1) alternative comedy- a form of comedy, often experimental, that challenges mainstream values and expectations, first developed in radio programmes and then on tv.
useful:ugly betty does challenge mainstream values by making betty 'ugly' and by having different people such as Marc (gay guy).
2)Amercian Dream-a cultural myth based on the belief that the USA is the land of opportunity and promise where anyone who works hard can achieve all the good things in life.
useful: this is shown as Wilhemina is shown to be a self-made women and the setting glamourises America. However, the fact that Daniel has not achieved his job and only got it because of his father demonstrates the reality and emphaizes that the american dream is in fact a myth.
3)anti-climax- a point in the narrative, following the climax or emotional high point, which lets down or deflates the experience, leaving the viewer with a sense of disappointment.
useful: Santos being shot is when the narrative reaches an anti-climax as all the issues he and Hilda had been resolved and they where to get married, bet he dies.
4)camp-a comic performance where characteristics are exaggerated to the point of absurdity for comic effect.
useful: camp representations of homosexuality via Marc's character as he's shown to be very feminine
also camp representations of females as Amanda is shown to be an extremely ditzy woman.
5)common sense- a term coined by Antonio Gramsci to decribe the consensus in public opinion that forms around topics of social ,political and economic concern in the line with the ideology of the dominant class, as represented by the media.
useful:socially-if a male is feminine it is assumed he is gay
6)lowbrow- decribing media texts of low intellectual content, designed primarily for light entertainment
useful: due to characters such as Marc and Amanda and the minor storylines, the audiences are not required to think that much
7)highbrow- term used to describe media texts with a demanding intellectual content and requiring specialist knowledge to be understood.
useful: although some elements of ugly betty seem to be lowbrow, it can be said that some of the light entertainment is underpinned by serious issues such as the fact that Marc is gay provides entertainment, yet theirs a serious side to the way it is viewed as he doesnt tell his family
8)Lippmann, Walter- US political philosopher who, in Public Opinion (1922) and The Phantom Public (1925), raised doubts about the possibility of developing a true democracy in a complex media-dominated society, where elite groups manipulate the masses . He sees stereotypes as simplistic and negative.
useful: within Mode, there is not a democratic enviroment and as Mode is a magazine, it does manipulate people within the show, and ugly betty manipulates its audiences.
9)long shot- a distance shot where the camera is a long way from the subject being filmed
useful: usually used to show the setting as New York -makes it seem busy, lively etc.
10)New Man- a term used to describe a new type of masculinity identified and developed by advertising media in the 1980s.
useful: Daniel can be viewed as a new man in ugly betty.
Sunday 25 November 2007
Blog Buddy meeting...
In our meeting, me and Tanya discussed the following things:
- how the roles of women have changed and adapted to reflect modern society
- theorist which will be useful for both of us
- some useful books
- social context- issues that can be linked to our studies
Wednesday 21 November 2007
http://watchingamerica.com/eltiempo000030.shtml
useful website on ugly betty and it links it to the social context
useful website on ugly betty and it links it to the social context
Translating the Telenovela:Genre, and Scheduling
In terms of international television, American network programming has traditionally been viewed as an export, where programming flowed in a one-way direction from the United States to other countries. In recent seasons, however, American networks are seeing some interesting success in what’s being imported instead. Shows like The Office, from British version of the same name, and Ugly Betty, from the Colombian Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, have become distinct hits with American audiences. These shows aren’t reproduced exactly as they were in their countries of origin, though; they have been re-casted, rewritten, and reworked for American viewers. This process of “Americanization” provides an interesting site for analysis.
Ugly Betty is an especially interesting case, because ABC and executive producers Salma Hayek and Silvio Horta did not just have to “Americanize” the show, they had to do it without alienating the Hispanic viewers, a large contingent of whom were already familiar with the original Betty La Fea and the telenovela genre. Hayek and Horta’s team clearly utilized a multitude of both blatant and inconspicuous techniques to achieve this cross-over success, but the most basic change – the time and length of the program – is perhaps the largest contributing factor to the embrace it’s received from American viewers.
