paradigmatic set of discourses•4 Syntagmatic comparison is on the quantitative frequency of characters and motifs. Paradigmatic comparison is on the nature of discourses. Discourse always has ideological position. It promotes, negotiates with, or opposes the dominant ideology.5 Paradigmatic comp^irison is on whether the dramatic discourses are for or against the mainstream ideology.
4. See Berger, 1992b for an introduction of syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis. 5. see Fiske (1992), Kozloff, (1992), and O.Sullivan et al. (1983). Also see 七he definition of discourse in 4.1.. 32
Because of the difference in program length of GM and BLR, syntagmatic comparison would be difficult and at the same time irrelevant to the research questions of this study. The paradigmatic comparison of discourse will reveal the ideological similarity or difference of BLR and GM. This comparative tactic will overcome the comparative interference on the textual level.
The difference in genre also creates interference on a coirtex七ual level. Previous studies have found 七hat the genre has influences on content and ideology of TV programs (Swider et al. 1983； Tulloch, 1990; Attallah, 1984; Feuer, 1992). Is the difference in genre, instead of the difference in production contexts, responsible for the ideological difference of GM and BLR? In other words, is the genre difference of BLR and GM a source of their content variance? If yes, to what extent and in what direction does genre affect content?
To assess the influence of program genre,工 cross examine my interviewees by asking whether there are differences between the content selection and production processes of serial and single-play within the same station. If there is no difference, that means genre is not a source of content variance, or the effects of contextual factors are overriding the effect of genre. If there are differences, that means genre is having intervening effect on content selection. Further analysis would be needed to assess the extent of genre effect. 33
3.3 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
The two dramas will be analyzed to determine whether they are ideologically different. The analytical method is modeled after Fiske's discourse analysis.6
Both GM and BLR are fictional constructions of Hong Kong in the 1990s. In reality, Hong Kong in the 1990s faces drastic changes and challenges on political, economic and cultural levels. Thus the ideological analyses of GM and BLR will seek to locate and delineate the political, economical and cultural discourses that may be embedded in the two dramas.
The operationalization of the discourse analysis will be fully elaborated in chapter four.
6. Here, discourse refers to a micro unit of ideology. The definition of discourse and the operation of discourse analysis will be elaborated in chapter 4. 34
3.4 ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS
In the discourse analysis, it is found that GM and BLR exhibit ideological differences. But the ideological differences may be arbitrary. The production contexts of GM and BLR are explored to see whether the ideological differences have contextual roots. If there are contextual mechanisms that systematically shape the ideological contents, the differences in GM and BLR are not case specific.
The primary aim of this part of the comparative study is to explain the ideological differences in terms of the organizational contexts. Data about the organizational contexts and the production process were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Initial interview questions were first formulated by considering important aspects in organization theory and culture production theory. Relevant question items in previous studies (Cantor, 1971; Newcomb & Alley, 1983； Gitlin, 1983) were incorporated.
These tentative question items were tried out in three informal interviews with the production assistants of rTHK and TVB. The interviews were loose enough to allow free discussion of the production of BLR or GM. Low level staffs were interviewed first because they were more willing to talk about sensitive issues.
Interview items were then revised. Questions were centered on the dynamic relation of organizational control and individual creative control. The creative process, from idea research to finalization of scripts, was discussed in details. Analytical factors include institutionalized reference frame, feedback systems, track record of producers, resources allocation, genre and aesthetic norms, etc. (for a full list of interview questions, see Appendix 1). 35
To enable cross comparative analysis, the question list was more or less followed through in all interviews, ye七 there was time for free discussion in every interview session.
There were altogether twenty interviewees and thirty two hours of taped interviews (see fig 2). Most interviews lasted for about an hour. Interviewees involved in some extreme or significant cases and organizational conflicts had longer interview time. The executive producer of BLR was interviewed twice to follow up on a conflict between RTHK producer Rachel Zen and the RTHK management. Conflicts and extreme cases were examined thoroughly to explore the boundaries of organizational constraints and the limits of individual autonomy.
The interviews covered key creative and managerial staff directly related to the production of BLR and GM. Two executive producers outside the GM and BLR team were also interviewed with similar questions. One of them had produced single-play series in TVB and the other had produced serial in RTHK. They are asked whether the genre makes a difference in the degree of creative constraint.
Interview began in September, 1992; the last interview session was in February, 1993. The distribution of the interviewees are presented in fig. 2 below. A complete list of the names and roles of the interviewees is provided in appendix 2•
« 36
FIG 2: DISTRIBUTION OF INTERVIEWEES
TVB INTERVIEWEES Production Manager of Drama Production (1) GM Production/Creative Team: Creative Director
Executive Producer Script Supervisor (1) (1) On-line Producer (3) Production Assistant (1) Non GM Case Executive Producer (1)
There were six on-line producers and six production assistants in the TVB team; since they were not involved in the creative process and were only responsible for the execution, only three producers and two assistants were interviewed.
RTHK INTERVIEWEES
Head of RTHK General Programme Section (1) BLR Production/Creative Team Executive Producer W Producer (6) ‘ Assistant Producer
Non BLR Case Executive Producer m
In RTHK, producers were responsible for originating idea and developing script, all six involved in BLR were interviewed. Only two out of the six assistant producers of BLR were interviewed for the same reason mentioned above. Chapter 4 Textual Analysis
4.1 Television and Ideology 37
4.2 The Comparative Strategy 4.2.1 The Context of Discourse 41 4.2.2 Comparative Strategy 4 2 4.2.3 Analytical Tools 44
4.3 Discourse of Capitalistic Economy 4.3.1 The Greed of Man 46 4.3.2 Below the Lion Rock 48
4.4 Discourse of Sino-Hongkong Politics 4.4.1 The Greed of Man 51 4.4.2 Below the Lion Rock 54
4.5 Discourse of Patriarchal Culture 4.5.1 The Greed of Man 57 4.5.2 Below the Lion Rock 58
4.6 Choric and Lyric Drama 59 Chapter 4 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Are dramas produced by public and commercial television ideologically different? This is the first research question raised at the beginning of this paper. Before answering this question, three theoretical positions of this study concerning television and ideology should be stated at the outset.
4.1 TELEVISION PJiD IDEOLOGY
Television contents, especially drama contents, are inevitably ideological.1 Although television depicts reality in some iconic ways, the realism only hides discourse (Fiske, 1987). The realistic images are representations of the world, not the reality itself (Allen, 1992) . The ideological contents of television are translated into the familiar and provide the frameworks for sense making (Silverman; 1981). This is not to say that a given program or episode directly expresses the beliefs of a particular producer, writer, director, or network programmer; nor does it mean that there is some conspiracy among TV executives to control the ideas expressed through the medium. Rather, the artifacts are produced in historical and social contexts, they promote values, beliefs, and ideas in relation to the contexts in which they are produced, distributed and consumed (White, 1992) . •
1. Previously, media were seen either as neutral carrier of messages (functionalism) or ideological control of ruling class (Marxism). But in the past decades, there has been a general shift towards the position that media is not neutral: they "frame" and interpret meanings, though not necessarily controlled by the ruling class (White, 1992; Fiske, 1992; see Crane, 1992 for review). 38
This position is generally considered as Marxist. Classical Marxist sees media as product of the economic base. Media ideology is monolithic, imposing on the audience the dominant ideology of the ruling class. However, in reaction to the growing evidence of pluralistic media experiences, both within media texts and the irrterpretive audience, this classical Marxist position has undergone great revision. Media are relatively autonomous, no longer wholly determined by economic structure. Television, as the major mass medium, is conceptualized as a cultural forum (Newcomb & Hirsch, 1984) with heterogeneous ideology (White, 1992) of negotiatory as well as oppositional positions (Fiske, 1987) . Television contains "not a single, unitary, but a plurality of dominant discourses: that they are not deliberately selected by encoders to ‘reproduce events within the horizon of the dominant ideology,‘ but constitute the field of meanings within which they must choose.” (Hall, 1986:343; also see Fiske, 1992)
Although TV ideologies are pluralistic, there is a set of meaning that is dominant in a particular text.^ There may be different levels of meanings and combinations of ideologies, and the audience can activate different meaning possibilities from the text, but these possibilities are limited, and in a preferred order. The degree of ideological heterogeneity may vary from one television drama to another. But the majority of dramas have a set semiotically dominant meanings that is thematic and obvious. This thematic meaning is relatively resistive to alternative reading.
2. Influenced by Barthes, "death of the author" proposition (1977), there have been a shift in television studies away from the author towards the texts and the audience. The audience community, rather than the author, is considered the most important site of idiosyncratic meanings. However, this reaction should not go to the extreme of denying the existence of limits and boundaries of interpretation of media texts {see Crane, 1992:90-100 for a critical review). 39
the ideological analysis that follows is an interpretive work to describe the the.atic ideological dis咖rses Of the television texts. This includes the exploration of the ways in which "familiar narrative or generic structures orient our understandi叫 of What we see and how they naturalize the events and stories on TV" (White, 1992, : 173). The analysis is not int的ded to detect see "hidden" meanings with unfaxniliar tools; instead, it is looking for repetitive ideological pattern of the heterogeneous texts.
Defining Ideology and Discourse
has been used in three important senses: (i) a specific kind of belief; (2) beliefs that are in some sense distorted or false; (3) any set of beliefs irrespective of whether it is true or false (Abercrombie et al., 1984). In recent scholarship, there has been a shift towards the third sense, which is also how the term is used in this thesis.3
Ideology, as a set of beliefs, inclines to be of high degree of internal agreement and carries a persuasive tone. In Althusser's word, it interpellates, or •addresses' people and gives them particular subjectivity. What this study is interested in is the thematic discourse of GM and BLR that 丨position丨 their audience ideologically•4
3. See Fiske (1990) for critical discussion of the three options. 4. The idea of interpellation has influenced some media critics such as those who wrote for Screen in the seventies to assert 七hat texts can override readers. But recent media criticism has changed to a moderate stand that text can only 'position' audience, the audience can negotiate with, or oppose to the texts (most well-known camp being the British cultural studies). In this study, I am interested in the ideological positions of the texts but not the resistive reading of the audience. 40
Discourse. Ideology is a broad term. Ideological analyses of television are usually done on the macro level,5 which examine the ideological effect and ideological nature of the TV medium. On a micro level of ideological analysis of a particular TV program, discourse analysis is much more effective.6 Discourse is "a language or system of representation that has developed socially in order to make and circulate a coherent set of meanings about an important topic area" (Fiske, 1987: 14). The particular set of meanings serves the interest of a particular social section by working ideologically to naturalize those meanings into common sense. It closes off other alternative presentation; in short, it interpellates. (See Fiske, 1992; Kozloff, 1992; 0'Sullivan et al., 1983,) Thus discourse can be perceived as unified and structured ‘address‘ equivalent to a micro unit of ideology (Abercrombie et al., 1984). It always has a ideological position; it may promote, negotiate with, or oppose the dominant ideology. It is an instrument of social construction (Lincoln, 1989). Applied to television drama, the discourses of drama content are seen as sets of representation of politics, morality, economics, individualism, etc., which are used to establish the identities and differences of the heroes, the villains, and the narrative situations (Fiske, 1984; 1987).
5. See White (1992) for an example of macro-level ideological analysis, 6. Fiske (1984) is a good example. ‘�. 41
4.2 THE COMPARATIVE STRATEGY
Discourses v/ithin television drama content are heterogeneous. To prevent analyzing discourses out of context, the discursive context is identified and the framework of| the discourse analysis is formulated.
1 1 I 4.2.1 The Context of Discourse
ji Raymond Willjiam argues that TV is a ceaseless flow of contents that differs from the discrete closure of film or novel (1990). in the flow of television contents, the title and the program introduction, which are shown repetitively； in every episode, are important devices to mark off the' program and provide an interpretive context of the discourses of the program. ：
The Greed of_M^ is only a working title, the Chinese title is "Great Times"(大Sf代）• Despite some variations for different episodes, the opening sequence always begins with this Chinese title in blood red color and a rippling special effect of the nightline of Hong Kong Victoria Harbor. The denotation is that the program is about the significant events in the significant period of Hong Kong. i
！ Below the Lion Rock has a long history. It was the title of a long running and much welcomed series in the i seventies. Tjie series appeared on and off in the eighties. Thi]s time the series re—appears with a npw opening: thejimage of the Lion Rock Mountain against the background ot a stormy sky with fast moving clouds. These expressive images, together with the historically established public image of BLR, carry rich and loaded I meanings. I
！I I • i .r .. i .i. jI-
I • ！ i
I Ii 42
I^^eL_of_JleanincTS in the Qpenincr of BLR
•Level Iconic Indexical Symbolic signify by resemblance connection convention signs The 工mage of Lion Rock is The tradition of BLR Lion Rock in the heart about the stories Mountain of the city of of ordinary people Hong Kong of Hong Kong
Fast moving Stormy weather Great and clouds turbulent changes
Both the openings of BLR and GM act as a discursive context that positions the drama content against the background of a changing and turbulent Hong Kong. They are fictional constructions of Hong Kong in the 1990s. In reality. Hong Kong in the 1990s faces drastic changes and challenges on political, economic and cultural levels. Within this similar discursive context, how do GM and BLR construct the discourses on the economics, politics and culture of Hong Kong? Are the two constructed versions of Hong Kong similar? Or are they drastically different? The ideological analyses of GM and BLR will seek to locate and delineate the political, economical and cultural discourses that may be embedded in the two dramas.
4.2.2 Comparative Strategy
In our analysis, discursive comparison of GM and BLR will be done on three levels:
Political level : discourse of Sino-Hong Kong politics Economical level: discourse of Hong Kong•s capitalistic establishment Cultural level : discourse of patriarchy 43
There are a few reasons for selecting Sin•—Hong Kong politics for discursive comparison. Hong Kong is now undergoing drastic political change. The British colony is changing into a Special Administrative Region under the rule of Communist China. Most social discourses are centered on Sino-Hong Kong politics, which are seen as ideological labels distinguishing different ideological caiaps. GM and BLR are both dramatic constructions of Hong Kong in the 1990s; how they represent the political discourses of the times would be an important indicator of their respective ideological paradigm. Besides, four out of the eight stories of BLR have thematic discourse on Sino-Hong Kong politics. The extensive media coverage of BLR is also on its political content.
