Pub Date : 2025-08-26DOI: 10.1177/17496020251372030
Eve Bennett
This article focuses on two miniseries written, directed and produced by Hugo Blick, The Honourable Woman (2014) and The English (2022). Both series are partially set in colonised regions – present-day Palestine and the nineteenth-century United States, respectively – and have upper-class white heroines who are citizens of colonising countries: they are British-Israeli and British, respectively. In both cases, a key plot point is that the heroine has been raped and, as this article seeks to show, that rape is made to serve as a metaphor for colonialism. This manoeuvre, which can also be found in some colonial and postcolonial literature, represents a problematic displacement of the sexual violence often endured by colonised women at the hands of the colonisers. Although both series allude to this violence, neither addresses it directly, and colonised women play minor roles. Those that do appear are treacherous and/or sacrifice their lives saving the white heroines from danger, thereby paving the way for their children to be raised by white people. The focus of both programmes thus remains fixed on the white heroines and the trauma and other negative repercussions they have suffered as a result of their rapes. Consequently, neither series constitutes an effective critique of colonialism.
{"title":"‘Worthy female victims’? The rape of a white woman as metaphor for colonialism in two miniseries by Hugo Blick","authors":"Eve Bennett","doi":"10.1177/17496020251372030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251372030","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on two miniseries written, directed and produced by Hugo Blick, <jats:italic>The Honourable Woman</jats:italic> (2014) and <jats:italic>The English</jats:italic> (2022). Both series are partially set in colonised regions – present-day Palestine and the nineteenth-century United States, respectively – and have upper-class white heroines who are citizens of colonising countries: they are British-Israeli and British, respectively. In both cases, a key plot point is that the heroine has been raped and, as this article seeks to show, that rape is made to serve as a metaphor for colonialism. This manoeuvre, which can also be found in some colonial and postcolonial literature, represents a problematic displacement of the sexual violence often endured by colonised women at the hands of the colonisers. Although both series allude to this violence, neither addresses it directly, and colonised women play minor roles. Those that do appear are treacherous and/or sacrifice their lives saving the white heroines from danger, thereby paving the way for their children to be raised by white people. The focus of both programmes thus remains fixed on the white heroines and the trauma and other negative repercussions they have suffered as a result of their rapes. Consequently, neither series constitutes an effective critique of colonialism.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"127 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-26DOI: 10.1177/17496020251363039
Enes Akdağ
{"title":"Book review: Binge TV: The rise and impact of the viewing revolution SteinerEmil, Binge TV: The Rise and Impact of the Viewing Revolution. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2023; 245 pp. ISBN 978-1-4766-8407-9 $39.95 (hbk), ISBN 978-1-4766-4749-4 $25.99 (ebk)","authors":"Enes Akdağ","doi":"10.1177/17496020251363039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251363039","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-06DOI: 10.1177/17496020251363037
Tom May
{"title":"Book review: Time lords and star cops: British science fiction television in the 1970s–1980s BraithwaitePhilip, Time Lords and Star Cops: British science fiction television in the 1970s-1980s. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023; vi + 237pp: ISBN 978-1-5261-6337-0 £85 (hbk)StackMike, Doctor Who and Gay Male Fandom: A Queer(ed) Transmedia Franchise. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024; pp + 2 illustrations: ISBN 978-94-6372-757-0 £118 (hbk)","authors":"Tom May","doi":"10.1177/17496020251363037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251363037","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"289 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144796706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-28DOI: 10.1177/17496020251360014
Alfonso Freire-Sánchez, Marta Lopera-Mármol
This article analyses the deconstruction of the superhero film subgenre by examining the demystification of the idealised hero figure and exploring their darker sides. Using Friedrich Schleiermacher’s hermeneutic circle and Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionism applied to the analysis of The Boys (2019–present), the study reveals that the series’ superheroes, portrayed as villains, display behaviours aligning with DSM-5 (2013) mental disorders, breaking traditional heroism narratives. The series employs parody and satire to critique contemporary social movements, using mental health as a narrative tool. Nevertheless, it risks reinforcing stigma by linking mental disorders to violence through unrealistic and exclusionary representations, complicating its intended social commentary.
