Science, Entertainment and Television Documentary

ISBN-13: 9781137385376 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 228 str.

Vincent Campbell

Opis

The shift from traditional documentary to factual entertainment television has been the subject of much debate and criticism, particularly with regard to the representation of science. New types of factual programming that combine documentary techniques with those of entertainment formats (such as drama, game-shows and reality TV) have come in for strident criticism. Often featuring spectacular visual effects produced by Computer Generated Imagery--these programmes blur the boundaries between mainstream science and popular beliefs. Through close analysis of programmes across a range of sciences, this book explores these issues to see if criticisms of such hybrid programmes as representing the rotting carcass of science TV really are valid. Campbell considers if in fact; when considered in relation to the principles, practices and communication strategies of different sciences; these shows can be seen to offer more complex and rich representations that construct sciences as objects of wonder, awe and the sublime."

Spis treści

Acknowledgements

1) Introduction: The Changing Landscape of Science Television

2) Analytical Frameworks: Science, Documentary and Factual Entertainment

3) Space Sciences: Wonders of the Cosmos

4) Palaeontology: Monsters from Lost Worlds

5) Archaeology: Ancient Secrets and Treasures

6) Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Extreme Weather and Natural Disasters

7) Pseudoscience and Popular Beliefs

Bibliography

O autorze

Vincent Campbell is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Leicester, UK. He has written on issues relating to the communication of science in factual television, and more widely on issues relating to screen communication. He co-edited Controversial Images: Media Representations on the Edge (with Atwood, F., Hunter, I. and Lockyer, S., Palgrave 2013).

Blurb

The shift from traditional documentary to “factual entertainment” television has been the subject of much debate and criticism, particularly with regard to the representation of science. New types of factual programmes, mixing documentary techniques with those from entertainment formats like drama, game-shows and reality TV, using spectacular visual effects produced by Computer Generated Imagery, and often blurring the boundaries between mainstream science and popular beliefs have sometimes come in for strident criticism. This books explores these issues, conducting close analysis of programmes across a range of sciences to see if criticisms of them as representing the “rotting carcass of science TV” are valid, or whether, when considered in relation to the principles, practices and communication strategies of different sciences they can be seen to offer a more complex and richer set of representations of science which construct them as objects of wonder, awe and the sublime.