A New General Theory of Television - Case Study Example

NON - NATURALISM IN BRITISH TELEVISION INTRODUCTION Non naturalism can be defined as portraying of something that is impossible and in one context that is not ethically good. This paper offers an account of quality prevailing in British television from its origin in live studio drama in prewar and immediate postwar years, through the Golden Age of the single play in 1960s and 1970s, to its convergence with an emerging British cinema in 1990s (John Caughie,1994). It deals with the development of television entertainments to movements which were going on within the culture. It also deals with series of argument centered on issues of immediacy and naturalism, realism and modernism in public culture. The paper addresses contemporary television sequences and raises new questions about such issues in adaptation. The importance of the content lies in its attempt to place British television at the centre of late twentieth century British culture and to relate the criticism of television drama to a wider history of aesthetic debates and arguments. FUNDAMENTAL VIEWS The study does not proposes a theory of everything or a new general theory of television, but enlightens with historical and critical analysis of one bit of television, a particular corner of the field of dramatic narrative which has a particular political, cultural and aesthetic efficacy of its own, at the same time, it shares the efficacy of the ‘television’ itself. According to Dennis Potter, a professional writer for television as well as a creative artist, most television ends up offering its viewers a means of orienting themselves towards the generally received notions of ‘reality’. The best naturalist of realist drama, of the Loach-Garnett-Allen school for instance, breaks out of this cosy habit by the vigour, clarity, originality and depth of perceptions of a more comprehensive reality. The best non-naturalist drama, in its very structures disorientates the viewer smack in the middle of the orientation process which television perpetually uses. It disrupts the patterns that are endemic to television, and upsets or exposes the narrative styles of so many of the other allegedly non-fiction programme. It shows “the frame in the picture when most television is busy showing the picture in the frame”. It is potentially the more valuable of the two approaches. Naturalism and realism have had a history of disagreement since nineteenth century. ‘Non-naturalism’, then is shorthand founded on shorthand. The critic or professional has ever referred to naturalism in television drama as a term of approval, something to be achieved rather than a mark of failure, naturalism is already a negative and non-naturalism becomes a kind of double negative, cancelling out the negativity of naturalism and turning itself into a positive. Non-naturalism is not only shorthand, then, but a sleight of hand. More wisely, Naturalism is an easy target that which we do not like, and non-naturalism is the stick to beat it with. Television channels seem to occupy a space which is designed for relaxation, and to depend on an image which is scaled to detachment. The television has ability to attract the popular audience, television dramatists have preferred to appeal to their audience in the soft tones of non-naturalism of the macho terms of anti-intellectualism rather than aligning themselves with the more stringent demands of modernism. At this level, the silence is a matter of public relations and marketing, using unexceptionable generality to dissociate this brand of drama from the negative connotations. Today’s television, suggests , however, is a logic of modernism , a kind of centrifugal spin in which art is pushed to outer edges in order to preserve its authenticity. Within this logic, television drama operates with its own sets of discourses, and its own limits and pressures. It is precisely the ways in which television drama finds its place between ‘art’ and ‘the popular’, negotiation between the demands of the different and the new which make it ‘authentic’ as art and the demands of the familiar which make it accessible within the ‘popular’, which make it important within aesthetic and cultural debate. The discourse of modernization, of a technology which can revitalize dramatic forms, is pervasive from the earliest days of television transmission. There was wide recognition of the new intensification which the close up could give to the theatrical action, or the excitement of a liveness and immediacy which cinema could not offer, and this recognition becomes the central thrust within Kennedy Martin’s call for a ‘new drama’ which will stretch directors and will use the technology of film and television to the outer edges of its potential. DEVELOPMENT AND ARGUEMENTS The objection of naturalism, which Kennedy Martin shares with many writers and directors of the 1960s and 1970s, is not simply that it is theatrical, but that it belongs to the theatre of a more sedate culture. More fundamentally modernism or non-naturalism meant a new kind of apprehension of the real, which was defined by skepticism about representation and the absolute truth of beauty. The function of art was no longer simply to reveal a truth which already existed such as the material processes of construction, condensation, and representation, art