{"title":"Deconstruction of the superhero subgenre in The Boys : A social satire through characters with mental disorders","authors":"Alfonso Freire-Sánchez, Marta Lopera-Mármol","doi":"10.1177/17496020251360014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251360014","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the deconstruction of the superhero film subgenre by examining the demystification of the idealised hero figure and exploring their darker sides. Using Friedrich Schleiermacher’s hermeneutic circle and Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionism applied to the analysis of <jats:italic>The Boys</jats:italic> (2019–present), the study reveals that the series’ superheroes, portrayed as villains, display behaviours aligning with DSM-5 (2013) mental disorders, breaking traditional heroism narratives. The series employs parody and satire to critique contemporary social movements, using mental health as a narrative tool. Nevertheless, it risks reinforcing stigma by linking mental disorders to violence through unrealistic and exclusionary representations, complicating its intended social commentary.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144748175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-11DOI: 10.1177/17496020251360130
Andrea Esser, Jeanette Steemers
This article examines British screen content consumption among young audiences aged 16–34 in four European countries: Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. It suggests a reconsideration of content flow theories that maintain ‘home advantage’ for domestic content, followed by shows from culturally or linguistically proximate countries. The research reveals a shift among younger viewers towards a re-asserted Anglo-American hegemony, driven by the accessibility of English-language content, declining interest in domestic content and growing English-language proficiency. This favours global streamers with English-language productions, primarily from the United States, even in Italy and Germany where dubbed shows have been the dominant viewing option.
{"title":"Global platforms, new media generations and Anglo-American hegemony: An exploration of young audience viewing and language preferences in four European countries","authors":"Andrea Esser, Jeanette Steemers","doi":"10.1177/17496020251360130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251360130","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines British screen content consumption among young audiences aged 16–34 in four European countries: Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. It suggests a reconsideration of content flow theories that maintain ‘home advantage’ for domestic content, followed by shows from culturally or linguistically proximate countries. The research reveals a shift among younger viewers towards a re-asserted Anglo-American hegemony, driven by the accessibility of English-language content, declining interest in domestic content and growing English-language proficiency. This favours global streamers with English-language productions, primarily from the United States, even in Italy and Germany where dubbed shows have been the dominant viewing option.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144611004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-02DOI: 10.1177/17496020251357824
Marika Lüders, Vilde Schanke Sundet
This article investigates the media entertainment habits of Norwegian teens and the strategies employed by domestic media organisations to attract them amidst competition from transnational streamers and social media. Drawing on interviews with media professionals and teens, we analyse how the notions of ‘home advantage’ and cultural proximity hold up in a media environment defined by abundant global options. The findings suggest that while teens appreciate local relevance, their sense of ‘home’ is multifaceted and extends beyond national borders, leading domestic media to focus on broad, popular formats and collaborations with content creators.
{"title":"Reimagining ‘home advantage’: Youth entertainment in a world of abundance and the challenge to domestic media","authors":"Marika Lüders, Vilde Schanke Sundet","doi":"10.1177/17496020251357824","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251357824","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the media entertainment habits of Norwegian teens and the strategies employed by domestic media organisations to attract them amidst competition from transnational streamers and social media. Drawing on interviews with media professionals and teens, we analyse how the notions of ‘home advantage’ and cultural proximity hold up in a media environment defined by abundant global options. The findings suggest that while teens appreciate local relevance, their sense of ‘home’ is multifaceted and extends beyond national borders, leading domestic media to focus on broad, popular formats and collaborations with content creators.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144547077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-27DOI: 10.1177/17496020251340359
Lesley Henderson
The BBC flagship continuing drama EastEnders (1985-) is widely accepted as an exemplar of the ‘entertainment-education’ approach, embodying a strong public service ideology and rooted in Reithian values. In this paper, I explore the definitional role of the programme in addressing environmental issues in the digital age and argue that this is a novel opportunity to examine the limits and possibilities of the genre to engage with anthropogenic crises. My analysis is informed by the perspectives of EastEnders scriptwriters/consultants and sustainability professionals who perceived prime time drama as providing a unique tool to engage distinctive diverse audiences who are marginalised by blue-chip nature series. For the first time, I address the context in which popular environmental storylines are produced in the UK and identify how storytelling is mediated by the contemporary hostile television environment with intense competition from streaming channels and social media platforms. I outline how the dynamics of environmental storytelling are shaped explicitly by external factors including organisational commitment to climate content and the perceived role of the BBC in catalysing a ‘national conversation’. Powerful tacit assumptions concerning ‘good stories’ being rooted in interpersonal friction potentially risk presenting a false equivalency – given that environmental scientists are reluctant to collaborate with this ‘low status’ media product. Continuing drama facilitates distinct opportunities to connect climate crisis to the lived experience through human-centred narratives but the contemporary television production context is in a state of flux and dated assumptions concerning its role in constructing public attitudes and beliefs need to be revisited.
