SoSe 2024 Master-Seminar "Fictionalising British Politics on Television: Thriller, Drama, Comedy"

Main Author/Authors Fielding, Steven
A State of Play: British Politics on Screen, Stage and Page, from Anthony Trollope to The Thick of It

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. A State of Play explores how the British have imagined their politics, from the parliament worship of Anthony Trollope to the cynicism of The Thick of It. In an account that mixes historical with political analysis, Steven Fielding argues that fictional depictions of politics have played an important but insidious part in shaping how the British think about their democracy and have helped ventilate their many frustrations with Westminster. He shows that dramas and fictions have also performed a significant role in the battle of ideas, in a way undreamt of by those who draft party manifestos. The book examines the work of overtly political writers have treated the subject, discussing the novels of H.G. Wells, the comedy series Yes, Minister and the plays of David Hare. However, it also assesses how less obvious sources, such as the films of George Formby, the novels of Agatha Christie, the Just William stories and situation comedies like Steptoe and Son, have reflected on representative democracy. A State of Play is an invaluable, distinctive and engaging guide to a new way of thinking about Britain's political past and present.

Main Author/Authors Bignell, Jonathan; Woods, Faye
An introduction to television studies

Main Author/Authors Black, Jeremy
A brief history of Britain 1851-2010

Main Author/Authors Watts, Duncan
British government and politics: a comparative guide

Main Author/Authors Griffiths, Simon; Leach, Robert
British Politics

Main Author/Authors Wright, Anthony
British politics: a very short introduction

Main Author/Authors Jones, Bill
British politics: the basics

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of boxes -- Preface -- Part I: Introduction -- Chapter 1: British politics in flux -- MPs' Expenses Claims - A Watershed Moment? -- Turbulence Begins: The Scottish Referendum -- General Election, 2015 -- EU Referendum, 23 June 2016 -- Cameron Resigns -- May in Government: A 'Land Grab' for the Centre Ground? -- 'Brexit means Brexit' -- The June 2017 General Election - Cautious May's Big Gamble -- A Continuity Election -- Attempted Explanations for this Period of Political Turbulence -- Further Reading -- Chapter 2: The evolution of Britain's political system -- The Witan -- Curia Regis -- Lords and commons meet separately -- Parliament's authority increases -- Civil war, 1640-49 -- Glorious revolution, 1688-89 -- The hanoverian dynasty -- The first prime minister -- Political parties -- Patronage -- The enlightenment -- The influence of the French revolution, 1789 -- Great reform act 1832 -- Political parties from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century -- Lords-commons conflict resolved -- Further lords reforms -- Parliamentary terms -- Votes for women -- Devolution -- Epilogue -- Questions for Discusion -- Further Reading -- Websites -- Part II: The political context -- Chapter 3: Introductory overview of the British political system -- The underlying ideas -- Voting and party government -- The major parties -- Legislature: House of commons and house of Lords -- The executive -- Pressure groups -- Local government -- European union -- The media -- Questions for discussion -- Further reading -- Websites -- Chapter 4: The social and economic context -- Economic beginnings -- Imperial beginnings -- Industrial revolution and the marxist analysis -- Changing class strata -- Why no revolution?.