Discourse of Hong Kong's capitalistic establishment is chosen for comparison because it is the most dominant thematic discourse of GM. The stock market is the central arena for the drama of GM. The struggles between the heroes and villains revolve around stock speculation activities which span from the 1970s to the 1990s. The economic discourse is most obvious and recurrent "throughout the forty episodes of GM. Hong Kong economy is characterized by heated investment of stocks, foreign exchanges and real estates. How GM constructs these economic activities would an important ideological indicator. Moreover, capitalism is one of the most frequently used indicator for ideological analysis of television content (e.g. Gitlin, 1983； Tuchman, 1974; Burns et al. , 198'9) •
Patriarchal discourse is selected because many studies have shown that commercial TV is maintaining a constant patriarchal domination of men over women (e.g. Cantor, 1990; Seggar, 1974; Baehr, 1980; Lemon, 1977). Besides, dramas inevitably have male/female relations which carry patriarchal or non-patriarchal discourse. 44
4.2.3 Analytical Tools
Analysis of the economic, political and cultural discourses can be done by
(1) the reading of the characters (Fiske, 1987) (2) the reading of discursive scenes (Fiske, 1984), and (3)七he reading of binary opposition (Berger, 1992a; 1992b).
(1) Throughout the history of television, successful dramas have been most remembered for its impressive characters. Characters are the central dramatic device to win audience identification. Discourses are thus unobtrusively constructed around characters and their relation with each other by positive or negative depiction.
(2) Discourses of television dramas can also be read through discursive scenes.7 Discursive scenes are defined here as scenes charged with emotion and discourse. The discourse ‘positions‘ the audience, the emotion unobtrusively pushes forwards that position.
(3) Leading structuralists such as Ferdinand Saussure and Claude Levi-Strauss assert that binary opposition is the fundamental operation of the human mind in meaning production (Berger, 1992a: 74)• Fiske has applied this structuralist notion to discourse analysis of television and has attained -insightful results (e.g. Fiske, 1987).
7.Discursive scene is similar to Kellner.s 'paleosymbolic scene' (1987), which is emotionally charged scene where a positive of negative situation occurs. It heavily involves the audience and makes them feel the pain of transgression of the negative situation and the recognition of the positively constructed situation. The term discursive scene emphasizes the ideological aspects, while Kellner's paleosymbolic scene sounds more Freudian and psychological. 45
It is basically done by identifying oppositional relations within the narrative and between characters or group of characters. Through the positive or negative constructions of these binary oppositions, discourses are affirmed or negated.
These three lens are applied in searching for discourses within the narratives• Not all of them are applied for every discourse analysis because individual narrative situation may not have an obvious binary opposition or discursive scene. For different narrative situations, one or two of the three lens may provide a better focus. To avoid overriding the text with the tool, as some structuralists have done and been criticized for^, the lens will not be forced into the reading. They will be applied where appropriate. Character reading will be on the leading roles; reading of relevant discursive scenes and binary oppositions will be on those which are obvious and most prominent.
8. A major criticism of structuralists reading is that they invent rather than delineate meaning, force outside structure into the text rather than clarify structure from within (Berger, 1992b). 46
4.3 THE DISCOURSE OF HONG KONG'S CAPITALISTIC ECONOMY
4.3.1 The Greed of Man
The narrative of GM spans from the seventies to the nineties. The stock market is the central arena of the drama.
The leading character Fong Gin Pok •寸専)comes from a rich family. His father, the founder of the "Chinese Stock Exchange Association," is bankrupted and then killed by the leading villain Ting Hian (了蟹),a friend come foe of Fong‘s family.
Fong becomes a street idler in his twenties, but he suddenly realizes that he is talented in stock speculation and is destined to fulfill his potential in the stock market. This enlightenment is brought to Fong by a mythic figure, Yip Tin (蕃天),a half-genius-half- lunatic mentor who claims himself "God of Wall Street". After Fong meets his mentor Yip, he changes drastically overnight to become a hardworking office boy in the stock market. Meanwhile, Ting's family, the villain gang, deliberately or accidentally killed all Fong‘s three sisters and his step mother.
Against all these tragedies, Fong the office boy manages to work his way up to become a billionaire, just like the myth that has been retold many times in Hong Kong. Finally Fong takes revenge on Ting's family by outsmarting them in the stock market.
The repetitive discursive scenes of economic establishment are built around the character of Fong the office-boy-cum-stock-market-tycoon. The sequence in episode 8 is most illustrative: 47
The sequence is a turning point of the narrative. Fong hides himself in a street corner. He tries to sleep and forget, as he always does. Then Yip appears, asking him to stand on his own feet, like his father, to get rich and famous. Fong follows Yip to his house in a wasteland. The scene is saturated with visual cues of mythic legend: foggy night, narrow footbridge and graveyard. The wall of Yip's deserted house is drawn all over with graffiti such as "God of Wall Street" and the like. It should be remembered that GM is a realistic drama in concrete social context. In the narrative, Yip is neither ghost nor god; he was once a professional stock broker. The mythic setting heightened the sacred nature of the discourse. Inside his home, Yip tells Fong the secret of success:
Yip: "You should find your own world. Only in your world can your potential be realized."
Fong: "My father told me about stock, I knew it when 工 was five. Stock is the thing 工 want. Now 工 know why 工 had never committed to anything. Because 工 only belong to the stock market.”
Yip: "You deserve to be the disciple of the God of Stock Market."
Fong: "Now 工 find my world. What should 工 do next?"
Yip: "Go find a place in the market!"
Similar discursive scenes are numerous. Stock speculation is represented as the god-given and the unquestionable. Whenever Fong * s girlfriend complains about the risky business of stock' speculation, she is convinced again by Fong‘s ability to win by intuition, by risk-taking, and by sheer luck. He always convinces his girlfriend that speculating is much better that earning by routine work. He pours all the money they have on speculation and gets all he wants: revenge, money, and recognition. 48
The leading villain Ting Hian is also a winner in 七he game of stock speculation. The negative portrayal of the villain does not negate the discourse on the economic establishment. Ting's villainies work on the plane of moral principle. Ting's family is punished at the end because of their immoral deeds, not because of their aggressiveness in stock speculation.
The dominant discursive construction of GM highly endorses the supreme goal of moneymaking by opportunism and risk-taking; the puritan ethics of hard-working is flatly rebuked. GM is legitimatizing the capitalistic system as the most important asset of the people of Hong Kong in the unstable social environment of the 1990s.9
4.3.2 Below the Lion Rock
In the eight episodes of BLR, there are two stories, The Heritage and Masks’ that have direct discursive references of capitalism. Both of them show a negative depiction of the exploitative nature of capitalistic system of Hong Kong.
Masks is a story of a successful entrepreneur Chung who participates in the 1991 Legislative Council Election.
The discursive thrust of the story is on politics, but there are rich opposing discourse on Hong Kong‘s capitalistic establishment. Behind Chung‘s good public image, his real m'otive of running for the election is actually seeking commercial interest by political convenience•
9. This discourse analysis is not intended to be a Marxist criticism ‘ of capitalism, it is only describing how the prevailing social values on speculation and investment are being legitimized in popular television drama. 49
He employs illegal immigrants for their cheap labor. One of his illegal laborer is injured on duty. Chung stops him from seeing doctor and sends him back to china. The worker is crippled as a result of delayed treatment. The discourse is also embedded in the binary opposing character construction of Chung and his father:
The Value Structure of Characters in MaF^ks
Chung Chung* s Father
Characterization negative positive
Personal Style Dressing Business suit Artistic, causal Feel Rigid Warm Emotion Unhappy, tired Happy, energetic Interpersonal Manipulative Caring
Profession Type of Job Entrepreneur Artist (painter) Motivation Ambition Satisfaction Reward Fame, profit Satisfaction Environment Business Grassroot
Chung and his father are the basic antagonistic pair in the story. Contrasting the manipulative and exploitative behavior of Chung, his father is happy, content, and helpful to a group of young dramatists. The positive and negative characterizations heighten the oppositional discourse against the exploitative behavior of entrepreneurs.
The Herita<7e presents a more complicated discourse on the destructive but irresistible effect of capitalism. It is a story about an old villager uncle Tim, who wants to persevere his home against the property developer‘s plan to turn his home into a country motel. His grand daughter comes back from England to help settle the dispute, only to find out that her brother, Tim's grandson, has already received deposit from the land developer. 50
Other villagers, who openly resist the construction, are making loud noise against the project, claiming that it would damage the Feng Shu of the village. But as 七he event unfolds, these noises are only tricks designed 七o acquire more compensation.
The negotiatory stand is made clear in the following discursive scenes:
can iake ？h^in ([。）： Why do you object? The motel rl^S = 二r=‘/t can also bring your grandMher is very much
Jrom^his? don't understand, what advantage can you get GD: People are not just doing things for an advantage! In another confrontational scene:
^D: You are making them willing to sacrifice anything for money. ! ^ LD: Do you really believe without this project, people will stop chasing after money?
These dialogues are accoitipanied by visual commentary of the destruction of unplanned land development: country fields are turned into junkyard, polluted river and deserted ruins.
Finally, the old man sets fire on the house in order to quiet the dispute.
Here, the profit-motive is seen as an irresistible but damaging force that distorts human nature. In contrast, GM depicts Hong Kong capitalistic system as a god-given opportunity for personal gain of fame and fortune. 51
4.4 THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE OF SINO-HONG KONG ANTAGONISM
4.4,1 The Greed of Man
"Great Times"(大召字代),the Chinese title of GM, motivates the audience to read for the signs of the times. In the run-up to 1997, political discourses abound. However, GM is extremely restrained in political discourses. There is no hint in all 40 episodes that Hong Kong has any problem related to politics. Hong Kong, as constructed in GM, is an apolitical society all through the seventies, the eighties and the nineties.
In reality, the stock market of Hong Kong is very much bothered by political debates, but in the drama, the up and down of the stock market are only the push and pull between the villains and heroes of the story.
The initial versions of the script have obvious political overtone: In one version, the story begins with a stock market crash in 1997. Another version involves an accident of the Daya Bay nuclear plant.10 A full discussion of the creative process of the drama will be reserved for chapter five. Suffices it to mention here that explicit political discourses are finally suppressed. They appeared in an esoteric way. Subtle political discourse is built in the binary opposition of Fong ‘ s family and' Ting ‘ s family:
10. The building of the Daya Bay nuclear plant had caused a series of Sino-Hongkong dispute. It has been a symbol of political and psychological threat to Hongkong since then. 52
The Colle(^ive_VMue Structure of fh^ Two
Pong's Family Ting's Family
Heroes . Villains Westernized Traditional Chinese Grass Root Triad Society Ijegal Illegal Moral Immoral Civilized Fierce, Violent Defending Against Invasion Invading Fong's Family Act By Reason Act By Force Upright Corrupted Tamed Threatening Typical Hongkongers Atypical,Outsider
Fong's father is educated in the West. His leisure life is associated with bars and western music. He plays piano and his favorite song is "Bridge Over Trouble Water". Fong himself is good at English recitation. In contrast, Ting Hian is always quoting traditional Chinese proverbs.
All the names of Fong‘s family are average, but the Tings have atypical names with negative connotation. All their names have the Chinese character Hian (蟹），which means crabs, a symbol of transgression and fierceness.
Ting‘s family is "invading" Fong‘s family. They are a threat to them all through the story. Ting Hian wants to marry Fong's step mother by force, his second son rapes Fong‘s sister, and at the end of the story, all Feng‘s family members die because of the villain gang.
The character of Ting Hian shows allusion to Communist China: He is violent, corrupted, yet always claims himself to be honorable, blameless, and correct, he kills and prosecutes in the name of righteousness and for the well being of his victims. He has patriarchal control over his sons, they comply even when Ting asks them to commit suicide,^^
11. Executive producer Wei Ka Fai said that the inspiration of this suicide-cum-hornicide scene came from the open firing on protesting students in the June-4th crackdown. 53
This political discourse is highly suppressed and esoteric. However, the connotation is very strong. If the Ting's family had exhibited a light dose of symbolic connection with China (for instance, Tings having Chinese business partners), the esoteric discourse would be immediately unlocked and become the explicit meaning of the text.
The majority of the audience take GM as an apolitical story, but quite a number of audience read the political connotation discursively. Executive producer K.F. Wei said he was surprised by the letters he received from the audience of GM. He said audience feedback on previous programs he produced were usually on the story and characters, but this time some feedback were commenting on the "meaning" of the characters. The most analytical was a letter published in the letter-to-the-editor column of Next magazine. 12 The audience said that he had tremendous pleasure in reading the character of Ting Hian in allusion to the Communist Party of China. The major reason why some audience read on the esoteric level is that the political discourse against the take over of Hong Kong by China is widely shared by the people of Hong Kong.
Critics have long been pointing out that commercial television tends to avoid controversial political issues• GM shows similar bias. On the surface, GM is apolitical. The political content is suppressed because of factor within the organizational context. This will be fully illustrated in chapter five. However, the above analysis shows that GM is carrying political connotation. This complication will not be ignored when GM is compared with BLR for their political discourses.
12. Next Magazine, Dec,4, 92, p.18. 54
Below the Lion Rock
Contrasting with GM, the political discourses of BLR are much more explicit. Out of the eight stories, four touch on political issues.
Stormy WeatMr gets the highest rating among the eight episodes of BLR.13 工七 presents a mainstream political discourse similar to that of GM. But it differs form GM in that the discourse is made extremely explicit. The story is a fable about the relation of a country named Red Circle (丨令i 孫）and a small City called Fragrant Harbor (% JX. ), simulating the relation between China and Hong Kong. The story opens with a crackdown on democracy in Red Circle and then focuses on the dilemma of a. television station editor" over* how to handle an interview with Red Circle's senior leader. As a professional journalist, the editor has to be critical and ask for factual details of the crackdown in the interview. However, he is constrained by his boss who insists that a critical interview will harm the station‘s commercial interest. After painstaking negotiation and compromise, the editor fails to put even a mildly critical version of the interview on air. The interview that finally released is an edited version no different from an official press release from the Red Circle government. Refuse to be a tool of political propaganda, the editor and his close colleague resign at the moment when the edited version is put on air. The dilemma built around the character sets forth a strong discursive statement against totalitarianism.
The binary opposition constructed within the narrative also conveys an explicit criticism of the political system of China:
13. Stormy Weather gets 27 rating points. Average rating of BLR is 22 - 8 rating points. 55
Red Circle Fragrant Harbor (China) (Hong Kong) Negative Positive Suppressive Autonomous Violent Civilized Hypocritical Honest Controlled Media Autonomous Media now under restrain Them Us Communism Capitalism Totalitarian Democratic
As seen from above, Stormy Weather presents an oppositional discourse towards totalitarianism.