{"title":"EastEnders and the environment: Communicating the planetary crisis in prime time?","authors":"Lesley Henderson","doi":"10.1177/17496020251340359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251340359","url":null,"abstract":"The BBC flagship continuing drama <jats:italic>EastEnders</jats:italic> (1985-) is widely accepted as an exemplar of the ‘entertainment-education’ approach, embodying a strong public service ideology and rooted in Reithian values. In this paper, I explore the definitional role of the programme in addressing environmental issues in the digital age and argue that this is a novel opportunity to examine the limits and possibilities of the genre to engage with anthropogenic crises. My analysis is informed by the perspectives of <jats:italic>EastEnders</jats:italic> scriptwriters/consultants and sustainability professionals who perceived prime time drama as providing a unique tool to engage distinctive diverse audiences who are marginalised by blue-chip nature series. For the first time, I address the context in which popular environmental storylines are produced in the UK and identify how storytelling is mediated by the contemporary hostile television environment with intense competition from streaming channels and social media platforms. I outline how the dynamics of environmental storytelling are shaped explicitly by external factors including organisational commitment to climate content and the perceived role of the BBC in catalysing a ‘national conversation’. Powerful tacit assumptions concerning ‘good stories’ being rooted in interpersonal friction potentially risk presenting a false equivalency – given that environmental scientists are reluctant to collaborate with this ‘low status’ media product. Continuing drama facilitates distinct opportunities to connect climate crisis to the lived experience through human-centred narratives but the contemporary television production context is in a state of flux and dated assumptions concerning its role in constructing public attitudes and beliefs need to be revisited.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144153929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-24DOI: 10.1177/17496020251344737
Mike Van Esler
The emergence of free ad-supported television (FAST) services has been growing in the streaming television market. In contrast with subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, FAST rely on library programming to draw in viewers. Functionally, this is an evolution of the linear television practice of syndication and remediates existing, successful television practices. Culturally, it serves to preserve several televisual heritages, including specific programs and ‘disposable’ genres like tabloid talk shows, game shows, and reality television. This article addresses how syndication functions in a streaming environment and what it tells us about which market segments and demographics media corporations are targeting in this emerging space.
{"title":"Syndication in a FAST world: Lineages and ruptures","authors":"Mike Van Esler","doi":"10.1177/17496020251344737","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251344737","url":null,"abstract":"The emergence of free ad-supported television (FAST) services has been growing in the streaming television market. In contrast with subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, FAST rely on library programming to draw in viewers. Functionally, this is an evolution of the linear television practice of syndication and remediates existing, successful television practices. Culturally, it serves to preserve several televisual heritages, including specific programs and ‘disposable’ genres like tabloid talk shows, game shows, and reality television. This article addresses how syndication functions in a streaming environment and what it tells us about which market segments and demographics media corporations are targeting in this emerging space.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144133728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-19DOI: 10.1177/17496020251344580
Marshall Meyer
This article argues that in order to adequately understand what motivates viewers’ desire to become viscerally uneasy when watching the subgenre of cringe comedy, one must enlist the help of the later Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, whose work underscores a drive toward self-sabotage that exists beyond the pleasure principle. It demonstrates the fruits of this interpretive approach with a close reading of various kinds of British and American cringe comedies.
{"title":"Television beyond the pleasure principle: The death drive in The Office (UK) and other cringe comedy","authors":"Marshall Meyer","doi":"10.1177/17496020251344580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251344580","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that in order to adequately understand what motivates viewers’ desire to become viscerally uneasy when watching the subgenre of cringe comedy, one must enlist the help of the later Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, whose work underscores a drive toward self-sabotage that exists beyond the pleasure principle. It demonstrates the fruits of this interpretive approach with a close reading of various kinds of British and American cringe comedies.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144088338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-12DOI: 10.1177/17496020251342021
Olivia Khoo
In 2017, Netflix announced that it had entered into an exclusive multi-year development deal with award-winning American producer and writer Shonda Rhimes. Under this deal, all of Rhimes’s future productions (made under her company Shondaland) would be Netflix Originals. This article examines Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte to consider how the traditional period drama has been transformed, in this case through colour-blind and colour-conscious casting, and a focus on strong female leads of colour and interracial relationships. The article will consider more broadly how streaming services like Netflix are taking diversity seriously as a key to reaching contemporary global audiences.
{"title":"Queen of Netflix: Streaming Shondaland","authors":"Olivia Khoo","doi":"10.1177/17496020251342021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251342021","url":null,"abstract":"In 2017, Netflix announced that it had entered into an exclusive multi-year development deal with award-winning American producer and writer Shonda Rhimes. Under this deal, all of Rhimes’s future productions (made under her company Shondaland) would be Netflix Originals. This article examines <jats:italic>Bridgerton</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Queen Charlotte</jats:italic> to consider how the traditional period drama has been transformed, in this case through colour-blind and colour-conscious casting, and a focus on strong female leads of colour and interracial relationships. The article will consider more broadly how streaming services like Netflix are taking diversity seriously as a key to reaching contemporary global audiences.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143940000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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