Introduction
As mentioned in my previous posts, I will be researching published and academic critiques for each of my examples, which if possible help to back up my points for debate. These will be for all 3 of my examples, however for Frozen Planet I need to find critiques which show the benefits of the documentary. Below are some examples which I've found, including quotations which I find to be helpful.
Benefits Street
Corpora and Discourse Studies: Integrating Discourse and Corpora (Article 12): Who Benefits when discourse gets democratised? Analysing a Twitter Corpus around the British Benefits Street debate
"The UK television regulator, OfCom, received 887 complaints about the series, with viewers claiming the show vilified and misrepresented benefits claimants"
- This quotation could be useful to introduce my section on Benefits Street, as it contains statistics
showing the vast number of complaints which the series received and the reasons why.
"The resulting corpus comprised 81,100 tweets. Of these tweets, 37,621 were retweets which would have resulted in skewed frequencies when creating wordlists"
- Following from the previous quotation, this too could be used to reinforce the vast number of
complaints, thus showing how audiences are becoming more active and less mediated.
Real Screen Magazine '"Benefits Street" takes social reality into formats market'
"millions of Britians turned in with episode 3 attracting a peak audience of 5.2 million."
- A useful fact which too can be used to introduce my debate about Benefits Street
"Benefits' is now a reality TV sub genre unto itself. Channel 5 has ordered several Benefits - themed programs, such as Benefits by the Sea, Undercover Benefits and Benefits Britain: Me and my 14 Kids."
- This quotation will enable me to explain how the success of Benefits Street has now almost made
the subject of Benefits a sub-genre itself. Thus this helps to conclude that Benefits is a current
popular topic, however hinting to how audiences are becoming positioned and mediated into
learning about the vast scale of those whom are on benefits which could potentially degrade
Britain as a whole.
"...as well as the British version of the series to networks in New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Israel."
- This quote shows how this sub-genre has spread worldwide, meaning the controversy of the
topic isn't just national anymore and has now become a global hegemonic belief. (The audience
becomes mediated by this dominant ideology to believe and learn about 'poverty porn'
"...although an ob-doc,..."
- Phrase for 'observational documentary like Benefits Street, which I could use as a phrase in my
dissertation.
"When you shine the bright light on television of something difficult like poverty, it produces an extraordinary reaction"
- As quoted by Richard McKerrow, the creative director of Love Productions (the company who
filmed Benefits Street), this quotation literally sums up why Benefits Street has become so
popular. More importantly, this will enable me to link it to marxist/capitalistic theory - the higher
demographic audience are attracted to watch something which conforms to the lower
demographic.
Frozen Planet
BBC News: Frozen Planet: BBC denies misleading fans
"But the cubs were actually in a Dutch animal park, as revealed in the behind-the-scenes footage on the show's website."
Published shortly after the documentary was released, the BBC was criticised for falsely showing
the birth of polar cubs in the wild, and instead showed it in a Dutch animal park. However, BBC argue that this is clearly shown on the website that it isn't in the wild. Attenborough quotes "This particular sequence would be impossible to film in the wild". Nonetheless, this article provides another example on how the audience are positioned thus mediated into believing that it is in the wild. My main problem with using this as an example is because Frozen Planet is meant to be used as a positive output for my dissertation.
The Guardian: BBC footage of lighting over erupting volcano was stirring, dramatic - and fake
Although this is moving slightly off topic, this article explores how the new BBC documentary Patagonia: Earth's Secret Paradise contains fake footage. The "broadcaster admits mixing film of two eruptions in Patagonia to make video that went viral". This example could be used to intervene with my point about animated interviews, as it is a postmodernist documentary which uses modern effects which inevitably influences the fictionality of documentaries.
"The new row comes after a bitter battle in 2011 over the BBC's natural history series Frozen Planet, which contained footage that was said to show polar bears being born in the wild, when in fact, it was filmed in a manmade den in a German animal park."
 |
| Showing the birth of polar cubs - in a Dutch animal park |
the birth of polar cubs in the wild, and instead showed it in a Dutch animal park. However, BBC argue that this is clearly shown on the website that it isn't in the wild. Attenborough quotes "This particular sequence would be impossible to film in the wild". Nonetheless, this article provides another example on how the audience are positioned thus mediated into believing that it is in the wild. My main problem with using this as an example is because Frozen Planet is meant to be used as a positive output for my dissertation.
The Guardian: BBC footage of lighting over erupting volcano was stirring, dramatic - and fake
 |
| The 'fake' eruption in the documentary |
"The new row comes after a bitter battle in 2011 over the BBC's natural history series Frozen Planet, which contained footage that was said to show polar bears being born in the wild, when in fact, it was filmed in a manmade den in a German animal park."
Visual Communication - David Machin
"of natural history on screen for presenting a largely "romantic image of the natural world" (Jefferies 2003: 543) and offering "period piece" fantasises that leave out the people and politics that contribute to how the natural world is, in favour of a concentration on the spectacle of the animals and landscapes on display." (page 471)
- Although quite a wordy quotation, this could be broken down and used as to one of the reasons
why audiences may watch Frozen Planet, allowing me to explain how documentaries such as
these enable audiences to escape from everyday life.
Blackfish
Journal Review 'Steve-O of 'Jackass' gets 30 days in jail for SeaWorld stunt
This article shows how a celebrity famous from the TV show 'Jackass' has been arrested in an attempt to protest against orca captivity, making this a perfect example on how mediation can lead to effects such as these. This also helps to explain about moral panics as it has led to huge controversy, and also helps to show how audiences can become active after being mediated. This article too is very modern and was only published recently.
"wore a T-shirt from the anti-SeaWorld documentary 'Blackfish' when he scaled the crane"
- This is a good quotation to extract from the journal due to the mentioning of Blackfish.
Blomberg.com 'SeaWorld dips as breeding ban forces review of whale project
"The Orlando, Florida based company has faced ongoing pressure from animal activists since the release of the 2013 documentary "Blackfish", which argued that killer whales shouldn't be kept in captivity."
This article too shows some of the effects which Blackfish has led to. Since the documentary was released, it has led to the park's finance to decrease massively plus leading to new rules regarding breeding orcas. Additionally this too is a effective example as it includes Blackfish within the article, as you can see in the quotation above.
Everything PR: 'SeaWorld still struggling to move beyond Blackfish'
Below is an image taken from this article showing SeaWorld's stock price when Blackfish was released and then the stock price a year and a quarter after. This image will be a great source to show the immediate effects on the power of documentaries, as it is most likely that the documentary has led to the rapid decrease in sales at Sea World.
- Jstor
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