British television: a reader

British TV comedies: cultural concepts, contexts and controversies

Introduction: the aesthetics and politics of British tv comedy -- The 1950s and 1960s: beginnings of the British sitcom and the satire boom. Richard Kilborn (Stirling): A golden age of British sitcom? Hancock's half hour and Steptoe and son -- Bernd Lenz (Passau): "Your little game": myth and war in Dad's army (1968-1977) -- Alexander Brock (Halle/Saale): The struggle of class against class is a what struggle? Monty Python's Flying circus and its politics -- Mary Irwin (Northumbria): the rag trade: "everybody out!" gender, politics and class on the factory floor -- The 1970s and 1980s: new loyalties, histories and collective identities: post-familiar paradigms. Nora Plesske (Braunschweig): "Sambo" and "Snowflake": race and race relations in Love thy neighbour -- Paul Davies (Passau): "You snobs! you stupid stuck-up toffee-nosed half-witted upper-class piles of pus! Basil Fawlty's touch of class and other hotel matters in Fawlty towers -- Jürgen Kamm (Passau): Ignorant master, capable servants: the politics of Yes minister and Yes prime minister -- Eckart Voigts (Braunschweig): Zany "alternative comedy": The young ones vs. Margaret Thatcher -- Gerold Sedlmayr (Dortmund): The uses of history in Blackadder -- Deirdre Osborne (London): With some additional information from Stephen Bourne (London): Black British comedy: Desmond's and the changing face of television -- The 1990s: (un)doing gender and race. Jochen Petzold (Regensburg): Laughing at racism or laughing with the racists? the "Indian comedy" of Goodness gracious me -- Rainer Emig (Mainz): Exploding family values, lampooning feminism, exposing consumerism: Absolutely fabulous -- Lucia Krämer (Hanover): Comic strategies of inclusion and "normalisation" in the Vicar of Dibley -- John Hill (London): Subverting the sitcom from within: form, ideology and Father Ted -- Marion Gymnich (Bonn): "The lady of the house speaking": the conservative portrayal of English class stereotypes in Keeping up appearances -- Angela Krewani (Marburg): Family life in front of the telly: The Royle family -- Brett Mills (Norwich): Old jokes: One foot in the grave, comedy and the elderly -- The 2000s: Britcom boom "new Britain = "cool Britannia"? -- Anette Pankratz (Bochum): Spin, swearing and slapstick: The thick of it (2005-2012) -- Philip Jacobi (Passau): Life is stationary: mockumentary and embarrassment in The office (2001-2003) -- Joanna Rostek and Dorothea Will (Passau): From ever-lusting individuals to ever-lasting couples: Coupling (2000-2004) and emotional capitalism -- Oliver Lindner (Kiel): The comic nation: Little Britain and the politics of representation -- Stephan Karschay (Passau): Laughing in horror: hybrid genre and the grotesque body in Psychoville

Community, seriality, and the state of the nation: British and Irish television series in the 21st century

Since the turn of the 21st century, the television series has rivalled cinema as the paradigmatic filmic medium. Like few other genres, it lends itself to exploring society in its different layers. In the case of Great Britain and Ireland, it functions as a key medium in depicting the state of the nation. Focussing on questions of genre, narrative form, and serialisation, this volume examines the variety of ways in which popular recent British and Irish television series negotiate the concept of community as a key component of the state of the nation.

Main Author/Authors McCormick, John
Contemporary Britain

Main Author/Authors Jones, Jeffrey P.
Entertaining politics: new political television and civic culture

Main Author/Authors Zoonen, Liesbet van
Entertaining the citizen: when politics and popular culture converge

Main Author/Authors Williams, Jack
Entertaining the nation: a social history of British television

Main Author/Authors Schleich, Markus; Nesselhauf, Jonas
Fernsehserien: Geschichte, Theorie, Narration

Die erste systematische Einführung in das Format der Fernsehserie. Dieses Studienbuch bearbeitet drei Bereiche des seriellen Erzählens im Fernsehen: Geschichte, Theorie und Narration der Fernsehserie. Es stellt Analysekategorien und Definitionen vor und führt zahlreiche Fallbeispiele zu den verschiedenen erzählerischen Typen sowie typischen Elementen auf. Das Buch bietet sowohl Studierenden als auch Forschenden der Kultur- und Medienwissenschaften eine umfassende Einführung ins Thema. (Verlag)

Main Author/Authors Nesselhauf, Jonas; Schleich, Markus
Fernsehserien: Geschichte, Theorie, Narration

Die erste systematische Einführung in das Format der Fernsehserie. Dieses Studienbuch bearbeitet drei Bereiche des seriellen Erzählens im Fernsehen: Geschichte, Theorie und Narration der Fernsehserie. Es stellt Analysekategorien und Definitionen vor und führt zahlreiche Fallbeispiele zu den verschiedenen erzählerischen Typen sowie typischen Elementen auf. Das Buch bietet sowohl Studierenden als auch Forschenden der Kultur- und Medienwissenschaften eine umfassende Einführung ins Thema.

Main Author/Authors Edelman, Murray J.
From art to politics: how artistic creations shape political conceptions

Main Author/Authors Bignell, Jonathan
An introduction to television studies

Introduction -- Studying television -- Television histories -- Television cultures -- Television texts and television narratives -- Television and genre -- Television production -- Postmodern television -- Television realities -- Television representation -- Television you can't see -- Shaping audiences -- Television in everyday life

Media and cultural studies: keyworks

Media and the restyling of politics: consumerism, celebrity and cynicism