Critical Visions
February 1, 2005
ComS 169—Television Criticism
Prof. Nick Burnett
What television criticism is
not…
It is not undisciplined, unrestrained
fan appreciation
 It does not have to be negative;
criticism can be appreciative or
depreciative
 It is not mere description of the action
or show
 It is not a mere gut reaction (glandular
criticism)
 It is not history (without analysis)

Vande Berg et. al.’s
Definition

“Serious, careful television criticism
provides informed, insightful explanations of
particular television texts or groups of
texts….Serious television criticism invites
viewers (or readers) of television to
undertake new evaluations of their
television experiences--sometimes
appreciative, sometimes depreciative--in
light of systematic, substantive, stylistic
criteria that it articulates for the reader.” (p.
12)
Functions of Television

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Socializing and educative function—TV as
teacher
Parasocial function—TV as a partial
replacement for social relationships
Social utility function—TV as fodder for
conversations
Surveillance function—TV as early warning
Status conferral function—TV coverage as
what matters
Agenda setting function—TV doesn’t tell us
what to think, it tell us what to think about
Basic Elements of the
Critical Act

Description


Not merely re-telling, but focusing on
essential elements
Analysis

Employ search models or critical
methodologies—What does your
analysis reveal about how this
television text works?
Basic Elements of the
Critical Act

Interpretation
Not about telling what a message
means, but the implications of the
choices made by the producers of the
text/ad/program….
 Specific attention should be given to
the choices made by the writer,
director, producer, or network

Basic Elements of the
Critical Act

Evaluation

Were the choices made the best
possible ones available?
• Ethical issues
• Judgments of efficacy
• Artistic issues

Did the text/program/ad accomplish or
advance its purpose?
What are critical
methods?
Critical methods are sets of technical
vocabularies, analytical constructs,
and normative assumptions that allow
critics to organize their observations
and communicate their insights
effectively.
 Stoner and Perkins use the term
“search model”
 Method as lens—microscopes and
telescopes

Stuart Hall’s Theory of
Reading/Encoding Television

Who is this guy?
Founder of British Cultural Studies of
Mass Media
 Smart guy!


Theory of Reading/Decoding TV texts
A dominant or preferred reading
 A negotiated reading
 An oppositional reading


Implications
Terms to know and use….
Diegsis—the world in front of the
camera to which the characters in the
story have access
 Extradiegetic features—elements of
the TV text that the audience has
access to but the characters do
not…laugh tracks, some music

Some additional thoughts…
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Journalistic v. academic television criticism
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Formal prose
Appropriate citations and references
Audience
Evaluating serious TV criticism

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Internal consistency
Evidence
Significance—cultural, critical, theoretical, or practical
Reasonableness: “a critical analysis must provide at
least one insightful interpretation arrived at by
systematic reasoned analysis”