Like most telenovelas, the original Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, aired weekdays in 30-minute episodes in a finite strip. Early signs hinted towards ABC following this telenovela format with Ugly Betty and airing it as a daily strip during the summer. However, when ABC actually commissioned the show, it was slotted as an hour-long weekly to air in the fall, in primetime. [1] Making Ugly Betty an hour-long dramedy with a budget of $2 to $3 million per episode[2] was the first and perhaps largest step in translating Ugly Betty for American audiences. The dramedy format and the budget takes the show and puts it in a language viewers are used to seeing on television: cinematic production values, elaborate sets, multiple filming locations, and elevated or accelerated dramatic narrative, a style particularly evident in shows like Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal. In fact, shows like Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal, whose over-the-top mix of serial drama and comedy created an endearing quirkiness with viewers, are in part what helped Ugly Betty translate so easily – the hour-long dramedy formula is what allowed Ugly Betty to retain much of the exaggerated drama of the telenovela while adapting to American television.
In addition to adapting Ugly Betty as a dramedy, changing it to a weekly and placing it on Thursday nights near other hour-long dramedies (although Grey’s Anatomy is now much more of a true drama than the dramedy it was in its first two seasons) also helped translate Ugly Betty for American audiences. As a lead-in for Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty had the opportunity to garner the attention of the primarily female audience that already tunes in to watch Grey’s. The two shows back-to-back have helped make Thursday nights a “chick-flick” destination and served as the ratings powerhouse for ABC. If Ugly Betty had remained a daily strip, it would be airing every weekday, most likely next to and up against a different show every night. It would have had to stand on its own without the anchoring of an already immensely popular show and bring viewers back to the same show every day, which might have proved much more difficult. The hour-long, weekly dramedy format made Ugly Betty a much easier show for viewers to warm up to, as they didn’t have to tune in every day to see what was going on.
It’s difficult to postulate whether or not Ugly Betty would have had as much success as a half-hour sitcom or even half-hour American telenovela. News Corp. Ltd’s MyNetworkTV has aired English-language telenovelas Desire and Fashion House, which stay very much in line with the traditional telenovela genre, but has not seen much success with either show.[3],[4] The success of translating Betty into a dramedy certainly does not say that telenovelas will never be successful on American television. Instead, it may just be the beginning of bridging the divide between Hispanic-market television and mass-market American television. As Buena Vista International Television Senior Vice President Fernando Barbosa recently said ,
“One of the big stories this year, obviously, was finally getting a successful script from Latin America exported to the U.S. — which was ‘Betty la fea’ (ABC’s “Ugly Betty”). Even so, they took a telenovela script and adapted to a U.S. genre as opposed to keeping the telenovela format. Having said that, ‘Ugly Betty’ was a great triumph for Latin America. It will take a little time for U.S. producers to capture the essence of the genre, but it will happen, little by little.”[5]
http://smutube.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/translating-the-telenovela-ugly-betty-genre-and-scheduling/
Ugly Betty is an especially interesting case, because ABC and executive producers Salma Hayek and Silvio Horta did not just have to “Americanize” the show, they had to do it without alienating the Hispanic viewers, a large contingent of whom were already familiar with the original Betty La Fea and the telenovela genre. Hayek and Horta’s team clearly utilized a multitude of both blatant and inconspicuous techniques to achieve this cross-over success, but the most basic change – the time and length of the program – is perhaps the largest contributing factor to the embrace it’s received from American viewers.
Like most telenovelas, the original Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, aired weekdays in 30-minute episodes in a finite strip. Early signs hinted towards ABC following this telenovela format with Ugly Betty and airing it as a daily strip during the summer. However, when ABC actually commissioned the show, it was slotted as an hour-long weekly to air in the fall, in primetime. [1] Making Ugly Betty an hour-long dramedy with a budget of $2 to $3 million per episode[2] was the first and perhaps largest step in translating Ugly Betty for American audiences. The dramedy format and the budget takes the show and puts it in a language viewers are used to seeing on television: cinematic production values, elaborate sets, multiple filming locations, and elevated or accelerated dramatic narrative, a style particularly evident in shows like Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal. In fact, shows like Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal, whose over-the-top mix of serial drama and comedy created an endearing quirkiness with viewers, are in part what helped Ugly Betty translate so easily – the hour-long dramedy formula is what allowed Ugly Betty to retain much of the exaggerated drama of the telenovela while adapting to American television.
