ABSTRACT
Realism is a particularly ambiguous term in the analysis of television. One meaning focuses on what is represented: that actual scenes, places and people are represented rather than imagined or fictional ones. A second meaning refers to television’s representation of recognisable and often contemporary experience, such as in the representation of characters in whom the audience can believe, or apparently likely chains of events. This meaning of realism relies on the familiarity of the forms and conventions, the codes that represent a reality. But, finally, another meaning of realism would reject the conventions of established realistic forms, and look for new and different forms to give access to the real. In each of these meanings, however, realism assumes the separation of the text from a reality which pre-exists it. This chapter discusses the different ways that television represents the real, in a range of different genres. This involves considering the different methodologies that can be used in Television Studies to approach these issues, and the strengths and weaknesses of different means of answering related questions. The chapter also discusses television representations of particular groups, especially those defined by gender or race, with attention to their differences in different television forms and genres. The chapter includes a case study on a hybrid of fictional and factual television, the drama-documentary or docudrama, and explores the critical arguments advanced about this form of programme.
