Televising History: Mediating the Past in Postwar Europe

278 Pages·2010·1.409 MB·English

by  Erin Bell, Ann Gray (eds.)

Televising History
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Televising History
Mediating the Past in Postwar Europe
Editedby
Erin Bell
and
Ann Gray
Introduction,conclusion,selectionandeditorialmatter©ErinBelland
AnnGray2010
Individualchapters©contributors2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-22208-3
Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis
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Firstpublished2010by
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Televisinghistory:mediatingthepastinpost-warEurope/editedby
ErinBell,AnnGray.
p. cm.
Summary:“Thisfascinatingessaycollectionexaminestherepresentation
ofhistoryontelevisioninEuropefromatransnationalandinterdisciplinary
perspective,includingcasestudiesfromBritain,France,Spain,Italy,
Germany,Belgium,theNetherlands,DenmarkandYugoslavia”—
Providedbypublisher.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Historicaltelevisionprograms—Europe—Historyandcriticism.
2. Documentarytelevisionprograms—Europe—Historyandcriticism.
3. Documentary-styletelevisionprograms—Europe. 4. Televisionand
history—Europe. 5. Historyontelevision. I. Bell,Erin,1975–
II. Gray,Ann,1946–
PN1992.8.H56T452010
791.45(cid:2)658—dc22 2010002677
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
Contents
ListofFigures vii
Acknowledgements viii
NotesonContributors ix
Introduction:HistoryonTelevisioninEurope:ThePast
TwoDecades 1
AnnGrayandErinBell
Part I Perspectives
1 ‘OnceUponaTime...’:VisualDesignandDocumentary
Openings 13
JohnCorner
2 HistoryonTelevision:TheProblemofSources 28
LuisaCigognettiandPierreSorlin
3 Combatting‘AMessagewithoutaCode’:Writingthe‘History’
Documentary 42
BrianWinston
4 ContextsofProduction:CommissioningHistory 59
AnnGray
5 BeyondtheWitness:TheLayeringofHistoricalTestimonieson
BritishTelevision 77
ErinBell
Part II TelevisedHistoryandNationalIdentity
6 StagingHistoricalLeadersonFrenchTelevision:TheExample
ofNapoleonBonaparte 95
IsabelleVeyrat-Masson
7 LandscapeandMemory:BritishTelevisualRepresentationsof
theBattleoftheSomme 107
EmmaHanna
v
vi Contents
8 MediatedCollectiveMemoryandthePoliticalProcessTowards
DemocracyinSpain:AnAnalysisoftheSpanishTVHistorical
DocumentarySeriesLaTransición 122
SiraHernándezCorchete
Part III TelevisedHistory,MemoryandIdentity
9 TelevisionFiction:ADomainofMemory:
RetellingthePastonDutchTelevision 139
SonjadeLeeuw
10 FacingtheTruth,PainandReconciliation 152
AileenBlaney
11 WomenandWar 165
MargitRohringer
12 HistoryinPopularTelevisionDrama:TheFlemishPastinWij,
HerenvanZichem 179
AlexanderDhoest
Part IV HistoryProgramming:Form,Genre,Technique
13 ‘Ifeelcompletelybeautifulforthefirsttimeinmylife’:Bodily
Re-enactmentandRealityDocumentary 193
JeromedeGroot
14 (Re)constructingBiographies:GermanTelevisionDocudrama
andtheHistoricalBiography 207
TobiasEbbrecht
15 FlogIt!:NostalgiaandLifestyleonBritishDaytimeTelevision 221
IrisKleinecke-Bates
16 WhoDoYouThinkYouAre?:FamilyHistoryandMemoryon
BritishTelevision 234
AmyHoldsworth
Conclusion:BroaderThemesandTelevisualization 248
ErinBellandAnnGray
AuthorIndex 256
SubjectIndex 260
List of Figures
1 MalcolmBrowndirectingLeoMcKerninBattleoftheSomme
(BBC,1976)inthetrenchesatVimyRidge.CourtesyofJohn
GoodyerandMalcolmBrown. 109
2 ActorLeoMcKernpresentingBattleoftheSomme(BBC,1976)in
thetrenchesatVimyRidge.CourtesyofJohnGoodyerand
MalcolmBrown. 110
vii
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to our contributors for their patience and for providing
such an interesting mix of scholarly research on this topic. The seeds for