In addition to adapting Ugly Betty as a dramedy, changing it to a weekly and placing it on Thursday nights near other hour-long dramedies (although Grey’s Anatomy is now much more of a true drama than the dramedy it was in its first two seasons) also helped translate Ugly Betty for American audiences. As a lead-in for Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty had the opportunity to garner the attention of the primarily female audience that already tunes in to watch Grey’s. The two shows back-to-back have helped make Thursday nights a “chick-flick” destination and served as the ratings powerhouse for ABC. If Ugly Betty had remained a daily strip, it would be airing every weekday, most likely next to and up against a different show every night. It would have had to stand on its own without the anchoring of an already immensely popular show and bring viewers back to the same show every day, which might have proved much more difficult. The hour-long, weekly dramedy format made Ugly Betty a much easier show for viewers to warm up to, as they didn’t have to tune in every day to see what was going on.
It’s difficult to postulate whether or not Ugly Betty would have had as much success as a half-hour sitcom or even half-hour American telenovela. News Corp. Ltd’s MyNetworkTV has aired English-language telenovelas Desire and Fashion House, which stay very much in line with the traditional telenovela genre, but has not seen much success with either show.[3],[4] The success of translating Betty into a dramedy certainly does not say that telenovelas will never be successful on American television. Instead, it may just be the beginning of bridging the divide between Hispanic-market television and mass-market American television. As Buena Vista International Television Senior Vice President Fernando Barbosa recently said ,
“One of the big stories this year, obviously, was finally getting a successful script from Latin America exported to the U.S. — which was ‘Betty la fea’ (ABC’s “Ugly Betty”). Even so, they took a telenovela script and adapted to a U.S. genre as opposed to keeping the telenovela format. Having said that, ‘Ugly Betty’ was a great triumph for Latin America. It will take a little time for U.S. producers to capture the essence of the genre, but it will happen, little by little.”[5]
http://smutube.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/translating-the-telenovela-ugly-betty-genre-and-scheduling/
Wednesday 14 November 2007
Bibliography: Books
Author Surname, Author First Name (year of publication): Title. Place of Publication: Publisher
1) Maltby,Richard (1994):Popular Culture In The Twentieth Century, Grange Books
This book is useful because it discusses how fashion has changed and in particular how magazines and media promote fashion, and in ugly betty, the workplace is shown to be Mode magazines -which represents the fashion world.
2) Hollows, Joanne (2000): Feminism, Femininity and Popluar Culture, Manchester university press
useful: shows the feminist perspective-again focussed on the fashion side which is most relevent, shows how some feminist think remaining natural and rejecting fashion makes a statement, as then you are considered less feminine- this is vital as betty is shown to be natural and does not embrace the fashion world, hence she is an outcast.
3)Bennett,Peter ,Slater,Jerry ,Wall, Peter (2006): A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, Routledge
useful: has some info on marxism and their perspective on capitalism and the expliotation of the working class, which links to my topic because betty does represent the working class and the programmes setting is New York which is a capitalist society. It also has lots on the male gaze (laura Mulvey)
4)Branston,Gill ,Stafford,Roy: the Media Student's Book second edtion
useful: marxism theory in detail and about ideological state apparatus.
5) O'Sullivan,Tim, Jewkes,Yvonne (1997-reprinted in 2004): The Media Studies Reader,Arnold, Edward
useful: about the female state mysterious and has some info on career women representations.
6)Moore,Stephen,Aiken,Dave,Chapman,Steve (2005): SociologyAS , collins
useful: talks about how there are a limited range of roles for women, as well as all the theorist.
7)Lawson,Tony, Jones,Marsha,Moores,Ruth (2000): Advanced Sociology through diagrams ,Great Clarendon street,Oxford, Oxford university press
useful: has info on feminism, marxism and case studies. It also features some info on the post-modern view as well as sterotypes.
8)Gauntlett,David (2002): Media,Gender and Identity An Introduction, New Fetter lane, london, Routledge
useful: has many theorist and has studies which can be linked to my study. The book explores how the representations have changed from the past.
9) Price,John,Nicholas,Joe (2003):AS Media Studies,Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes Ltd
useful: has info on gender representations and fashion. Also features things on the narrative thoerist.
10)Bryson, Valerie (1999): Feminist Debates. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press LTD.
useful: its about feminist debates and mentions the political representation of women as well as info on how society challenges gender inequalities.