Masks. The episode Mask, which we has discussed earlier, offers a critical view of the 1991 maide.n election of Hong Kong legislators. In the name of public interest, the leading character Chung is seeking personal and economic gains in the election. The integrity of the legislator is of focal concern. But there is a discursive reference on pro-China vs anti-China politics which is structured around the antagonistic relation between Chung and his Father:
Chung Chung•s father negative character positive character Hypocritical sincere manipulative benevolent connected to the pro- connected with an anti- China political camp China drama group
There is only a slight discursive thrust of an anti-China stand. However, it activated fierce reactions from the pro-China camp. For three consecutive weeks, critical essays were published on the pro-China paper Tai Rung Pao and Wen Wei Pao. arguing that the program was part of RTHK»s anti-China conspiracy orchestrated by the British colonial government. 56
Man of Times. The episode Sign of The Times is critical towards the colonial government of Hong Kong. It is a story about a civil servant who suddenly realizes the unreliability of his tenure. His faithful and obedient service does not give him the security he thinks the colonial government would offer him. He is removed from his position for just one mistake, for which he is in fact not responsible.
Home From Home. The episode Home from Home is a docu- drama of singer Hou Dejian. Against popular belief, in part 工 of the story, Hou says he didn't see any student being killed in Tianmen Square on June-4th 1989. Other interviews and news footage are used to defend Hou‘s view. In Part 工工，Hon is interrogated by Chinese officials by threat-and-pat tactics.
HOU Interrogators positive negative victim prosecutors advocate free speech repress free speech authentic threatening democratic totalitarian
However, the political discourse takes a subtle twist, the negative characters of interrogators are later depicted in a much more positive manner: They are ruthless on duty but are as friendly as ordinary people when they are off-duty. They chat with Hou, invite Hou to dinner, and give him friendly advice. On the surface opposition between democratic and totalitarian politics, the men behind the system are all ordinary Chinese sharing the same history and culture. The political discourse is critical yet sympathetic to the coinmunist system, which is quite different from the anti-Communist discourse commonly found among the people of Hong Kong. The political discourse in BLR is more diversified. 57
4.5 THE DISCOURSE OF VATRIARCEAL CULTURE
The concept of patriarchy is used to describe the dominance of men over women, and older men over younger men and women.
5.1 The Greed of Man
In GM, all female characters are dominated by their male counterparts (father, boyfriend, husband). There are three leading female roles in GM: Fong‘s two girlfriends and Fong's step mother. The leading hero Fong has two girlfriends, their talents are in cooking and secretarial work while Fong is talented in making money. Fong‘s step mother is more complicated. Once she is dependent on Fong's father; but after he dies, she becomes the bread winner of the family. She is independent and competent. But in the second half of the story, she breaks down mentally under the constant threats from Ting‘s family. When Ting proposes to marry her, she is extremely terrorized and complies to Ting‘s demand.
In the world of GM, leading and supportive female roles are all dominated by men. There are numerous scenes in which women are complying to the reproach of men. The discursive scene in episode 17 is an obvious example of patriarchy. It is a dialogue between Chau the drug dealer and his wife. Both are major characters and are not presented as villain in the narrative structure.
Chau (to his wife): Shut up when men are talking! When I am talking with other men, no woman is allowed to talk 丨 (after a while, his wife notices that Chau has calmed down) Wife:工 have been with you for all these years,工 have never made a word of complaint. You are my husband,工 have always followed you words. 58
There are some variation in the patriarchal discourse within GM, for instance, Fong's step mother is depicted as a dominant figure in the first half of the story. However, patriarchal discourses are governing the male/females relation in the narrative of GM. It is the dominant discourse of the narrative.
4.5.2 Below the Lion Rock
In contrast, major female characters in all eight stories of BLR share the success and failure of males. In some instances, males are inferior to their female counterparts in professional and interpersonal terms.
In The Sign of Times, the leading male character has a wife who holds a much higher and influential professional position. All through the story, he is troubled by a sense of inferiority and bitterness. The story of Masks is seen through the eyes of a female reporter. She is attracted by Chung the businessman who runs for the 1991 election. She becomes Chung‘s assistant and has an affair with him. At the end of the story, she challenges his hypocrisy and refuses to be manipulated by him. In Family, the leading female character is not relying on her husband. She runs her own business and is financially independent, thus protecting herself against possible failure in the marriage. At the end, both of them are learning to rely on each other for support. In Reunion, the leading female character is independent and forgiving, while her husband is timid, weak and filled with remorse.
The patriarchal discourse of GM is reflecting traditional values which the society at large is still sharing. While the "equalitarian" discourse of BLR is reflecting an emerging ideology of the changing sex-roles in the 1990s. 59
4.6 CHORIC AND LYRIC DRAMA
The discourse analysis shows that 七he ideological diffeirences between BLR and GM are paradigmatic.
Discourse GM BLR
Economics endorsing Hongkong's negotiatory to Hongkong's capitalistic economy capitalistic economy
Politics suppressed explicit
antagonistic to the diversified, critical to takeover of China, Colonial Hong Kong, expressed in esoteric attitude towards China range terms from oppositional to negotiatory
Sex-roles patriarchy equality between sexes
9 pro-establishment negotiatory limited diversity diversified mainstream alternative
GM constructs Hong Kong as a capitalistic, apolitical and patriarchal society. Hong Kong‘s capitalistic system is represented affirmatively. It is the given nature and the greatest asset of the territory. Political discourse is suppressed. The narrative esoterically presents a widely shared political ideology which sees China as a corrupted invading force that threatens the well-being of Hong Kong. On the other hand, BLR is more explicit in dealing with political materials. It constructs Hong Kong as a society caught in political controversies and takes a negotiatory, sometimes critical stand towards the colonial government, China, the capitalistic system and the patriarchal culture of Hong Kong.
Comparatively speaking, GM is pro-establishment in ideological stand and monolithic in ideological diversity, while BLR is negotiatory and diversified in its ideological positions. 60
GM can be classified as "choric drama", which sings in resonance with the mainstream capitalistic ideology, while RTHK drama BLR can be called "lyric drama", which stands out from, and negotiates with the ideology of the establishment in a personal voice. There are lyric elements in GM and choric elements in BLR, but the dominant discursive thrust of GM is choric and BLR is lyric.
The concepts of choric and lyric television are originated from Newcomb and Alley's (1983) book The Producer‘s Medium. Newcomb‘s usage of the terms are on the general form and content of dramas； here the two terms are used more on the ideological level.
The term choric is taken from Greek drama. "The chorus expresses the ideas and emotions of the group, as opposed to the individuals. Its focus is on the widely shared, the remeinbered, the conventional responses ..." (1983:31)
When individual‘s voice becomes distinct, it stands out from the chorus as lyric: "The lyric is rooted in the acute perceptions of the sensitive individual." (1983:41)
Lyric and choric dramas have been given different labels in the past. Dramas reflecting the mainstream ideology are labeled as itiass/popular/commercial dramas or hegemonic television. While dramas with negotiatory or oppositional discourses are called "emancipatory television" (Kellner, 1979), "radical text" (Kaplan, 1983), "oppositional television" (Himmelstein, 1984), "quality drama" and "liberal drama" (Feuer, 1987), or generally as "elite drama" and "serious drama". 61
These terms are used in the high vs low culture debate and are loaded with value-judgment. Popular dramas are often accused of being monolithic and expressing a single set of values that is marketed to an undifferentiated audience. Advocates call for the production of television dramas that is ideologically progressive and challenges the establishment of the advanced capitalist society (Kellner, 1987:489). They ask for opposition to the domination of commercial television (Himmelstein, 1984) • However, these positions are often elitist; they explain the ideological differences of these two types of drama in term of high and low artistic taste or the conspiracy of the capitalists.
In contrast, the terms lyric and choric drama are much more neutral labels that enable us to avoid some of the polemics in the high-vs-low culture debate in our analysis.
Concluding Remark
Up to this point, this study has categorized GM and BLR in the choric and lyric mode respectively, The discourse analyses of these two cases do not permit sweeping generalization that commercial television produces choric dramas and public television produces lyric dramas. The lyric/choric differentiation may be arbitrary and case- specific. Other cases may have different comparative pattern. The next step of this study is to find out whether the lyric*/choric differences have their roots in the organizational contexts. If there are organizational mechanisms that systematically shape the ideological content,七hen they are not case-specific, and we can say that the context of commercial and public television systems are having contextual predisposition towards the choric and lyric dramas respectively. This is done by the organizational analysis in the next chapter. Chapter 5 Organizational Analysis
5.1 Configuration of Creative Locus 63 5.1.1 Centralized Creative Locus of TVB 63 5.1.2 Decentralized Creative Locus of RTHK 64
5.2 Organization Schema 66 5.2.1 The Schema of Commercialism 68 5.2.2 The Schema of Non—coirrniercialism 71 5.2.3 Schematic Boundary 74 5.2.4 Section Summary 76
5.3 Feedback Systems 78 5.3.1 Audience Feedback 78 5.3.2 Critical Review 83 5.3.3 Feedback Within Organization 87 5.3.4 Section Summary 89
5.4 Track Record & Resources Allocation 90 5.4.1 Track Record as Control 90 5.4.2 Resources Allocation as Control 91 5.4.3 Boundary Analysis 92 5.4.4 Creative Constraint and Ideology 95
5.5 Case Control: Context and Genre 97 5.5.1 Drama Genres in RTHK and TVB 99 5.5.2 Control Analysis I: Genre Effect 99 5.5.3 Control Analysis 工工：Schema & Genre 102 5.5.4 Section Summary 107 Chapter 5 ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS
The discourse analyses in the previous section have shown that TVB drama GM and RTHK drama BLR have paradigmatic ideological differences. In the lyric/choric categorization, GM is choric while BLR is lyric. The aim of this chapter is to see whether this pattern is arbitrary or systematically shaped by the organizational contexts.
The organizational analysis is based on thirty-two hours of taped interviews of twenty respondents. The interviewees covered key creative and managerial staff directly related to the production of BLR and GM. Two executive producers outside the GM and BLR team were also interviewed as case control (see 3.4 for a detailed description of the interview procedures). The focus of analysis is on the sources of content variance of the two dramas. Attention will be given to broad similarities and differences. Statements and concepts used repetitively by the interviewees are singled out. Concepts so identified are categorized. From these categories, possible factors that influence the selection of drama content will be formulated. In order to check the heuristic value of these factors, they will be used to analyze incidents and conflicts reported by the interviewees•1
1. The analytical strategies for qualitative analysis of interview data are formulated from Czarniawska-Joerges (1992) and Jankowski and Weaster (1992) . Also see Intintoli (1984)for a critical review of ethnography and media production. 63
5.1 CONFIGURATION OF CREATIVE LOCUS
Creative control is unevenly spread across the production and creative staff of GM and BLR. Before any analysis on the factors of content selection, key creative loci should be identified. Creative locus is defined as the position that holds the autonomy and power to make independent decisions or influential input concerning the selection and creation of the drama content. Data from interviewees holding these creative loci are given more weight than the others.
5.1.1 The Centralized Creative Locus of TVB
The line up of production staff of GM is similar to any other TVB serial dramas: the management can veto program ideas, but normally they will not exercise that power. They may give advice and comment, but the initiation and selection of program idea are centralized at two positions: the executive producer and the script supervisor; they work together for a program proposal which includes key characters, central themes and the basic story line of the drama. Although the script supervisor plays a supportive role, he gives influential creative input.
The creative role of the on-line producers is minimal. Their major contribution is visualization of the script. TVB on-line producers are autonomous and very much given free hand in their production work. However, their controls are on the production scene only. They could only advise the executive producer on the problems and feasibility of production. They are not involved in the creation of the scripts. Script writers are responsible for the actual writing, which is more of an executive job rather than gatekeeping contents. 64
5.1.2 The Decentralized Creative Locus of RTHK
The role of the management in RTHK is similar to that of TVB, they give advice and comment and can veto a proposal, but the actual selection comes from the executive producer.
However, story development is the responsibility of the producers. In the case of BLR, the executive producer initiated a broad framework. With the approval of the management, the program was decided to be on broad issues of Hong Kong society in the nineties. The framework was large enough for individual producers to look for the stories they wanted. They were responsible for the development of scripts and the production of programs. The executive producer gave critical comment, but the major creative loci were held by the producers.
RTHK drama producer can select and hire freelance writer to work out the script according to his/her discretion. The involvement of the script writer varies from producer to producer. But the producer is the dominant creator of the each program.
Thus there are seven creative loci (one executive producer, six producers) in the production of BLR, as compared to two (executive producer and script supervisor) in GJt.
The decentralized creative loci of RTHK provide more rooms for content diversity and individual creativity within a single series• This contributes to the lyric/choric differentiation of BLR and GM. 65
The difference in creative configuration has implication for the comparative tactic: RTHK producers, who are in the creative loci, should be compared with TVB executive producer and script supervisor. They should not be compared directly with TVB on-line producers, who are outside the creative loci of GM.
The above analysis shows that configuration of creative locus is closely related to program genre. Serial needs a more centralized creative process, while single-play allows decentralized participation. The relation of genre and creative locus will be further discussed in section 5.5. 6(5
5.2 ORGANIZATIONAL SCHEMAS
Perrow (1967) points out that organizations can basically be classified as routine and nonroutine. The former is more formalized, while the later is more cooperative. The organization context of television drama is a mix of both. The selection, creation and production of fictional content are highly nonroutine processes. However, as TVB creative director Tang Tak Hei said in the interview, "Television is basically a factory, it requires a fixed amount of output in a given time." The routines of production support, promotion, and distribution are highly standardized.
As 工 have mentioned earlier, failing to recognize this dual nature of television drama production will easily overemphasize either the control of routine or the autonomy of the non-routine, resulting in a static framework of analysis. For example, the argument that media organizations are suppressing individual creativity is commonly found among media critics. Many of them are focusing on conflicts between management and creative staff.
However, the interview materials of this study show all those in the creative loci of GM and BLR are largely autonomous in their selection and creation of content. They experience minimal interference from the management. Their proposals are approved the first time they are handed in. The majority are relatively harmonious with the management. Disciplinary action is rare. Evaluation systems are ambiguous. The picture that media organization is seriously constraining the individuals (Ettema & Whitney, 1982) seems to be absent here. 67
Nevertheless, both commercial broadcaster TVB and public broadcaster RTHK are getting what they want: GM is a commercial choric drama catering to the taste of the mass audience, while BLR is a lyric drama with a social mandate. Obviously, creative staffs are not producing these dramas by taking direct and specific orders. Creative control is unobtrusive.