thiscollectionweresownatthesymposium‘TelevisingHistory:ThePast(s)
on the Small Screen’ held at the University of Lincoln in 2005, which was
attendedby,amongstothers,TobiasEbbrecht,EmmaHannaandJeromede
Groot,whosharedourenthusiasmforthetopicandwhohavebecomegood
friends.JohnCorner,BrianWinstonandSylviaHarveyprovidedwisewords
of encouragement at the right moments. We thank our fellow members
of the AHRC ‘Televising History: 1995–2010’ project team, Sarah Moody,
Barbara Sadler and especially Carolyn Williams, the project administrator,
for her charm and grace under pressure. Members of the project’s Advisory
Boardhavebeentremendouslysupportiveandwethankthemfortheirguid-
anceandvaluablecontributionstothedirectionofourwork.Wearegrateful
totheUniversityofLincolnforprovidinginitialfundingfortheprojectand
ourcolleaguesintheFacultyofMedia,Humanities&Technology,inpartic-
ularKristaCowman,KateHill,NigelMorris,TomNicholls,JohnSimonsand
DavidSleight,forsmoothingourway.ChristabelScaifeatPalgravehasbeen
anexcellenteditor.Finally,ourthankstoFlorianGleisnerandNickGrayfor
feigninginterestinourproject,puttingupwithourabsences,andfortheir
good-humouredtoleranceofourdistractions.
ErinBell
AnnGray
Note on the Cover: The façade of the Thomas-Weissbecker-Haus, Berlin
Kreuzberg, which was created by those living in the house in the era and
is one of few extant traces of West Berlin’s liberal subculture of the 1970s
and 1980s. We thank Tobias Ebbrecht who captured the image which the
editorscameacrosswhenlostinBerlin.
viii
Notes on Contributors
Editors
Ann Gray is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Lincoln and
Director of the AHRC-funded ‘Televising History 1995–2010’ project. She
worksinthefieldsofgenderandtechnology,audienceresearchandresearch
methods.
ErinBellwasresearchfellowontheAHRC-funded‘TelevisingHistory1995–
2010’ project and is currently a lecturer in History at the Lincoln School
of Humanities and Performing Arts. She continues to work in the fields of
genderandtestimonyandtopublishonearlymodernhistory.Aco-authored
(withAnnGray)book,HistoryonTelevision,basedonthe‘TelevisingHistory’
projectresearchisforthcoming.
Contributors
Aileen Blaney is currently a post-doctoral scholar in the Graduate Depart-
ment of Film Studies at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, where she is
researching contemporary Korean cinema. Her primary research interests
focus on the docudrama as an ethical mode of cultural representation and
dynamic social practice. Her publications explore how post-conflict repre-
sentationsofhistoricalsufferinginUK/Irishfilmandtelevisionmemorialize
thepastandcirculateaspublichistoryartefacts.
Luisa Cigognetti has published numerous essays on film and history, and
withLorenzaServettishehasco-authoredMigrantiincelluloide:Storici,cinema
ed emigazione (2003), and with Pierre Sorlin and Lorenza Servetti La storia
in televisione: Storici e registi a confronto (2001). She has also co-edited, with
LorenzaServetti,historicalfilmsabouttheItalianRisorgimentoandimages
ofresistanceinEuropeduringtheSecondWorldWar.
JohnCornerisVisitingProfessorinCommunicationStudiesattheUniver-
sityofLeedsandanemeritusprofessoroftheUniversityofLiverpool.Recent
work includes the edited collection with Dick Pels, Media and the Restyling
of Politics (2003), and the authored volume with Peter Goddard and Kay
Richardson,PublicIssueTelevision(2007)togetherwithanumberofarticles
andbookchapters,somestillforthcoming,onaspectsofmediatedpolitical
culture,documentaryformandcriticalaesthetics.
Jerome de Groot teaches in English and American Studies at the Univer-
sity of Manchester. His book on contemporary popular history, Consuming
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