exposed truth to relativity, contingency, and contradiction. The montage of modernist art had the capacity not only to represent contingency and contradiction, but to activate it for the reader or viewer, inviting her to make sense of the social of the personal rather than to consume a meaning which had already been fixed. The new drama in television was not simply to engage with new contents, but to give us new ways of seeing and thinking, showing the frame in the picture when most television is busy showing the picture in the frame, owning up to construction in order to remind the viewer that what is on the screen is not the real but ‘a play .A Play. A Play’ At the same time, if modernism is most commonly associated with new ways of seeing and thinking, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that it also gave us new things to think about. Since the early days of live studio drama, it had seemed that the television camera could approach inner realities in a particular intimate way. The television close-up seemed to evoke the possibility of inner speech with an intensity denied to theatre and intimacy which the cinema could not achieve. The development of editing techniques and fluidity of the filmed image seemed to promise ways of engaging the viewer in the instabilities and disorientations of dream states, fantasies and the surreal, and of making the unconscious material. HISTORY OF TELEVISION PLAYS The Parachute produced by Tony Garnett for The Wednesday Play directed by Anthony Pagem was transmitted as a BBC Play of the Month on 21 January 1968(Asa Briggs, 1961). Like any other play of that time, it interweaves between history, memory and fantasy. The play had formal and stylistic influences of European cinema in the sequences. The Singing Detective, a famous play in British television was entirely a new approach. The creative tension between director and script benefitted the play. The “Singing Detective” cannot be described by a term like non-naturalism. It is a modernist drama, and at its core is the characteristically modernist figure of the creative artist who tries and fails to use art to sublimate pain and order a disordered reality. In 1998, at a seminar organized by students of Glasgow University , Aukin, Chief Executive of Channel Four , said British Film industry seemed to be beyond real recovery , of taking the channel out of feature film production altogether and returning to television drama. Taking a view of the history of supports rendered to different genre of programs in British television, it is clear that the main motive of the yesteryear film have been to bring out the naturalism at any cost. As clearly stated by Potter, the earlier presentations including films, plays and dramas rendered the real life views. They mostly consisted of wars, ethnic cultural distributions, forms of life, and more often the social behavior. The non-naturalistic approach is never a negative sense. It deals with more mature form of presentations. As people move from different traditions the real emphasis is on the effectiveness of the idea being conveyed. The complexity of the scene that a human brain can interpret has got its own threshold limits. Similarly in television naturalism or realism is a perspective view of different people. The non-naturalism or modernism is entirely a different perspective. People are always oriented towards new things. Though the content may be the same, the general shift may be due to perception, aesthetics etc. Shakespeare’s dramas are known for its dialects. A famous writer John Caughie comments as the realism lies in taking the contents as such not altering the key subject, but, modernism lies in adapting to new technologies. The mere concept of non- naturalism arrived only during the recent times. The rushing of technologies made the cinematographers and directors quite obsolete from the traditional procedures. The eminent writers argue the non-naturalism as a social burden as it tends to move from the conventional structures. In reality the counter argument seems good and better. Accordingly they feel, the non-naturalism should not be misinterpreted as decline in quality of the content in the television. It should always be looked as a constructive means of technology.( BBC, 1992) John Caughie quotes non-naturalism as a means of improving the brain capacity in people (John Caughie, 1994). He captures different times of television right from prewar and postwar times to put the necessity of television in enriching the knowledge of the people. He comments 1960s and 1970s as the Golden era and after that it is modernism. British television has gone through these stages pushing the people mental capability along with its improvement. The most common view that is looked upon non-naturalism is its implication on the society. The majority of educated men simply find the terms as a issue related to harassment of nature. The deep thought of the modernism is advancement through mutual benefit. The British television history says that it has passed over several decades of service. An internet polling for the best television serials says the 1975 serial which has got maximum votes. This does not define that the quality of the modern serials is lost rather it shows the maturity of the people to comprehend the ideas at different times. In today’s world the