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Kelley's presentation on Serra Tinic's piece in Production Studies.
Citation preview
BORDERS OF PRODUCTION RESEARCHA Response to Elana Levine
Serra Tinic
ARGUMENTS
Extends Elana Levine’s work considering why Degrassi: The Next Generation is emblematic
How researchers “situatedness” influences the types of questions and assumptions that are brought to the fieldwork.
The imperative of conceptualizing similar case studies of American TV productions and it’s “national identity”
DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION A symbol of the cultural & industrial issues that characterize the national and global aspirations of Canadian Television
HISTORY OF DEGRASSI Publically funded as an
experimental, educational TV series
Degrassi is an actual street in Toronto; nonprofessional actors auditioned for roles
When sold to American PBS, it had to be edited because it was considered too controversial for the US broadcast market
The series talks directly to its young audience by exploring complex circumstances from their point of view
SOCIOCULTURE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CANADA & AMERICA
“Liberalism is our storytelling” –Executive Producer, Linda Schuyler
A Canadian Cliché Allows for a greater
range of social discourse across media platforms
“A teen soap that’s a hit with adults…it may be the most provocative show on television.” – The Wall Street Journal
“Addictive…sprawling, relevant, entertaining.” – Entertainment Weekly
“What separates the show from other teen programming is its outright determination to deal with shocking topics with no sugarcoating.” – abcnews.com
“It manages to confront the issues and to raise the questions…without trying to answer them, and above all, without preaching.” – Globe and Mail
What is “Sayable” What they’re saying about D:TNG
Canada & America are so much alike, yet different Canada’s “in-between-ness” has
enabled the country to become world leader in international co-production treaties
How to understand how Canadian TV incorporates global markets & domestic cultural themes Canadian productions with
universal themes speak the ‘lingua’ of a TV grammar that is more European than American
D:TNG thrives on being able to speak to youth audiences across borders
“In-between-ness”
“Sensibility” rather than “Identity”
Approximately 50 film/TV co-production treaties in effect in 53
countries, NOT including the United States.
Degrassi: The Next Generation has aired in more than 70 countries around
the world including the premiere partners: VIASAT, ANTENA 3, MTV,
CANAL+, NICKELODEON, TEEN NICK,, and LAPTV
RESEARCHERS “SITUATEDNESS”
Agrees with Levine that the researchers own location within the experience of these cultural formations generates different questions. The significance of the cultural experiences of
place Recurring theme of “Canadian Sensibility” in
storytelling In favor of remaining within the gray areas of
sociocultural issues
A sense of cultural uncertainty is translated in production practices
MEDIATION ROLE
Characterizes Canadian television production Produces recognizable Hollywood genres but
speaks to a broader range of social, political, and cultural discources
Suggest that asking the creative teams different questions would generate complete answers: “How was Kids of Degrassi St made possible in the
first instance?” How did narrative and storylines evolve or change in
the quest for international sales throughout the franchise history up to the contemporary moment of D:TNG?”
What might this tell us about cultural specificity in the translation process between different television structures and market considerations?”
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOLLYWOOD AND AN AMERICAN “NATIONAL IDENTITY”
Global unvoiced assumption that American TV narrates a united & consistent national identity American “Heartland” Myth
About the American Midwest as an idealized “middle” or “populist mass” to represent the broader national identity
Suggests that production research should continue in the path of deconstructing American TV’s depiction of an uncontested “national identity”
QUESTIONS What is a better approach to
addressing the role of Canadian identity in the program’s creation? Levine’s straight forward route or Tinic,
who dug deeper? Do you agree with the American
“Heartland” myth? If so, what films or TV series support this
myth? Are there any American TV series
aimed at young adults that use “liberalism as storytelling”? ABC Family, Noggin, PBS, etc
How do you think the ‘liberal’ regulation on media productions in Canada affects young audiences? Should American media productions be
this way?