Over viewing the data, the most influential unobtrusive control is by institutionalized cognitive reference frame. There are two repetitive schemas threading two sets of interviews. Schema is defined as a coherent set of premises that works as a cognitive frame for "satisficing" decisions within an organization. In other words, when participants choose between convenient options at hand, the cognitive schema automatically provides the take for granted premises to screen off undesirable options. Cognitive schema is considered by the New Institutional School (see Powell & DiMaggio, 1991) as an important coordinating device of organizations. This conceptualization is particularly useful in the analysis of television organization* For all TVB interviewees, commercialism is the cognitive schema that underlies key creative decision. While in all RTHK interviews, non-commercialism is the repetitive schema that permeates the reasoning and creative process. These schemas mark off "undesirable" creative options and act as unquestioned cognitive script and rationalization. They are institutionalized within the organization and shared and accepted by the public. How they work within the organizational contexts of TVB and RTHK will be illustrated in the next two sections. 77
The Schema of Commercialism
"Since TVB is a commercial broadcaster, inevitably, its dramas have to be popular, commercial, tamed and safe entertainment," This line of reasoning appeared in the discussion of the generation of program idea. It infiltrated the perception of TVB,s organizational orientation, the evaluative criteria, and aesthetic norms of TV dramas. Most noteworthy is that whenever the interviewees complained about the lack of creative room in TVB, the complaints were usually followed by this schema as an excuse for the organization: "They (TVB management) should not be blamed, they have commercial considerations that we don•t quite understand."
Both executive producers K.F. Wei and script supervisor K.C. Tsang, the most important creators of GM, said that they developed program idea by "intuition" and "feeling." But behind this intuitive autonomy, the commercial schema acted powerfully and unobtriisively in the idea development stage. There were a few idea options initiated by Wei and Tsang at the initial stage:
Option one: an Alvin Tofler type of futuristic prediction to depict what Hong Kong would be like beyond 1997.
Option two: Centered around a big collapse of the stock market right before the take over of Hong Kong by China in summer 1997.
Option three: Centered around an accident of Daya Bay Nuclear Plant before or after 1997.
Option four: the drama began and ended with a miracle day in 1994 in which the Hang Sang Index was up 4,0 00 points in just one day. (The miracle day appeared in 七he first episode as a dramatic device of attraction and suspense.) 69
Option one was social, "serious," and analytical; option two and three were controversial and politically sensitive; option four was safe, optimistic and pleasing.
Option four was adopted.
Wei and Tsang gave two sets of reason for the choice. Both sets of reason are presented here.2 Wei's reason for turning down the other options was that they involved too many variables and were beyond his ability and the production capacity of TVB. Tsang gave the following explanations: "If we talk about what Hong Kong would be like in 1997 or beyond, we are afraid that some people laight be very unhappy. The audience might find the negative descriptions disturbing too. Besides, if it is concrete (realistic), people think it is too heavy. If it is vague (imaginative), it lacks the appeal."
The decision was autonomous, it was not made under any direct influence of the management.
According to Tsang, all initial proposals of TVB drama are passed to the management meetings for approval. Before the meeting, the proposal will be tailored according to the perceived criteria of the management. No one wants a veto, because a veto means that two months of preparatory work would be wasted. Besides, it is harmful to the personal prestige of the creator. So undesirable options are screened off, favorable options are incorporated. All- TVB interviewees have similar perceived criteria of desirability: 一 "attractive," "commercial," "rating is most important," "look good," "intensive conflicts," "have strong emotions," "a proposal with a decent family fighting against a disgusting family is
2. All conflicting or complimentary interview data will be stated: loose ends will no七 be suppressed for "neat" categorization. 3, They call it story selling(食格 ）• • 70 highly salable (referring to GM)•” When talking about 七he "selling" of proposals, at one point Tsang said, "No pressure at all, GM has many selling points, we are very confident that they would like it." At another point he said: "Of course there is pressure, if they say no, it is a no, there can be no explanation at all. I think their most important consideration is whether there are enough commercial elements. The key question is, does it (the proposal) look good (attractive).“
It is quite obvious that, content options are controlled in a highly unobtrusive way through cognitive barriers which are understood and accepted by the management and the creative staff. Within the cognitive schema of commercialism, (1) complicated and (2) controversial contents are screened off. Firstly, commercial schema is predisposed to the dramatic, familiar, and stereotyped materials. Sophisticated and subtle treatments of social and political themes are less likely to enter this schema.
Secondly, controversial materials are also schematically non-compatible. According to T.S. Lee, the production manager of TVB drama section, TVB tries her best to stay away from controversial subject, because no matter which sides TVB programs make a stand, other interest parties of the controversy will be complaining. Lee's argument is not unfamiliar. Commercial television avoids controversial matters. Although they may generate attention, they stiare off advertisers. As the most penetrative mass medium, commercial broadcast television needs the support from the widest possible social sectors, hostile criticisms drain PR resources and harm commercial interests. 7i
S.2.2 The Schema of Non-commercialism
The program development process of BLR progressed in two steps: First, executive producer Auguste Yem researched and developed a theme for the series, consulted his superior Johnny Ming (head of RTHK General Program), got approval, and then asked his directors to develop independent stories under the theme. The producers came up with stories, discussed with Yem, and got approval.
In both steps of program development, Yem and his producers were autonomous, they were free to select their themes and stories. In their past experience, they often got a go ahead approval or "more-research needed" provisional approval. Complete rejection was rare. It was a negotiatory process, not a yes-no veto.
All creative people in the seven creative loci of BLR (1 executive producer and 6 producers) gave different reasons for their creative decisions. When all seven sets of data are compared, their creative preferences are diversified. However, non-commercialism is a repetitive schema underlying their content selection discretion. The non-coimnercial schema comes up in the following lines of reasoning:
Program policy of RTHK: All of them thought that RTHK should provide non-commercial, alternative, and diversified programming that commercial television would not provide. “
Justification of public programming: They all thought that RTHK was using public resources, so its programs should have a social dimension, the content should serve the interest of the public. The majority of them thought that their story should bring out a social message. They wanted their programs to address significant social 72 issues of the times. There should be socially and culturally desirable elements in RTHK dramas. Auguste Yem pointed out that RTHK producers should have some kind of social mission. Producer Liz Wong wanted to give her audience an alternative perspective of looking at things. Producer Lai Lat hoped that all his works had the message of "love and care". The making of BLR came out from their collective sense of responsibility as a public television dramatist to react to social issues at this critical point of time in Hong Kong. They examined the various aspects of the society under what Yem called "the post- colonial Hong Kong in the transitory period.”
The noncommercial schema emphasizes the social message, the public interest and cultural desirability. These premises permeate creative choices and evaluative norms; they become the rationale for producing expensive TV dramas by public funding, thus becoming a strong reference frame within and outside the organization.
The two schemas are opposing to each other. Within the schema of non-commercialism, content will not be selected only on commercial merits. Commercial reasons such as attractiveness and mass-appeal have no bargaining utility in the noncommercial schema. Similarly, the commercial schema is antagonistic to non-commercial logic such as social and educational values. The TVB interviewees position social values of the program as peripheral. Creative director T.H. Tang said: "The most important thing is commercial success, if social values come as an accidental result, fine, they are bonus. But never should a program be produced out of social or educational reason.“ Script supervisor K.C. Tsang said: "Social message? Not necessary at all. A TV drama with social message is not the same as a drama that looks good. If you want a message, go see the news." 73
The discussion above indicates that creative individuals can exercise their creative autonomy within the organizational schema. Creativity and constraint can co- exist in an non-antagonistic way. Creators whose preferences are in line with the organizational schema will experience a higher level of autonomy. For example, TVB executive producer K.F. Wei said: "Everybody has his own choice. For me, I love commercial films. I am uncomfortable with those high brow stuff, I wouldn't understand even if I saw one. With television dramas, you shouldn't be too selfish, they are different from novels, they cost a lot of money to produce. It makes no sense speaking some personal things with the public airwaves. Television should cater for the mass audience." It is apparent that with this orientation, Wei feels creatively unrestrained within the cominercial schema.
Take another example: RTHK producer Liz Wong said :"工 think my ideas are quite different from the majority, that‘s why some people find my programs difficult to understand.工 hope my programs can give an alternative
point of view. If they look from my perspective, they can perhaps see something new.工 won't be able to do this in TVB." People like Wong would feel constrained in the commercial schema, while Wei would feel the same if he worked in the non-commercial schema.
Numerous researches are looking into the constraint of organization on individual creativity. However, as seen from the above, i七 is pointless to talk about constraint and creativity outside the relation between individual orientation and the organization schema.4
4. cantor made similar observation in her Hollywood TV Producers (1971); she classified three types of Hollywood TV producers, each with different degree of perceived creative constraint because of different career expectation. The concept of organization schema is of greater application since it can be used to compare autonomy and constraints in different television production contexts. 74
5,2.3 Boundary Cases
Organization schemas are paradigmatic control. Its schematic boundary can be made visible by exploring extreme cases. Individuals who are considered not fitting well in their respective organization schema are identified and interviewed.
Schematic boundary of TVB
Among the TVB producers 工 interviewed, Lee Kwok Lap is widely recognized as an innovative executive producer in TVB.工 interviewed him with the same set of questions.
K.L.Lee presented a quite different picture of the TVB context. According to him, TVB management was very narrow minded, he found it very difficult to find room of creativity. He thought that a good producer should not always create within conventions."工 don't want my programs look repetitive and familiar. Of course,工 won't go for extreme. Extremity is not for television.工 only want to do something a little bit different, but I am not allowed to do so.“ "TV dramas are focusing too much on conflicts within family relations. They should incorporate some sense of history. But you will meet very- strong resistance when your program relates to contemporary history.” Despite these complaints, Lee was defending the system: "I understand they (the management) are having more commercial pressure than me. Investment in TV production Is huge." "Now I am trying to prove to them that 工 can produce high rating shows； with these high rating shows on my track record,工 can have more bargaining power to do what I want." When he was asked to comment on the general production environment of TVB, he said:"工 am very frustrated。 Things are going worse these days." Lee is at the schematic boundary which discriminates against alternative content. 75
Schematic boundary of RTHK
Frank Mak is identified as the boundary case for the non- commercial schema of RTHK. Yem said Mak‘s works were the most commercial in the RTHK drama unit. Mak was one of the six producers of BLR, BLR was his last assignment in RTHK, he left the organization for a position in ICAC after over twenty years of services in RTHK. When he was asked about the reason of leaving RTHK, he said:"工 had been working in RTHK long enough,工 want some change. Besides,工 get a higher pay from ICAC." He was leaving without obvious frustration. Nevertheless, he gave some mild criticism on the RTHK drama unit. While the other five producers and one executive in the creative loci of BLR were comfortable with the creative environment, Mak sensed some kind of constraint. He said: "In the recent couple of years, RTHK dramas are too high brow, only those art fans will like to watch RTHK dramas. Our boss (Yem) is too ambiguous in telling us what he wants. Some programs carry some seemingly nationalistic feeling. They generate some public discussion. These types of drama are highly endorsed by the management. If a producer does not make programs with that kind of seemingly artistic quality, then people think he has problems. For me, I prefer to make programs that are close to the audience.工 am quite confused whether my style fits their expectation." Mak is at the schematic boundary which discriminates against mainstream and commercial contents. 76
5.2.4 Section Summary
How do the schemas of commercialism and non-commercialism shape the ideological content of television dramas? Do they contribute to the choric/lyric differentiation of TVB and RTHK dramas?
Many of the existing literature argue that the profit motive is the reason why commercial television produces programs which avoid controversies and represent mainstream ideology of the capitalistic society (e.g. Gitlin, 1983 ； Tuchman, 1974; Turrow, 1984). However, the connection between the profit motive and the mainstreaming of TV contents is mostly unsubstantiated. The present study conceptualizes the prof it motive as the cognitive schema of commercialism. This conceptualization is proved useful in the analysis of the generation of GM. The analysis provides a grounded account of how the commercial schema suppresses the political content and predisposes to the mainstream.
Non-commercialism has been mentioned in most discussion of the public television model (e.g. Slumber, 1992; Euromedia, 1992; MacCabe, 1986). It is usually related with alternative and complementary programming which are stated as norm or policy of the public television stations. This study conceptualizes the non—commercial orientation of public television as a cognitive schema. In capitalistic s'ociety, the schema of non-commercialism tends to opt for television contents that are negotiatory to the capitalistic system.
I 77
To conclude, the above analyses of organization cognitive schema arrive at two observations:
First, for RTHK and TVB dramas, the organization schema of commercialism anci n〇n—commercialism are a fundamental unobtrusive control underlying creative decision of the content selection process. Organization context that is "controlled" under the commercial cognitive schema tends to produce choric dramas, dramas which have relatively limited ideological diversity and resonate with the establishment. In contrast, the organization context that is under the non-commercial schema tends to produce lyric dramas, dramas that are diversified and often stand out of the establishment with distinct voices.
Second, producer whose orientation is in line with the organization schema will experience a higher degree of creative autonomy. There is no need for obtrusive content control, since the contents these producers select are the desirable options within that organization schema. On the other hand, producer whose orientation does not fit well with the organization schema will feel relatively more constrained. Content control becomes obtrusive, and these producers will feel the pressure from the management to offer what the organization wants but not always what they personally prefer.
The organization schema is the primary controlling device of content selection. There are some other secondary control mechanisms such as feedback system, track record of producers, resource allocation, and program genre option. As the subsequent discussion will show, the influence of the organization schema cuts deep into these secondary mechanisms. 78
5 * 3 FEEDBACK SYSTEM
Feedback system is defined as the various mechanisms that evaluations and viewing information are received by the production staff from the audience• Here audiences refer to the watching public, critics, colleagues and station executives. Feedback from the watching public is basically through ratings. Feedback from critics appears as media reviews. Feedback from colleagues and station executives are in the form of informal comments or formal evaluations and appraisals.
How do these feedback mechanisms affect the range of ideological diversity and position of TV dramas? In what way do they affect creative decision and content selection? What are the differences between the feedback systems of RTHK and TVB? Are these differences responsible for the differentiation of lyric and choric drama?
5.3.1 Audience Feedback
TVB
All TVB interviewees, including those in the supervisory position, are fully aware of the inadequacy of rating figures. They all know that rating is not a good indicator of program quality. Poor shows can get high ratings； what they consider good may not look good in the rating chart. Factors like programming of rival stations, time-slots, and habitual viewing can directly affect a program's rating performance.
Moreover, rating cannot predict commercial success. TV producers can get rating feedback only after the drama is produced; producers could never test their ideas synchronously with the production process. Rating can only provide indirect, n6n synchronous feedback. 79
Although rating is neither a good indicator of quality nor a good predictor of commercial success, it is a powerful evaluative standard and an influential factor of content selection within the commercial schema. The influences of rating on TVB producers need detailed qualifications. Not all producers take ratings as seriously as expected. To the interviewers‘ surprise, TVB on-line producers didn't really care about rating of their episodes. However, all those in supervisory positions and those in the creative loci were serious about ratings. Production manager T.S.Lee and Creative Director T.H.Tang said rating was very important feedback, it reflected whether or not GM was welcomed by the audience.