1) Maltby,Richard (1994):Popular Culture In The Twentieth Century, Grange Books
This book is useful because it discusses how fashion has changed and in particular how magazines and media promote fashion, and in ugly betty, the workplace is shown to be Mode magazines -which represents the fashion world.
2) Hollows, Joanne (2000): Feminism, Femininity and Popluar Culture, Manchester university press
useful: shows the feminist perspective-again focussed on the fashion side which is most relevent, shows how some feminist think remaining natural and rejecting fashion makes a statement, as then you are considered less feminine- this is vital as betty is shown to be natural and does not embrace the fashion world, hence she is an outcast.
3)Bennett,Peter ,Slater,Jerry ,Wall, Peter (2006): A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, Routledge
useful: has some info on marxism and their perspective on capitalism and the expliotation of the working class, which links to my topic because betty does represent the working class and the programmes setting is New York which is a capitalist society. It also has lots on the male gaze (laura Mulvey)
4)Branston,Gill ,Stafford,Roy: the Media Student's Book second edtion
useful: marxism theory in detail and about ideological state apparatus.
5) O'Sullivan,Tim, Jewkes,Yvonne (1997-reprinted in 2004): The Media Studies Reader,Arnold, Edward
useful: about the female state mysterious and has some info on career women representations.
6)Moore,Stephen,Aiken,Dave,Chapman,Steve (2005): SociologyAS , collins
useful: talks about how there are a limited range of roles for women, as well as all the theorist.
7)Lawson,Tony, Jones,Marsha,Moores,Ruth (2000): Advanced Sociology through diagrams ,Great Clarendon street,Oxford, Oxford university press
useful: has info on feminism, marxism and case studies. It also features some info on the post-modern view as well as sterotypes.
8)Gauntlett,David (2002): Media,Gender and Identity An Introduction, New Fetter lane, london, Routledge
useful: has many theorist and has studies which can be linked to my study. The book explores how the representations have changed from the past.
9) Price,John,Nicholas,Joe (2003):AS Media Studies,Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes Ltd
useful: has info on gender representations and fashion. Also features things on the narrative thoerist.
10)Bryson, Valerie (1999): Feminist Debates. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press LTD.
useful: its about feminist debates and mentions the political representation of women as well as info on how society challenges gender inequalities.
Sunday 4 November 2007
Blog Buddies-task 9
A short summary of Tanya's study:
It's about how and why the representation of Women has changed in the British soap opera "Eastenders"?
Areas of overlap between each study (texts, topics, issues, debates)
Both of our studies are looking at the representation of women and we will both be looking at the same theorist (feminism etc). There are many different female characters in eastenders that are similar to the characters in ugly betty.
What you've each learned from looking at each other's study that might be useful
There's lots of useful information on Tanya's blog- most of the information on wider context is really useful especially the bit about fashion and how it came about and the idea of the 'new woman'. Also, Tanya's done lots of book research and these books will be useful to me. There's lots of theorist i can use as well.
A short summary of Karundeep's study:
To what extent have women’s roles changed in films, paying particular reference to Kill Bill Vol2 and catwoman
Areas of overlap between each study (texts, topics, issues, debates)
Both of our study's are of the representation of women so we will both be looking at feminism and the role of women and how they have changed.
What you've each learned from looking at each other's study that might be useful
There's some uiseful information on Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze and about gender roles.
It's about how and why the representation of Women has changed in the British soap opera "Eastenders"?
Areas of overlap between each study (texts, topics, issues, debates)
Both of our studies are looking at the representation of women and we will both be looking at the same theorist (feminism etc). There are many different female characters in eastenders that are similar to the characters in ugly betty.
What you've each learned from looking at each other's study that might be useful
There's lots of useful information on Tanya's blog- most of the information on wider context is really useful especially the bit about fashion and how it came about and the idea of the 'new woman'. Also, Tanya's done lots of book research and these books will be useful to me. There's lots of theorist i can use as well.
A short summary of Karundeep's study:
To what extent have women’s roles changed in films, paying particular reference to Kill Bill Vol2 and catwoman
Areas of overlap between each study (texts, topics, issues, debates)
Both of our study's are of the representation of women so we will both be looking at feminism and the role of women and how they have changed.
What you've each learned from looking at each other's study that might be useful
There's some uiseful information on Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze and about gender roles.
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