television has gone through several changes in its appearance as well (Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, 1994). The clarity of picture moved from High definition to Ultra High definition. In similar manner the perception of a sequel or a presentation in television changed. The British television spends almost 2.7 billion dollars for idea gathering to be presented in a year. This huge amount is definitely used to restructure the conventional models and modernize the structure of events. OPINIONS The non-naturalism or modernism as specified under different perceptions bears its own importance. The naturalism or realism is the sole cause of initial development. The naturalism of previous plays like Pennies from Heaven, Blue from Mountain fetched great laurels in the minds of the people. Both the stories moved around the real life story. Particularly giving a clear picture of what is life and what is not. The conventional people welcomed the strategies as life oriented. The modernized era brought more advancement to the lives of the people. This also broadened their knowledge. The concept of naturalism is never lost when dealing with non-naturalism or modernism. They seem to be rival but in reality they complement each other. The public opinion around 1960s was mostly cornered like the preferences were given to action rather than technical features (Stephen Hearst, 1997). The latter part of 1970s is called Golden Era of the British television. The various programs yielded different view of normal life. The different creative ideas were welcomed. The industry never suffered a defeat in any form as it had no competitors. The foremost importance for the non-naturalistic approaches may be attributed to these reasons, primarily due to weirdness created due to similar approach and wanting for new and creative ideas. The secondary is due to competition between television programs and presentations. In both the ways the result was benefit of the society not merely in terms of money but knowledge wise too. The public always had a better hand of the non-naturalistic views and always supported it, although critics gave out their thoughts. Several theories were argued towards modernism and realism. But they complemented each other in most of the people’s views. CONCLUSION The argument for non-naturalism still prevails, whether it fetches good or bad. Certainly, the non-naturalism of British television, in simple words, explicitly helps to broaden people’s mind. The non-naturalism is never a negative thought instead it is always an upper hand. Naturalism bears meaning of realism and non-naturalism bears meaning of modernism. Modernism or non-naturalism possesses greater care on the society. The development in human brain knowledge wise is attributed to non-naturalism of science. In case of British television, as stated by John McGrath, the conventionality is never lost. The conventional methodology is always welcomed by audiences but modernism is more welcomed in developed countries. The concept of non-naturalism in British television is sincerely attributed to development rather than depletion of the quality. It has improved quality and clarity of the television shows in many ways. The modernism paves the way to better quality of knowledge apart from sophistications rendered through it. The non naturalism or the so called modernization should in no way harass or deter the ethics of the society. On the other hand, a small amount of non naturalism certainly improves the society. The argument on non-naturalism of British television is always worthy for improvement of society in depth. True, the non naturalism should not over used, as it might create an aversion from public. Still certain degree of non naturalism surely adds colour to the show. Works Cited Barnett, Steven, and Curry, Andrew. The Battle for the BBC: A British Broadcasting Conspiracy? London: Aurum Press 1994. BBC. Extending Choice: The BBCs Role in the New Broadcasting Age. London, 1992. BBC. People and Programmes: BBC Radio and Television for an Age of Choice. London, 1995. Briggs, Asa. The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Oxford, U.K. and New York: Oxford University Press, volumes 1-5, 1961, 1965, 1970, 1979, 1995. Burns, Tom. The BBC: Public Institution, Private World. London: MacMillan, 1977. Extending Choice: The BBCs Role in the New Broadcasting Age. London: BBC, 1992 Hearst, Stephen. "Broadcasting Regulation in Britain." In, Blumler, Jay G., editor. Television and the Public Interest: Vulnerable Values in West European Broadcasting. London, Newbury Park and New Delhi: Sage, 1992. John Caughie, Realism, Naturalism and Modernism, Oxford University Press, 1994. Nossiter, T. J. "British Television: A Mixed Economy." In, Blumler, Jay G., and T. J. Nossiter, editors. Broadcasting Finance in Transition: A Comparative Handbook. Oxford, U.K. and New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. People and Programmes: BBC Radio and Television for an Age of Choice. London: BBC, 1995 Potter, Jeremy. Independent Television in Britain. London and Basingstoke: MacMillan, volumes 3 and 4, 1989 and 1990. United Kingdom." In, Bertelsmann Foundation and European Institute for the Media, editors. Television Requires Responsibility. Gutersloh, Germany: Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, 1994. Read More