Rating, as an evaluative measure, had deep psychological effect on K.F. Wei and K.C.Tsang, the two directly responsible for the creation of GM. They were reportedly very upset by the not-so-good ratings of the first few weeks (see fig. 3). They knew that the low ratings were the result of time-slot problem and the strong competitive drama on the rival channel ATV, which was on the air 30 minutes earlier than GM and hooked up a certain percentage of would-be audience of GM. As reported by other interviewees, Wei looked gloomy and easily agitated when GM first released.
Ratings, understood as a weak indicator of quality, still possess tremendous evaluative effect on the commercial producers in the creative loci. The reason may be 七hat good and poor ratings directly affect one's track record and prestige, which are highly valued in the industry. Though rating is deficient feedback, it is clear and open. Ratings circulate openly among colleagues and attract media attention. The popular magazine NEXT had one issue that put GM's rating problem on the cover 80 story. It said on the front page "The Greed of Man is Beaten Up by Whose the Winner 11 (碌宅 £ ) " • 5 Wei and Tsang said they were very angry with the coverage.
The up and down of GM's rating performance had direct emotional impact on them. At the time of interviews, both of them were proud of the serial because its ratings jumped ten points after the time-slot was changed from the initial 7:30/8:30 p.m. to 8:50/9:45 p.m..6 The change in ratings of GM is illustrated in Fig.3.
The influence of rating on the psychological level was translated into the cognitive schema and strengthened it as a result. Gitlin (1983) claims that rating success is unpredictable. Therefore, rating pressure will push content choice towards copying formula of past success. Audience tastes and elements of success are perceived and constructed conceptually and affect the creative process. Since prime time dramas are aiming at the largest possible heterogeneous audience, T.K.Tang and K.C.Tsang both pointed out that losing the four to fourteen age groups would result in the drop in ratings, so the content should be understandable to these young audiences. Therefore Tsang treated the stock market economics in the simplest possible way. Stock investment as appeared in GM was no different from simple win-loss gambling. In retrospect. Tang said rating of GM was not
5. Next Magazine Oct. 30, 1992. 6. There were three claimed reasons for the unusual time-slot change: first, GM received many complains from viewers; TVB was asked to change GM to a later slot when less children ware watching TV. The second reason might be that the competitive drama Whose the Winner II of the rival ATV ended, the ratings threat was removed, so TVB was free to change to a more suitable slot for GM. The third reason was that rating setback proved that GM was a bit sophisticated for the younger audience of 7:30/8:30 slot, so TVB changed GM to a more suitable slot to boost ratings. Figure 3: The Greed of Man ~ Program Particulars
；1~ - — ~ - •' — •； i • ：丨 I "• I Average Weekly Ratings of GM i| I :j i li '丨
\ ；! I RATiMG POINT |l ； ‘―_ _ I I �� 0^1^92 - 27/11/92 I
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— 11 ； ii ！ :i I ！ |i I Q i ‘ I 1 ； i ！ 1 ',V1< 1 WK 2 WK 3 WK a WK 5 WK 6 WK ? WK 8 | c�‘厂、 r^,A 广.c. T \ A /[di<' I i 丨 C.I—一丨../•‘/LL_r\ I I — GM (丁V3) --- WINNER II (ATV) I i . i GM； WK 1-6,7;30/S:3Gpm,WK7-3,changed :• � | S:50/9:45pm: WINNER li： 7:00/6:00 pm j ended 丨门 WK 6 j
n 05.10.1993 一 13 . 11. 1993, 7:30/8:30 pm, Mon 一 Fri, TVB Jade 16.11.1993 - 27.11.1993, 8:50/9:45 pm, Mon - Fri, TVB Jade *
Executive Producer: WEI Ka-Fai Script Supervisor: TSANG Kang-Chang
* In week seven, GM was changed from the initial 7:30/8:30 pm to 8:50/9:45 pm. 81 good enough because the treatment was still too complicated, it should be less sophisticated next time. Contents should be easily digestible. Unconventional ideologies are avoided. Choric contents are preferred.
The above analysis shows how rating pressure are translated from psychological level into the cognitive level. The cognitive script of mass appeal exerts a strong mainstreaming effect on the range of content choice.
RTHK
For RTHK, audience feedback in the form of rating is not so influential. All BLR producers either ignored rating figures or treated them as secondary. Some even didn't know what the ratings of their program had. Executive producers Auguste Yem was more concerned, but rating figures were still secondary, they were used as "aiamunition" for getting resources, but it wouldn't be necessary to get high ratings, as long as ratings were kept in a reasonable or not-too-low level, things would be going fine. As Calvin Wong, former head of RTHK Program Development Unit had mentioned, the kind of rating slippage that would cause a panicking response in TVB would be passed unnoticed in RTHK. This indifference in rating has a structural explanation: Commercial television TVB and ATV are required by the government of Hong Kong to air RTHK programs on their prime-time. These time slots have relatively stable habitual ratings. To a certain degree, this broadcast arrangement contributes to RTHK‘s indifference towards rating results. TVB and ATV have occasionally protested against the poor ratings of RTHK program. But these protesting letters are often just passed to the RTHK PR unit. The pressures seldom go to the executive producers. 82
When asked whether they had considered audience taste in the idea development process, none RTHK producers gave concrete answers. Ann Hui said audience taste didn't pass her mind when she developed Home From Home. RTHK producers selected a theme because they thought it was significant, interesting, or meaningful. The producers of BLR were freed from rating pressure. This allowed a much larger range of ideological options• Creative decisions were not made with an intention to please the general audience. BLR producers made content choice and then figured out what kind of target audience the content might fit. They did not have a mass audience in mind and developed content according to the perceived audience taste. As a result, ideological contents of BLR were not as restricted to the mainstream as that of GM. The range of ideological options is more diversified. • 83
5.3.2 Critical Review
TV dramas have another group of audience ~ the media critics. They are more influential than the average audience, because they can make their voice known in newspapers and magazine columns and in radio programs. Ratings are quantitative, critical reviews are qualitative. Critics give comment, criticism, endorsement, and even suggestions of program ideas. As a feedback system, how do they affect the ideological position and diversity of TV dramas?
TVB
TVB producers were generally more skeptical about media reviews, they thought reviews were "unfair", "biased", "subjective", "written on purpose by some interest parties (TVB rivals)," "nonsense", "out of context". Many said they didn‘t bother to read those comments.
Of all the TVB interviewees, only executive producer Wei took reviews as serious as ratings； he seemed to have read all related reviews collected by the TVB public relation office. He said he cared about what people thought of his program and whether they got what he wanted to express.
RTHK
Most RTHK interviewees were very much affected by media reviews. RTHK producer Stella Tse said she was so upset by negative media reviews that she took a long vacation away from Hong Kong after the BLR production. She was unhappy despite the fact 七hat she go七 fair ratings from her two episode (episode 1 and 8; see fig 4). On the contrary, Ann Hui was very satisfied with the 84
exceptionally favorite reviews of her Home From Hothq despite the fact that it got the poorest ratings among the eight episodes of BLR (see rating of #3, fig 4). Hui said Home from Home gave her back her confidence because for a long time, the movies that she made got bad reviews and failed in the box office.7
The mild political contents of Home From Kome and Masks attracted fierce criticism from the pro-China media. Some pro-China critics even argued for the existence of an anti-China conspiracy of RTHK which was under British control. As a result, tremendous organization resources were allocated in response to these attacks. A press conference was organized, clarification letters were sent, other PR functions were exercised,
Liz Wong and Auguste Yem were "satisfied" with the extensive inedia exposure. Good reviews much more valued than good rating. In fact, the controversies had been anticipated. Hui sai、d that when Yem first saw Home From Home in the editing room, he said he didn't expect it was so tamed. In other words, he had expected the controversial story of HOU Dejian in Home From Home to generate public attention.
But another controversy caught Yem by surprise. Rachel Zen ‘ s Stormy Weather aroused heated inedia discussion. Zen was allocated one hour of air time but she made a two hour program. The management asked her to condense it into one hour, sh 它 refused. Ironically, her program was on inedia censorship; the issues immediately triggered another round of heated inedia coverage and reviews. Zen took media reviews very seriously and was very attentive and closed to the inedia throughout the conflict.
7. Ann' Hui is a movie director. She produced BLR story Kome From Home on a project based agreement with RTHK. Figure 4: Below the Lion Rock 一 Program Particulars
i , i Average Ratings of BLR |l li 08/08/92 - 03/10/92 ；! i! ：丨 ；！ 't ti •• 1 •”. -T" I < I ~^，一、\ K . -r- ' • i rw-Ai i hJ r-ulr-i i ：! i op • ：： ！ jL.; I I 丨I I J z�.. �� 1 i r 广^� • .�.-. ��. ii I 1 ‘ ~—、 ‘ ； I / ， ^ - 1t iI ^^� +•�. /. • � < ��� ’ i i J t ! I ‘ \ y ；I ！ O ’二 二 � \ I ; j / ] I ； � .. .‘.. ii ！: 、 丨！ ： i II：1 ！ 一 ^ i j ‘.一’‘ il i I!
1I iI II j 1 广•丨_ I ！心厂 I I I I 丨 jj i I li ； I ii _ ！ i i! —： ..• •• ‘ 1 I； 一•！ 1:1 i I ii ；丨 ;i i , I i! 一.I i I ； I ； ； i ； I ； I 1； 」 # : = 1 -= 3 ^ ^ ^ 0 # 丨5 二 ^ 3 li 1 il ； I“ —^ ！广、厂’’ I“ ；I 丨 CZ—!0(�.:L,'[I ： ;| I il ~‘~ C| D 丨丨 ‘―'L-1 I I -.O n. / O . O 广.C N 丁 .. ‘‘ C ： / .、j、J : . •一,、_/ I IVI ！ V t
Episode Title Producer #1 Signs of the Times Stella SZE #2 Masks Liz WONG #3 Home from Home Ann HUI #4 Falling Sakura Frank MAK #5 Heritage LAI Lat #6 Stormy Weather Rachel ZEN #7 Family Liz WONG #8 Reunion : Stella SZE
Broadcast Dates: 08.08.1993 一 03.10.1993 Time: 7:30 - 8:30 pm on Saturdays, TVB Jade 85
These brief descriptions are enough to make the point: RTHK dramas producers take critical reviews much more seriously than TVB.
But the most important question is: How do reviews affect content? Frank Mak gave revealing comments on this question. He had already left RTHK at the time of interview and was able to examine the issue from a distance. He was mildly critical towards the way RTHK drama unit handled reviews. First, he thought that RTHK was biased towards the elite point of view. They stressed the review from elite papers a bit too much. "One positive article in The Economic Journal, an elite paper, can cancel out three negative ones in a mass appeal paper such as the Oriental News i” This bias towards the elite point of view ultimately reflected in content choice. Frank said RTHK dramas had become increasingly intellectual and distant from the general audience. Frank brought out another significant observation: When a few RTHK dramas "accidentally" got critical acclaims in the elite papers, that type of drama, in terms of content and style, would be highly endorsed by the RTHK management and producers. Frank criticized this as arbitrary and lacking"' self-conscious program policy.
Of course Frank‘s comment can be seen in a more positive way: RTHK producers agree with the elite preference and they produce program accordingly. Bypassing the argument of elite bias, one thing is clear: For RTHK dramas, elite reviews are of fa-r greater influence on creative choice than on TVB. GM is catering for the perceived mass audience while BLR is for the perceived elite audience. They are cultural products for different "taste publics", a term used by Cans(1974) to represent audience segments of different cultural tastes. 86
Another form of critical feedback is television award. RTHK drama unit has a history of getting international awards. Awards are valued because they enhance the prestige of the producers and the organization. Some have criticized RTHK producers for tailor-making programs for international recognition. One RTHK interviewee pointed out that some RTHK producers consciously made content choice according to the perceived "needs" of these award giving organizations. Programs that looked artistic and sophisticated and described the special features of Chinese culture and customs could attract the attention of the international audience more easily.
However, when those award winning producers were asked of the issue, they said they were fully aware of the fact that awards were not necessarily given to "good" program. "Of course, everybody wants to be honored. Besides, awards give me the bargaining pov/er of getting prestigious assignment.^ But frankly,工 have never tailor-made a program for award," said producer Liz Wong. How specific awards affect content selection remains an open question, but clearly awards reinforce the elite and artistic preferences. Elites are generally inclined to alternative point of views. The heavy bias towards elitist feedback contributes to the negotiator^ ideology of BLR.
8. Producers of the RTHK drama unit consider the assignment of hour length dramas more prestigious than other half hour dramas. Some are eager to get 七he one-hour assignment. 87
5,3.3 Feedback System Within The Organization
Within the television organization, evaluative feedback is rare. All TVB and RTHK interviewees said they seldom had evaluative discussion of their programs among colleagues. Those in supervisory positions mentioned they might talk about the program with their subordinates, but when their subordinates were cross checked, they said that these occasions rarely happened. RTHK producers seemed to regard the judgment of their superiors no better than theirs; they listened, but often did not comply.
The lack of feedback within the organizations is caused by at least three reasons: Firstly, rating reports and media reviews are openly circulated within and outside the organizations. Secondly, both management and subordinates are aware of the deficiency of ratings and reviews as evaluative measures. The final reason is that aesthetic norms of TV drama is highly ambiguous, there is no well-established norms that is accepted by the majority.
When asked of the criteria for good TV drama, answers are extremely diverse. Aesthetic norms range from concrete answers such as "good characterization,” "strong conflicts,“ to vague notions such as "look good", "feel good.” The interviewees are veteran television dramatists, yet they disagree among themselves on 七he basic question of' what is good and what is bad drama. The lack of shared norms in television drama is most obvious when compared with journalistic programs. Journalists can easily corns up will norms such as objectivity, balanced reporting, etc. But there is no such kind of established norms in drama production.^
9. sheeham (1987) attempts to set aesthetic norms for TV drama, but the criteria asserted inside the book are ambiguous and normative. 88
The ambiguity of creative norms encourages greater influence of the organizational cognitive schema. When the answers on aesthetic norms are differentiated between TVB and RTHK staff, the schematic bias is noticeable.
The creative norms of TVB staff are bent towards commercially attractive elements such as emotional impact and conflict. It is surprising that the notions of innovativeness and originality are not emphasized by all TVB interviewees except Lee Kwok Lap, who represents the sehematic boundary case in our study. TVB creative director T.K.Tang, as a supervisor of the creative staff, said it was not necessary to have new "stuff" - to make the story clear and understandable was much more important.
RTHK answers are biased towards social significance. They stress more on sophistication and subtlety. Originality is frequently mentioned to be a basic measure of good drama. Creativity is highly honored by producers and the management. These answers are all compatible with the noncommercial schema. The public broadcasting model emphasizes editorial independence. This emphasis helps to fortify the artistic tradition of creativity and autonomy.
