To educate and entertain: the pedagogy of television Ava Laure Parsemain A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of the Arts & Media Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences September 2015 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Parsemain First name: Laure Other name/s: Ava Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: The School of the Arts and Media Faculty: The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Title: To educate and entertain: the pedagogy of television Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) Many media scholars agree that television can be used as an informal site of teaching and learning. However, little is known about how television teaches. This thesis explores the pedagogy of television by investigating the processes by which television teaches and viewers learn. It addresses the following questions: how does television teach through production techniques and textual features? How do viewers learn from television? To investigate televisual pedagogy as a communicative process, this study links producers' discourses, audiovisual textuality and audience responses. By connecting production, text and reception, it shows how teaching and learning interact in the context of televisual communication. Taking into account the distinction between public service and commercial television and the traditional demarcation between programmes that are explicitly produced to educate and those that are produced primarily to entertain, it examines the production, textual features, and reception of two Australian programmes: Who Do You Think You Are?, a documentary seri es broadcast on the public service channel SBS, and Home and Away, a soap opera broadcast on the commercial Seven Network. These two case studies reveal that regardless of conventional labels and categorisations, entertainment plays a crucial role in televisual education. In addition, they highlight the role of authenticity and realism in televisual teaching and learning. Although different programmes use different techniques and generic conventions to achieve this goal, it is argued that television must signify the reC)I and invite referential involvement in order to educate, and that viewers must trust that the programme is authentic, realistic or accurate in order to learn from it. This thesis contributes new knowledge in two ways. Firstly, it demonstrates that entertainment is not only compatible with education, but that it can serve televisual pedagogy. Secondly, it makes an original contribution to audience research by distinguishing two modalities of response: critical viewing, which is a form of intellectual distance that hinders learning, and critical involvement, which facilitates learning through literate analysis, trust and intellectual proximity with the content. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (s uch as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). ... .. .. ........M ..... .. .. .. .......... .J.~./09..1.20.15 · · · · · ·· ·· ·· ~Signature ····· Witness Date The Ulniversity recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be ll considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS • Originality Statement 'J hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of materiaJ which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due I acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intell ectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and I conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.' I Signed ........~~ ................. ................................... .. Date ...... .. ... .. .. 1~. / Q<J ./. .f.9. J5 ....................... ... ........................ .. I I I I I I COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 'I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed .... .............~ ..... .......................... Date ...... .. 23 .I 0 1. .1. .2.0.1.6 ............ ............................ AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT 'I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has·occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.' Signed ............. )· ··· · ·~ """"""""""""" Date ............ 2.3. .1. .o1. ... I .. 2oJ6 .. ... ............................ Table of contents Dedication ................................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 2 PART ONE ............................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6 To inform, educate and entertain ............................................................................................... 6 What is pedagogy? ..................................................................................................................... 9 What is televisual pedagogy? ................................................................................................... 13 Cultural studies and pedagogy: “teaching, not power” (Hartley, 1999) .................................. 14 Tracing the circuit of communication ...................................................................................... 17 Overview of the thesis .............................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 1: Literature Review ............................................................................................... 24 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 24 What television teaches ............................................................................................................ 25 How television teaches: the production perspective ................................................................ 36 How viewers learn: audience research ..................................................................................... 41 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 2: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 54 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 54 Qualitative research and methodological bricolage ................................................................. 54 Data collection and analysis ..................................................................................................... 57 Case study ................................................................................................................................ 67 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................