Zoe Shacklock 1514623
QUESTION: Write a textual analysis of a short piece of
television, of no more than 3 minutes in length, that
enables you to explore some of the ideas set out in
Milly Buonnano’s critical history of television and
television studies, The Age of Television: Experiences
and Theories (2008). In this essay, you should reflect
on the ways in which the critical analysis of television
might be both similar to and different from that of
film.
This essay will outline Milly Buonnano’s ideas of collectiveness, passive and
active audiences and a sense of time and place in relation to Television by
exploring a clip from American drama series, Mad Men (2007-2015). The
clip being analysed is from Season 3, Episode 12 and portrays the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy and its effect on characters in
1960’s New York. The television medium is a huge focus in this episode and
is can be applied to many of Buonnano’s theories in The Age of Television.
The scene opens at 20:50:00 minutes. A medium close up focuses
on Betty Draper in the centre left side of the frame. Wearing only
nightwear, with her hair tied back and no make-up on, this is not the usual
image of Betty (the usually ‘perfect’ housewife) that audiences are used to.
In a dimly lit room with a drab colour scheme of brown and beige, Betty is
seen looking hopelessly towards the television. The shot then switches to a
close-up on the television, a newsreader is quoting Kennedy’s killer,
Oswald. The camera cuts to a medium shot showing Betty and the children
crowded around the TV. With the TV placed on the right and the family
centre left, they share equal frame space and focus – the camera watches
from another room, intruding on the private family scene. Don Draper, the
main protagonist, enters the frame from the right, “You should get ready,
it’s almost 2:00.” She replies, “really Don?” He looks at her, glances at the
TV then begins to move further into the room as the camera cuts back to
the TV. The newsreader continues to talk of Oswald and his speech
QUESTION: Write a textual analysis of a short piece of
television, of no more than 3 minutes in length, that
enables you to explore some of the ideas set out in
Milly Buonnano’s critical history of television and
television studies, The Age of Television: Experiences
and Theories (2008). In this essay, you should reflect
on the ways in which the critical analysis of television
might be both similar to and different from that of
film.
This essay will outline Milly Buonnano’s ideas of collectiveness, passive and
active audiences and a sense of time and place in relation to Television by
exploring a clip from American drama series, Mad Men (2007-2015). The
clip being analysed is from Season 3, Episode 12 and portrays the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy and its effect on characters in
1960’s New York. The television medium is a huge focus in this episode and
is can be applied to many of Buonnano’s theories in The Age of Television.
The scene opens at 20:50:00 minutes. A medium close up focuses
on Betty Draper in the centre left side of the frame. Wearing only
nightwear, with her hair tied back and no make-up on, this is not the usual
image of Betty (the usually ‘perfect’ housewife) that audiences are used to.
In a dimly lit room with a drab colour scheme of brown and beige, Betty is
seen looking hopelessly towards the television. The shot then switches to a
close-up on the television, a newsreader is quoting Kennedy’s killer,
Oswald. The camera cuts to a medium shot showing Betty and the children
crowded around the TV. With the TV placed on the right and the family
centre left, they share equal frame space and focus – the camera watches
from another room, intruding on the private family scene. Don Draper, the
main protagonist, enters the frame from the right, “You should get ready,
it’s almost 2:00.” She replies, “really Don?” He looks at her, glances at the
TV then begins to move further into the room as the camera cuts back to
the TV. The newsreader continues to talk of Oswald and his speech