The schematic difference in aesthetic norms between RTHK and TVB is apparent when the interviewees are asked to cross evaluate programs produced by the other station. All TVB interviewees criticize RTHK dramas for being boring and meticulous. While all RTHK staff expressed reservations on the commercialism and excessive emotion of TVB dramas.
The lack of established norms amplifies the schematic influence — without shared norms that can be recognized across organizations, the two schemas are polarizing the two sets of aesthetics. 89
5,3.4 Section Summary
How do feedback mechanisms shape the range of ideological position and diversity of TV dramas? The analyses of the feedback mechanisms of BLR and GM have shown that television drama production contexts only provide minimal direct feedback. The indirect feedback of ratings and critical reviews influence content selection by an imaginary feedback loop (DiMaggio, 1976; Turow, 1984; Cantor & Cantor, 1992) in which audience tastes‘ and critics' comments are constructed by past experience. In comparison, RTHK is biased towards elitist reviews, while TVB is inclined towards mass ratings. The differences in the assumed audience and evaluative norms are sources of content variation of BLR and GM. As Crane (1992) has argued, if the perceived audience are heterogeneous, and evaluative norms are more on commercial success, the content delivered need to be understandable to the mass audience and will be more stereotyped and ideologically conventional. If the perceived significant audience (in the case of BLR, critics and elites) possess specific combination of demographics, the program content will be ideologically more diversified and unconventional. Critical ideological positions are presented to meet the taste of the assumed elite audience. 90
5-4 TRACK RECORD AND RESOURCE CONTROL
Organizational schema and feedback system discussed above are unobtrusive controls that work on the cognitive -level. They work as cognitive scripts and reference frames in content selection process. The in七erview data a] -SO indicate the presence of more obtirusive iresouirce control. It works on an administrative level very different from cognitive controls. Resource allocation is directly related to creative constraints and production flexibility. Its relation with content ideology is less direct.工 will first analyze how track record and resource allocation influence creative constraints, and then discuss the relation between creative constraints and the ideological diversity of TV dramas.
5.4.1 Track Record as Control Mechanism
Track record works both ways； it is a control device of the organization ——by selecting producers, and allocating more resources to those with "desirable" records, "television organization can, to some extent, guarantee its programs to be produced within the schematic boundary of the organization. On the other hand, creative staff can use their "good" track record to fight for more resources and creative autonomy.
In TVB, those who have a good rating record are given important assignment10 and more resources. Because GM executive producer K.F.Wei had produced numerous rating hits in 七he past, he was given a greater cast, a longer production period, and heavy promotion of the drama. He was trusted by his superiors and was given complete autonomy.
10. For example, dramas that are scheduled for hot spots such as year end or used to compete with large scale production of rival stations. 91
In RTHK, the drama unit only has a handful of producers who enjoy 七he tenure of civil servants. The factor of track record in allocating assignment is not as important. However, the drama unit has a tradition of inviting movie directors to work on one or two episodes of important series. These guest directors are all critically acclaimed, none in the past guest list involved those who produced only commercial films in their track records. Section head Johnny Ming gives two reasons for inviting outside producers: first, RTHK does not have enough in-house producers; second, outside producers can bring in professional stimulation. Of course, there might be a PR reason: these critically acclaimed directors can help to reinforce the image of "quality television".
5 • 4.2 Resources Allocation as Control Mechanism
TVB script supervisor K.C.Tsang has stayed in the industry for more then ten years, he claims that resources have been more and more restrictive. Resource allocations are calculated in more precise cost-profit ratio. "This limits your options, every time your story leads to some expensive scenes, you have to stop right there and think of something else.” Another TVB executive producer Lee Kowk Lap dramatized the situation with a metaphor: "They give you one dollar to cook them a dish of fried rice. But you have had too many fried rice and you want some modest changes ——you want ten more cents to add a little spice, and the answer is no."
Although RTHK producers complain of the tight production budget, they have more resources when compared with TVB. TVB allows four to five filming days for an hour of prime-time drama program, RTHK producers have eight to ten days. Stated positively, RTHK is less restrictive in resources allocation, but this can also mean poor management and control. 92
Commercial television has a clear standard of cost- effectiveness. Resource allocation has a clear cut profit margin. Noncommercial organizations are generally more difficult to assess cost-effectiveness. Noncommercial TV drama production is even more problematic since it provides cultural products whose utility is difficult to measure (McQuail, 1991; Campbell & Campbell, 1978). As a result, the level of resources support for BLR was to a certain extent arbitrary which in turns allows more flexibility in creative options.
5.4.3 Boundary Analysis
The analyses of boundary situation of BLR and GM can explain the interplay between organization schema, track record, resources allocation, and the relative degree of creative autonomy in RTHK and TVB.
Boundary of Resource Allocation in TVB Drama
TVB gave executive producer K.F.Wei more support because Wei had a successful rating record.11 The normal production period is 6 months for a 40-hour drama. Wei got 10 months for the 4 0-hour GM. He was free to do his research and choose his topic.
Of course, he would not trespass the commercial schema by adopting complicated or political options (see p 5.2). But Wei knew that his track record gave him the privilege of a higher creative autonomy. He exploited this autonomy by attempting something difficult. He consciously built a complicated character Ting Hian who didn't fit well into the conventional stereotype. Wei said Ting was not a
11. All his productions have high ratings. His best received dramas are among the best ranked programs of TVB. 93 traditional villain, he was a good guy doing bad things. The character was quite difficult for the mass audience. The idea was innovative, but did no good for ratings. The result was, Wei didn't make a super hit drama, but was critically acclaimed for the innovative characterization of Ting Hian.
The resource allocated to him did not allow him to indulge too much on the non-profitable creative labor of polishing the drama. Resource support was well contained within the profit margins. Wei couldn't exceed that resource limit even if he wanted to. At the final month of the production, Wei stayed 24 hours in his office to work within deadline; no extension was allowed. In fact, broadcast time was made earlier to match ATV drama Whose the Winner II. Wei argued a bit and complied. He understood the limit of the commercial schema. Because of this compressed production time, producers of the second half of the serial worked mechanically without any creative choice. They simply didn't have time or energy to add visual to decorate their production. They said that the quality of GM would be far better if they were given a little more time.
Boundary of Resource Allocation in RTHK drama
According to the record of RTHK public relation office, 70% of the media coverage and reviews on BLR were on one single episode: Rachel Zen's "Stormy Weather"• The conflict between -Zen and RTHK management aroused great media attention. The case can be considered as a boundary case of the creative autonomy of RTHK drama producer.
Zen has a strong track record in terms of seniority and critical recognition. She is among RTHK‘s most senior drama producers. She has produced numerous critically acclaimed programs, the most famous being the docu-drama 94
Borii_to live (夭'玄我才），which brought her three international awards and two film festival invitations.12 She also produced Life Goes On ^ X. ), the highest budget and the longest feature length production of RTHK drama unit. With this track record, she was able to bypass executive producer Auguste Yem, head of general program Johnny Ming, Deputy Director of Broadcasting Maria Wan, and went directly to Broadcasting Director Cheung Man-yee for approval.
Her story was about a crackdown on democracy in an unnamed country and the dilemma of a television station editor over how to handle an interview with that country‘s senior leaders.
She came up with this sensitive story of political censorship and got a go ahead from Yem. She knew the story would be difficult to get through because it carried explicit references to the June-4 massacre in Beijing and satirized senior leaders of China. So she lined up an exceptional strong casting which included retired senior government official Peter Tsao, editor Lee Yee, and political figure Law hoi-sing. Tsao and Lee got back to Cheung Man-yee. From this, indirect route, Zen secured the support from Cheung, and was able to produce the drama against the opposition of Ming and Wan.
Zen had a strong rationale because her story was well inside the noncommercial schema of public broadcasting: the subject of editorial independence was socially significant, and it was what RTHK had been fighting for.
12. 1984 Interrmtional Film & TV Festival of New York (Silver Award)； 20th Chicago International Film Festival (Silver Award); Woman in Film Festival 86, (Invitation” 1986 Hawaii International Film Festival (Invitation),. 16th World Congress of Rehabilitation (2nd Prize). 13. since the mid-1980s, editorial independence has been the major proclaimed rationale behind the prolonged project of corporatization of RTHK. 95
Besides content, Zen also pushed to the liiai 七 of RTHK, s resources control. She was allocated one broadcast hour, 10 filming days, and $200,000 budget. Without prior consent of the management, she produced two broadcast hours of content, used up 21 filming days, and $420,000 production cost. She asked for two broadcast hours but was rejected. With much reluctance and enormous media attention, she edited the program to fit in the one-hour time slot. The media were looking for traces of censorship, but the short version retained the sensitive contents of the long version.
The incident not only reflected the relatively unrestrained nature of resource control in RTHK drama unit, it also revealed the fact that some RTHK producers perceived a much higher degree of autonomy than the organization might allow. To ask for a doubled air-time is unthinkable in commercial television. After the incident, RTHK drama unit has tightened up resource control. The option of firing Zen had been raised in the management but was turned down. Zen was later transferred to RTHK education television section.
5.4.4 Creative constraint and Ideology of TV Drama
Previously,工 have analyzed how organizational schemas and feedback systems shape the gatekeeping process of television drama contents. In this section,工 have discussed the organizational control by resource allocation. Schema and feedback work on the cognitive level. Resources control work on the administrative level. Schemas and feedback are very influential in screening off non-compatible options. Resources control limits the chosen options to be produced within the cost/profit margin in the commercial television context and cost/utility ratio in the public television context. 96
Schemas and feedback are highly unobtrusive. Resource control is often obtrusive and responsible for many organizational conflicts in television productions.
TVB is relatively more restrictive in resource allocation because its commercial context has a clearer cost/profit margin. As a non-market organization, RTHK has an ambiguous cost/utility ratio. Resource allocation is more autonomous and unrestrained as a result. However, the relation between creative autonomy and ideology of television content needs further discussion.
In the theoretical review of chapter two, I have pointed out that those television studies that describe a higher degree of individual autonomy tend to talk more of content innovation and diversity (Newcomb & Alley, 1983; Feuer, 1987 ； Ettema, 1982) . Those that describe a higher degree of creative constraint usually talk about the production of media contents which are mainstream and stereotyped (Cantor & Cantor, 1992; Gitlin, 1983; Tuchman, 1974) . The findings of the present study show support to these patterns. BLR and GM are two grounded cases which illustrate how the relatively more restrictive context of TVB produces choric TV drama and how the less restrictive context of RTHK allows the production of controversial dramas. The present study, together with the above literature, suggest the followings:
More restrictive administrative control on resources allocation limits individual autonomy and thus ideological diversity of TV drama.
Less restrictive administrative control on resources allocation allows greater degree of individual autonomy and thus ideological diversity of TV drama. 5.S CASE CONTROL - CONTEXTS AND GENRE
The above organizational comparison shows that the organizational contexts of RTHK and TVB affect the range of ideological positions and diversity of BLR and GM. However, GM and BLR, as most natural cases, have some loose ends that resist neat comparison. An important source of possible incomparability is derived from the difference in genre types.
The term genre is simply the French word for type or kind. When applied to television, it refers to the set of conventional formulas, characters, settings, and treatments of content that is adopted by the producers, and at the same time expected by the audience.1 GM is produced in the genre of continued serial, which has a single story across different episode. BLR is a single- play series which has different stories and characters for every episode.
Previous studies have found that the genre has influences on content and ideology of TV programs (Swider et al. 1983； Tulloch, 1990; Attallah, 1984； Feuer, 1992). Is the genre difference of BLR and GM a source of their content variance? If yes, to what extent and in what direction does genre affect ideological diversity? Is the effect of genre interfering with the comparative pattern found? If TVB produces single-plays, not a serial like GM, would the effect of the， single-play genre work against other factors to produce a lyric drama? Can genre negate the effect of organizational schema?
1. See Cawelti (1970) and Neale (1981) for discussions on the definition of genre; also see Feuer (1992) for an application of genre theory on television analysis. 98
To assess the influence of program genre,工 cross examine my interviewees by asking the following questions:
For TVB's staff: Have you ever produced drama in the format similar to RTHK‘s Below The Lion Rock? (i.e. single-play series)• What are the differences in creative autonomy and constraint comparing with serial production? For RTHK‘s staff: Were you involved in the production of the Miracle of Orient (有三工离、片，RTHK only continued serial)？ What were the differences in creative autonomy and constraint?
工 also interviewed Kitty Yip, the executive producer of Miracle of the Orient, and Lee Kwok Lap, TVB executive producer who has produced singly—play series in TVB. These two interviews followed the same question items of other interview sessions.
They are asked whether there are differences between the content selection and production process of serial and single-play within the same station. If there is no difference, that means genre is not a source of content variance, or the effects of contextual factors are overriding the effect of genre. If there are differences, that mean genre is having some effect on content selection. Further analysis would be needed to assess the extent of such effect.
Before answering these questions,工 shall briefly sketch the genre preference of TVB and RTHK dramas. 99
Drama Genres in RTHK and TVB
The television arm of RTHK was established in 1970. In the past twenty-two years, RTHK drama unit has only produced one continued serial Miracle of the Orient. The majority of RTHK dramas are series, which have the same leading characters but independent stories for every episodes, and single-play series, which have independent story and characters for each episode. Among RTHK drama producers, single-play series that has one-hour per episode is considered the most prestigious genre.
In contrast, continued serials are the most important prime-time offer of TVB since the 1970s. In the mid- 198 0s, TVB produced some single—play series for weekend prime-time. The single-play series had had a brief appearance and faded away. There has been no single-play series in the previous three years. TVB also produces telefilm and series. Telefilm is feature length drama that does not divide into episode. TVB‘s telefilms and series are usually action packed; they are well received in the overseas video market but are only occasionally released in Hong Kong on weekend prime time.
5�5. 2Control Analysis I: Does genre affect creative autonomy and diversity of content options?
Single-play Series. When RTHK and TVB interview data are cross-analyzed, the single-play genre is found creatively more flexible than serial in both TVB and RTHK.
Serial and single-play have different configuration of creative locus (see 5.1). Serial drama has a continuing narrative, it is much more workable to have a centralized creative locus. Singly-play series contain different independent stories; they ask for a more decentralized creative locus. This structural difference allows more creative flexibility in single-play than in serials. 100
BLR producers say that the one-hour format basically is a free essay format. BLR had a theme of Hong Kong in the 199 0s, but Ann Hui even produced a story without a single Hong Kong character. It was about Hou Dejian in Beijing and Hou Dejian in Taiwan, not in Hong Kong. Yet the genre was flexible enough to fit Hui‘s story into the series by adding some inscription at the beginning of her story, which said Hou‘s experience was of reference value to the people of Hong Kong.
Single-plays, even when produced in TVB, have decentralized creative loci which allow a higher degree of individual creativity than the production of GM. All TVB interviewees that had produced single-play series said that they had greater individual freedom in selecting stories. Production manager T.S. Lee said that TVB management gave producers minimal restriction in single-play productions and didri‘t care about the rating: "At that time, single-plays were scheduled on weekend prime-time where ratings fluctuated a lot. We didn't expect too much, we hoped they could do what they wanted•“ Among the single-play produced by my interviewees, some were choric and mainstream. For instance, on-line producer Johnny N.L. Yau had produced a story on Karma which gave a traditional lesson of "you reap what you sow. “ Executive producer Lee Kwok Lap said he had produced a single play which was about a housewife of a standard happy family who came across an energetic artist and started to question her way of life. The theme was exploratory and was similar to the lyric drama of RTHK. Single-play can oppose the effect of commercial schema to exert its influence. 101
Serial. When the BLR data are cross-analyzed with the control case Miracle of the Orient, the genre of serial was found creatively more restrictive than the typical RTHK single-play genre.
In 1983, Kitty Yip was invited by RTHK to produce Miracle of the Orient. The assignment had a fixed program theme: A historical retrospect of Hong Kong. At that point of time, Sino-British negotiation was underway to decide the future of Hong Kong. The production of the serial was a response to the political situation. Yip
developed a narrative framework which began in 1949, because she considered that was a significant point in the history of China and Hong Kong: Communist China gained political sovereignty in 1949. And Chinese refugees were flooding into Hong Kong. But this framework, was rejected. Yip was asked to begin the story in 1945,
when Hong » Kong was recovered from the hand of the Japanese. The reason of rejection was clearly political« The shooting scripts were also handed in for political censoring before the production, but there had been no revision. Now this censoring process is no longer required at RTHK.
Individual on-line producers were more restrained than the producers of other RTHK single-play series. Coordination between producers was essential, since leading roles and' narrative flow had to be maintained. 102
Limitation of Miracle of the Orient as Contrcl
Mir^le of t^^O^ei^, is not a good control case. The production of this serial seemed to serve the interest of the political establishment. The production context was close to a government television model (RTHK has a dual role of government and public broadcaster; see 1.1) • Since Miracle of the Orient is an exceptional case (once in the twenty-two years of RTHK drama unit), we cannot make any generalized claim as to how the serial genre work within the schema of RTHK. It is still an open question whether RTHK producers would be more restrained if RTHK adopts the serial genre.
5.5.3 Control Analysis II : Organizational Schema and Program Genre
In the above analysis, genre is found to be a source of content variance. It can work against organizational schema to exert its effect. This is evident in the TVB context, but less certain in the context of RTHK. Can the effect of genre neutralize the effect of organizational schema? Or can schema override genre? Is the lyric/choric pattern nullified by the genre factor?
Can the effect of genre neutralize the effect of organizational schema?
In the organizational context of TVB, the genre of single-play can oppose the influences of commercial schema to allow larger room of creativity. Nevertheless, the genre factor cannot override the influences of the coininercial schema. TVB • s single-play series is still relatively more restrained when compared with the single- play of RTHK. Production manager T.S. Lee emphasized that although TVB producers were relatively free to do what they wanted when 七hey produced single—play, their 103 prograras should be "worldly" ( A ) • TVB does not welcome producer who is "other-worldly" ( i 世)• senior producer P.Y. Fung also said when he initiated ideas for single-plays, mid(ile*>of—七he•—road contents were preferred by his superiors.
This shows that the effect of the single-play genre cannot completely neutralize the influence of the commercial schema.
In the context of RTHK, the effect of serial is difficult to access because RTHK has produced only one serial Miracle of the Orient under unique condition. Yet when it is compared with TVB serial GM, the creative process of the Miracle of the Orient was still less centralized. Unlike GM, in which on-line producers were left outside the creative process, the producers of Miracle of the Orient were much involved in the creation of the serial. They developed their own stories according to the broad framework determined by executive producer Kitty Yip.
Can organizational schema override prog-ram genre?
Both genres cannot neutralize the effect of organizational schema. In fact, sehema can override non- compatible genre by suppressing its occurrence in the first place. Genre choices are not a result of arbitrary creative decision. Indeed, genre decision has an institutional predisposition (Attallah, 1984; Feuer, 1992). ，
The Genre Predisposition Of The Commercial Schema
TVB iirteirviewees point out that single-play series is not good for TVB commercially. It is difficult to promote because each episode has an independent story. This is 104 bad for ratings. Independent story cannot hook audience for repeated viewing by unresolved conflicts‘ Also, it is expensive because each story has its own artists, setting and costume. It also consumes far more creative resources than serial because each series needs to develop dozens of story ideas and treatments. Usually, stories are initiated by individual producers. These personal stories are not welcomed by the overseas market. As a result, the commercial schema is biased against these less profitable single-play series and predisposes towards continued serial. This predisposition can be illustrated by the come and go of the single-play series in TVB.
When asked why TVB began producing limited amount of single-play series in the mid_1980s, some said single- play had been used as a promotion test for junior staff, others said they were gifts for on-line producers who were deprived of creative opportunities in serial. Script supervisor K.C.Tsang gave a more comprehensive picture: In the 1970s, when the developing television industry had not been bureaucratized, there were less creative constraints. But in the mid-1980s, TVB was institutionalized, there were many complaints among the on-line producers about the mechanical creative environment. Many producers were frustrated as to have left the TV industry. TVB management responded by allowing its on-line producers to create and produce single-play series.
Production manager T.S. Lee said that the reason for dropping this genre was simple: TVB producers had run out of ideas. But Lee,s subordinates gave a different reason: TVB has been emphasizing cost-effectiveness more and more. They do not produce single-play just because the genre is not profitable. This can be seen against the background of TVB's profit decline: 105
TVB Net Profit (in million HK dollars》 Year Net Revenue Net Profit Growth 1986 858 2 67 ++ 1987 1029 350 + 1988 1240 425 + 1989 1337 357 一- 1990 1505 327 - 1991 1518 249 ---
Source: TVB Annual Reports
Single-play series was dropped in times when TVB was experiencing continued negative growth. In recent years, TVB has been producing more action-packed series and telefilms. These drama products are much more salable than the single-plays in the overseas markets, and at the same time serve the need of providing decentralized creative opportunities and genre diversity. Single-play is less compatible, if not incompatible, with the cominercial schema。
The Genre Predisposition of the Non-commercial Genre
The genre choice of RTHK also has a schematic predisposition. The twenty-two years old RTHK drama unit has only produced one serial. RTHK staffs say that the primary reason is that RTHK cannot engage a group of artists for the long production period a serial required. RTHK hires outside artists, it does not have in_house artists. Single—play series is more flexible in terms of casting. Besides,. RTHK producers do not have a compelling reason for producing serials. Executive producer Auguste Yem says they can do what they want with single-play series, which allows them to examine meaningful themes and tell expressive stories, so why bother doing the resource-consuming serial. Producer Liz Wong even asserts that she would be quite uncomfortable if she were assigned to work on serial because creative responsibility would be more centralized and individual freedom would be more constrained. 106
Limitation of RTHK as Control
RTHK has genre preferences of single-play over serial. But the interview data show a strong relation between the organization size and genre predisposition of RTHK. It should be reminded that RTHK is not a full public television. It broadcasts on borrowed air time and its program output is much less than a full scale public TV station. Its small organizational scale does not permit to have in—house artists and other production support: that are necessary for producing continued serials. But other large scale public TV station may not be so biased against the serial genre.
To check against the relation between the variables of organizational size and genre preference of public television, the finding in this case study is compared with the situation of BBC, the public broadcaster of the United Kingdom. Unlike RTHK, BBC produces a full range of television drama, from serials to docudramas, short series, and single—plays• This is related to the organization size and the much larger program demand of the two broadcast channels BBCl and BBC2. Nevertheless, it is the single plays and short series that carry the most prestige (see Sutton, 1982; Blumber et al. 198 6; Tunstall, 1991; Euromedia, 1992) . According to Sutton (1992), who was then boss of BBC TV Drama Group, and Blumber (1986, 1992), a public television advocate, the BBC preference for short single-play series is related to the public television organizational contexts. They say BBC honors the tradition of creative autonomy. It is believed that producers, writers, and artists should not be forced to work on long serials in which they do more episodes than they want to. The genre preferences of BBC and RTHK are found to be complementary.
// 107
To conclude, TVB has predisposition for serials and against single-play. RTHK has predisposition for single- play and against serial.
The genre predisposition of TVB found in this case study can be generalized to other similar commercial television contexts because TVB is a full growth commercial television. Besides, there are marked differences in marketability between serial and single-play. There is a strong relation between the commercial schema and the biases against single-play.
Because of the small organizational size of RTHK television section, it is less certain that the genre predisposition of RTHK can be generalized to other public television organizations. But the additional analysis of genre preferences of BBC strengthens the argument that the organizational schema of non-coimnercialism shows preferences of short series and single-play over continued serial.
5.5.4 Section Summary
The aim of the case control is to assess the interference of the genre difference of GM and BLR on the comparative result found in the organizational analyses.
There are a few observations that can be summarized from the control analyses:
First, genre is affecting the level of creative autonomy, and thus creative options and content selection. Single- play series has a decentralized configuration of creative locus which encourages more diversified and individualistic expression. Continued serial has a centralized configuration of creative locus which is far more restrictive on creativity. 108
Second, in spite of the effect on content variance, genre cannot neutralize the influences of organizational schema. Single-play produced in TVB is still more restrictive than those produced in RTHK. Organizational schema has stronger influence on content choice.
Third, organizational schema is on a higher order of effect than genre, it marginalizes the significance of non-compatible genres and suppresses their occurrence in the first place.
The control analyses show that genre can be an intervening variable. Like organizational schema, genre can affect ideological diversity. However, schematic effect is of a higher order； it shapes content more powerfully and at the same time suppresses non-compatible genre. Therefore interference of genre differences cannot nullify the lyric/choric pattern found in this study. CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION - ORGANIZATION CONTEXTS
AND IDEOLOGY OF TELEVISION DRAMAS
This paper asks two questions: It seeks to identify and explain the range of ideological diversity and positions of the dramas produced under the context of public broadcast television and commercial broadcast television.
The discourse analyses in chapter four indicate that GM, the coimercial drama, has choric ideology which has limited diversity and are pro-establishement in nature; in the case of GM, the choric mode expresses itself in patriarchal, pro-capitalistic, and apolitical discourses. BLR, the non-commercial drama, has lyric ideology which is diversified and negotiatory in nature； in the case of BLR, the lyric mode expresses itself in negotiatory discourses towards capitalism, patriarchy, and totalitarianism.
The paper goes on asking whether these ideological differences have contextual roots. The organizational analyses in chapter five show that the differences are not arbitrary. It is found that GM and BLR have different organizational contexts which have systematic influences on the ideology of the two dramas. 110
6.1 ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS OF GM AND BLR
The differences of the organizational contexts of BLR and GM can be summarized as follows:
GM BLR
Cognitive Schema Commercialism Non-commercialism
minimize controversy social significance
maximize appeal complementary programming
Feedback system rating/critical review critical review/rating
mass audience elite audience
Track Record rating success critically acclaimed
Aesthetic norm ambiguous ambiguous commercial noncommercial,elite
Resources formalized, flexible
allocation restrictive ambiguous
Genre continued serial single-play series pre—disposition restrictive, flexible, individualistic,
Creative locus centralized decentralized
In the analysis of the organizational contexts of BLR and GM, 工 have identified the organization factors of cognitive schemas, feedback systems, track record and resource allocation. The factor of program genre is included as a control variable. ill
6.2 IDEOLOGICAL EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS
How do these organizational factors shape the ideological diversity and positions of television dramas? How do they contribute to the choric/lyric differentiation of TVB and RTHK dramas?
These organizational factors have different degree of effects on the lyric/choric differentiation of public and commercial TV dramas.工 will discuss their influence on content in the order of their effects.
Organizational Schema
The case analyses of GM and BLR have shown that schemas unobtrusively screen off non-schematic content options, particularly in the stage of idea initiation and program development. The ideological effect of the commercial schema of commercial broadcast television works in the direction towards the choric which is relatively monolithic, mainstream and pro-establishment. The non- commercial schema of public television is associated with the lyric which is relatively diversified and negotiatory in ideology.
The analysis of GM provides a grounded account of how the commercial schema suppresses political content and drives for the mainstream capitalistic ideology. This ideological effect of the schema of commercial television has been described in many of the existing literature. Many have argued that commercial television tends to produce programs which avoid controversies and represent mainstream ideology of the capitalistic society (e.g. Cantor, 1990; Barrile, 1986; Turow, 1984; Baehr 1980; Giltin 1979 ； Tuchman, 1979； Lemon; 1977; Seggar, 1974). 112
This study also conceptualize the non-commercial orientation of public television as a cognitive schema. In capitalistic society, the schema of non-commercialism tends to opt for ideological contents that are negotiatory to the capitalistic system.
Organizational schema has the highest order of effect; it influences other related but less important factors. In the organizational context of commercial television TVB, the commercial schema heightens the influence of rating feedback, accentuates cost/profit calculation, amplifies the aesthetics of the mass culture, and predisposes towards the production of more restrictive serials.
In the organizational context of public television RTHK, the noncommercial schema reinforces critical feedback, justifies ambiguous cost/utility calculation, stresses the aesthetics of the elite, and predisposes towards the production of less restrictive genre of single-play series.
Feedback Systems and Aesthetic Norms
Like organizational schema, the factors of feedback, aesthetic norms and track record also work on the cognitive level. RTHK is biased towards the elitist aesthetics and feedback of elitist reviews. Producers with a track record of critical success are considered more prestigious and are allocated more resources. In contrast, TVB is inclined towards mass ratings and the popular aesthetics. Producers with a track record of rating success are allocated more resources. The differences in the assumed audience and evaluative norms are sources of content variation of BLR and GM. If the perceived audience are heterogeneous, and evaluative norms are more on commercial success, the content delivered will be more stereotyped and ideologically 113 conventional. If the perceived significant audience (in the case of BLR, critics and elites) possess specific combination of demographics,七he program conteirt will be ideologically more diversified and unconventional. Critical ideological positions are presented to meet the taste of the assumed elite audience.
Resource Allocation, Creative Locus and Genre Choice
The factor of resource allocation, creative locus and genre predisposition work on the administrative levels. The RTHK context predisposes to the more autonomous genre of single-play, delegates responsibilities in decentralized creative loci, and allocates resources on the basis of ambiguous estimation of cultural and social values. The organizational context of TVB predisposes to the more restrictive genre of serial, delegates responsibilities in centralized creative locus and allocates resource on restrictive cost/profit ratio. The relative autonomy of the RTHK context allows larger room for individual creativity and ideological diversity.
This case study arrives at the following generalizations.
Cognitive factors；
G1. The schema of commercialism, working together with mass rating system and popular aesthetics, creates an unobtrusive cognitive framework which predisposes creative options of TV drama towards choric ideology.
G2 . The schema of non-commercialism, working together with feedback system of critical reviev^ and elitist aesthetics, creates an unobtrusive cognitive framework which predisposes creative options of TV drama towards lyric ideology. 114
Administrative Factors:
G3 • More restrictive administrative controls on resources allocation, delegation of creative responsibilities, and genre choice limit individual autonomy and thus ideological diversity of TV drama.
G4 • Less restrictive administrative controls on resources allocation, creative delegation, and genre choice allow greater degree of individual autonomy and thus ideological diversity of TV drama.
G1 and G3 apply to commercial broadcast television. The resultant effects of the cognitive and administrative factors predispose commercial broadcast TV drama towards the choric mode.
G2 and G4 apply to public broadcast television. The resultant effects of the cognitive and administrative factors predispose public broadcast TV drama towards the lyric mode. 115
6.3 THE LIMIT OF GENERALIZATION
The organizational analyses show that commercial television context tends to produce choric dramas, while public television context tends to produce lyric dramas. But these tendencies need qualification. Case study tries to move from the specific to the general. But generalizations across cases need careful analysis. Particularities of the selected cases prevent unconditional generalizations.工 will delineate the conditions within the two cases that are comparable to other similar television contexts. Generalizations will be made as far as the typicality of the cases would permit.
The first level of generalization applies to other dramas in TVB and RTHK. The present case study finds that the organizational context of TVB shapes GM into the choric, and the organizational context of RTHK shapes BLR into the lyric mode. Can this choric/lyric predisposition be generalized to ALL TVB's and RTHK's dramas?
The organizational factors identified above are not occasional and contingent. They are embedded in their respective organizational contexts. They will work on other TVB and RTHK dramas as they have worked on BLR and GM. The lyric/choric pattern is not arbitrary, it has contextual roots. RTHK and TVB contexts have respective tendencies to produce lyric and choric dramas. Of course, they are only "tendencies" and would not completely rule out the possibility of lyric dramas being produced in TVB, and choric drama in RTHK. But these will only be exceptions to the rule.
The next question is: Can the choric/lyric predisposition found in TVB and RTHK be generalized to OTHER commercial, and public broadcast television? 116
All organizational factors found in this study are closely connected with their respective organizational contexts. They are not occasional and contingent either. The profit-motive, the rating systems, the clear-cut cost-profit margin, etc. are innate to the contexts of commercial broadcast television. Whereas the non- commercial complementary programming, the cultural and social mandate, the elite bias, the ambiguous cost/utility ratio, etc., are common to other public television contexts.
There are strong internal relation between the lyric/choric predisposition and these organizational factors. These compelling relations are conducive to the choric/lyric predisposition found in TVB and RTHK and can be generalized to other commercial and public broadcast television. Besides, the findings of this study are compatible with the existing literature which argue that commercial broadcast television tends to produce dominant capitalistic ideologies and public television tends to produce program with negotiatory contents.1
Unexplained Residue
However, TVB and RTHK have their unique organizational characteristics that may not be common to other commercial and public television. These particulars are the unexplained residues of this comparative study and may affect the stability of the choric/lyric predisposition when applied to other contexts. At least two such residual fac七ors should be made explicit. They are the factor of organizational size and independent production. Both of them are documented to have intervening effect on content diversity.
1. See section 4.6. 117
Organizational Size
RTHK is not a full grown public broadcaster. It does not have its own broadcast channel. The program output and organizational size are much smaller than other public television. Organizational size of media organization has found to be a factor of product diversity (Wong, 1992). In a larger public television station, the size factor may counter the predisposition towards lyric dramas. Further comparative analysis that involves a large scale public television organization is needed to clarify the relative effect of organizational size and other organizational factors.
Independent Production
All TVB‘s prime-time dramas are produced in-house. This centralized production configuration may be an additional limiting factor on content diversity. Some other commercial broadcast television networks, including those in the United States, have a considerable proportion of programs provided by independent production house. This is found to be a source of innovation (Turow, 1982; Feuer, 1987) . Of course, these innovations are still exceptional in the context of commercial broadcast television, but how the factor of independent production interacts with other organizational factors identified in this study remained to be examined. 118
6.4 THEORETICAL, POLICY, AND METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
As mentioned in the beginning of this thesis, the findings of this study have theoretical, policy, and methodological implications.
Theoretical Significance. Since the early 1980s, more scholars have conceptualized TV as a heterogeneous unity of ideologies (White, 1992), as a cultural forum of diversity (Newcomb & Hirsch, 1984), and as a potentiality of meanings (Fiske, 1987; Allen, 1983). These theses have successfully brought attention to the pluralistic nature of television. But "cultural forum," "heterogeneous unity," and "polysemy" are vague concepts lacking of concrete elaboration.
The present study explains the ideological diversity of prime time drama in organizational terms. TV is understood in the perspective of culture production processes with ideological diversity caused by the dynamic interaction between individual autonomy and organizational factors of cognitive schema and administrative controls. This understanding of TV drama production also answers the theoretical question of constraints vs autonomy debate in media organization research. 119
Policy Implication. Right now television organizational contexts are in a state of flux. In this transitory period, there are prolonged debates between interest parties of public and commercial television broadcasters. Some believe that the commercialization and proliferation of TV channels alone can achieve media pluralism (e.g. Doyle, 199 2; Brody, 199 2; Peacock, 1986). Public broadcasting is likely to be replaced by commercial and cable television. But some critics claim that more commercial channels may only provide "more of the same" programs.
This study has shown that public and commercial broadcast television organizational contexts have tendency to produce dramas with different ideological contents. If media pluralism is a stated policy objective, public broadcasting is still an important organizational form which contributes to program diversity.
Methodological Significance. Recently, more researchers have advocated the integrative use of qualitative and quantitative methodologies (e.g. Ragin, 1987). The present study has employed this integrative approach; it adopts qualitative me七hods of discourse analysis and in- depth interview. It also incorporates the logic of experimental design. The experimental logic increases the precision of generalizations, whereas the qualitative method offers grounded analysis which quantitative method couldn't provide.
This study has another methodological contribution to television studies. Most television production researches study content processing and focus only on the organizational aspects and ignore the analysis of the texts. On the other hand, the majority of television studies are limited to the textual analysis of one of two 120
TV programmes. The present study applies discourse analysis (Fiske, 1983; 1987) to television texts and the production of culture perspectives (Peterson, 1976; Sander, 1982; Crane, 1992) to television production research. This integrative approach seek to bypass the high—culture-vs-low-culture debate, surpass Marxist ideological criticism of mass media texts, and go beyond textual description into the "genetics" of textual creation of television culture. 121
6.5 FOR A DYNAMIC MODEL OF TELEVISION DRAMA PRODUCTION
The analyses in chapter five strongly indicate that the production contexts of television drama are dynamic rather than static.
All the cognitive and administrative factors of organizational controls discussed in chapter five are not absolute. They are not effective at all times. The schematic control only sets a cognitive boundary, and the boundary is not clear cut. Aesthetic norms of TV dramas are highly ambiguous. Track records do not guarantee continued success. Feedback systems are indirect and insufficient indicator of audience preference and program quality. Critics always disagree among themselves. TVB executive producer K.F.Wei could work against the schematic preference to create a complicated character of Ting Hian. RTHK senior producer Rachel Zen could go around supervision and produced a program which doubled the allocated budget and air-time. The deficiencies of the controls leave room for individual creativity.
Pekurny (198 2) makes similar observations. He mentions the possibility of creativity in television organization because the nonroutine nature of TV production cannot be completely routinized by organizational controls such as rating and track record. But his conceptualization still falls short of taking into full account the dynamic nature of television production. TV drama production context is a combination of routine and nonroutine demands. Routine control asks for standardized output. However, the nonroutine nature of drama production demands a high degree of delegation and creative autonomy. As a result, television drama production context comes about less as a rational organization and more as a loosely coupled collectivity functioning in a 122
"satisficing" manner: Decisions are made not by exploring all options but by selecting between "handy" alternatives. Rationality is bounded.2 Mean-end chains are sometime ambiguous. Organization controls are mostly unobtrusive.
Because rationality is bounded, superiors can control subordinates by limiting available options. Bounded rationality also applies to the management: Creative individuals sometimes exploit the ambiguity and stretch the limit of organizational control.
These observations call for a dynamic model of drama production: cognitive schema, administrative control and creative autonomy are in dynamic interaction. It is erroneous to argue for a static position that emphasizes the creative autonomy of TV producers and ignoring the penetrating effect of organizational controls (e.g. Newcomb & Alley, 1983). It is equally erroneous to overestimate the restrictive power of the organization on the creative individuals (e.g. Gitlin, 1983 ； 1987).
In this dynamic model, schematic boundary confines individual decisions, but creative autonomy can stretch that boundary. Administrative controls reduce uncertainty and guarantee desirable and stable output. Whereas creative autonomy provides the flexibility for the nonroutine and the possibility of innovation, both are vital to cultural production organization.
This dynamic model explains content diversity in organizational terms: Different production contexts have different interrelationship of organizational controls and creative autonomy. Comparatively speaking, the
2. Bounded rationality refers to the position that organization participants, both controllers and subordinates, do not have complete knowledge of the consequence of any life situation (Perrow, 1986). 123 production routine of TVB drama shows more specific organization constraints. Rating and commercial success are more easily measurable. While RTHK drama production context has loosely coupled constraints and much larger room for creativity. Public utility and elitist aesthetic are often ambiguous. These differential positions result in the differentiation of the "choric" drama of commercial station TVB and the "lyric" drama of public broadcaster RTHK.
Lyric and choric dramas are two ends of a continuum. They are not mutually exclusive. Lyric dramas may have choric elements and vice versa. Their deferential relation depends on the dynamics of constraint and autonomy. In general, commercial broadcast television is predisposed to the choric end while public broadcast television to the lyric. Yet commercial television may occasionally produce innovative lyric drama and the public television context may sometime produce commercial choric drama. In addition, the interaction may change as the contextual environment changes in different competitive circumstances and at different stage of development of the "television medium. 124
6.6 FURTHER RESEARCH
The organizational factors identified in this study can apply to public and commercial broadcast television contexts. However, these factors may have different effects in the contexts of multi-channel television and government television.
In the multi-channel television contexts, feedback systems may be directly linked to subscription, genre choice may be more diversified. There can be different combinations of production contexts: In-house production, CO-production, independent production, etc. The decentralized creative loci allow rooms of individual creative options. Dramas may be more idiosyncratic to cater for the need of the wide variety of segmented audience. The emergence of multi-channel television may challenge the role of public television in providing diversified programming complementary to the mainstream commercial television (Noam & Garber, 1987). Further research is needed.
In the government television contexts, feedback systems may be directly linked to the government administration. Organizational control may appear as highly obtrusive reward and punishment mechanisms. Although government television belongs to the schema of non-commercialism, the role of government TV as a propaganda arm posits strong administrative constraint upon creative decision. As a result, the ideology of the drama inevitably serve the political establishment. Further research is needed. 125
It should also be noted that the findings of this research apply only to drama production. Because of the lack of established norm, the nonroutine nature of drama production, and the fictitious content of drama programs, drama production contexts are separated into contrasting schemas. However, for public affairs and news programs, journalistic norms may be strong enough to be adopted by journalists across organizations. Public affairs TV programs produced under commercial and public television may show less variation and more isomorphism. Further studies are needed to compare the production of non- fictional program in commercial and public television contexts. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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About The Program
1. What the program is about? What is the major theme? 2. Why do you choose to tell this particular story? 3. (Free discussion of program contents)
Creative Process and Creative Control 1. Who originates the program idea? 2. Please describe the creative process. 3. Who is the most influential person in the process? 4. Have you turned down other alternative ideas? Why? 5. What is your role in the creative process? 6. Do you need to submit you story for approval? 7. What are the perceived criteria for approval? 8. Do you screen creative input of your subordinate? 9. What are your criteria? 10. Have you met resistance during the program development stage? 11. Can you/ Do you revise script? How often? 12. Do you have any conflict with your superiors or subordinates?
Feedback System 工：Audience / Ratings
1. Do you have target audience in mind? 2. Do you have any idea about their tastes and preferences? 3. Where do you get the hints of audience preferences? 4. Do perceived audience tastes affect you program design? 5. Do you receive feedbacks from your audience? 6. Do you read rating reports? How do ratings affect you? 7. Do you think rating is a good measurement of success and/or program quality? 135
Feedback System 工I: Critical Review / Award !•• Do you care about reviews? How do they affect you? 2. Have you ever thought of getting awards? 3. For TVB: How do complaints from TELA affect you?‘ 3. For RTHK: How do the criticisms from pro-China press affect you?
Feedback System III: Organization 1. Does your superior evaluate your work? (How do you evaluate your subordinate?) 2. Do your colleagues talk about your program? 3. What is the most rewarding thing for doing a "good" or innovative program? What are the organizational mechanisms of reward and punishment?
Aesthetic and Organizational Norms
1. How do you evaluate the programs produced by you and yours colleagues? What is your standard for "good" TV drama? 2. Please comment on the following often heard criteria for TV drama: realism, dramatic conflicts, social message, reflect society, entertaining. 3. Do you feel any expectation from your boss or from the organization? Any do‘s and dont's? Any programming policy you should follow?
Career Path and Ambition
1. In what year did you start working in television? 2. What was your first job in television? 3. How did you get started? Please describe your career path in the industry. 4. Why not joining RTHK (or TVB) ？ 5. How do you like working in RTHK (TVB)？ 6. What are the largest satisfaction and/or frustration? 7. What do you want to achieve? Would you consider leaving the industry for other jobs? Making movie, for example? 136
Perceived Differences between RTHK and TVB
1. Have you watched RTHK (TVB) dramas recently? 2. What are the differences between RTHK and TVB dramas? 3 . What do you think about RTHK (TVB) dramas?
Case Control
1. Is BELOW THE LION ROCK (GREED OF MAN) a typical RTHK (TVB) drama? 2. 工s it an maj or/important production of RTHK (TVB)？ 3. Please compare this specific production with other productions in the past in terms of creative autonomy and organization constraints； any changes from 1970s through 1990s? 4. For TVB‘s staff: Have you ever produced dramas in the format similar to RTHK‘s BELOW THE LI〇N ROCK? (i.e. single-play series). Are there differences in creative autonomy and constraint? For RTHK‘s staff: Did you produce Miracle of the Orient? (i.e. RTHK only continued serial) . Were there differences in creative autonomy and constraint? —- . ：一
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