Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons

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dc.contributor.advisorBertelsen, Eveen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBaderoon, Gabebaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-28T14:29:28Z
dc.date.available2016-03-28T14:29:28Z
dc.date.issued1995en_ZA
dc.descriptionSummary in English.en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: p. [181]-195.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractContemporary life is distinguished by a massive capacity for exchanging information. Increasingly comprehensive, global communication networks allow discrete realities to be linked. These prolific sources of representation generate a "membrane" of mediation, and a formal regime of fragmentation, depthlessness and allusiveness (Chambers, 11). These economic, epistemological and aesthetic conditions constitute postmodernism. This dissertation addresses the theoretical challenge of form by attempting to craft an approach commensurate to such semiotic density (Wollen, 65). Since formalist approaches have been criticised as ahistorical, attention is given to the concept's social dimensions hence the history and production context of communication technology is considered. The inquiry also acknowledges the specificities of its location. The matrix of unfamiliar allusions which characterises the South African experience of American texts, embodies the multi-tiered allusiveness of postmodernist texts. It also illustrates the cult precept that quotation can be appreciated even when its source is not recognized. Cult theorises viewership as active yet ambivalent (Eco, 1988, 454). The initial chapter delineates parameters in postmodernism, narrative, genre and cult theory. Subsequent chapters examine three postmodernist television series: Moonlighting, a detective series, Twin Peaks, a soap opera, and The Simpsons, an animated sitcom. Deploying parody, self-reflexivity and intertextuality, each has a complex relation with genre. Tony Bennett conceives of the latter as zones of sociality which constitute and are constituted by other zones (105). Changes in genre therefore articulate changes in modes of thinking and inscribe different reading strategies.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationBaderoon, G. (1995). <i>Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18257en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBaderoon, Gabeba. <i>"Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18257en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBaderoon, G. 1995. Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Baderoon, Gabeba AB - Contemporary life is distinguished by a massive capacity for exchanging information. Increasingly comprehensive, global communication networks allow discrete realities to be linked. These prolific sources of representation generate a "membrane" of mediation, and a formal regime of fragmentation, depthlessness and allusiveness (Chambers, 11). These economic, epistemological and aesthetic conditions constitute postmodernism. This dissertation addresses the theoretical challenge of form by attempting to craft an approach commensurate to such semiotic density (Wollen, 65). Since formalist approaches have been criticised as ahistorical, attention is given to the concept's social dimensions hence the history and production context of communication technology is considered. The inquiry also acknowledges the specificities of its location. The matrix of unfamiliar allusions which characterises the South African experience of American texts, embodies the multi-tiered allusiveness of postmodernist texts. It also illustrates the cult precept that quotation can be appreciated even when its source is not recognized. Cult theorises viewership as active yet ambivalent (Eco, 1988, 454). The initial chapter delineates parameters in postmodernism, narrative, genre and cult theory. Subsequent chapters examine three postmodernist television series: Moonlighting, a detective series, Twin Peaks, a soap opera, and The Simpsons, an animated sitcom. Deploying parody, self-reflexivity and intertextuality, each has a complex relation with genre. Tony Bennett conceives of the latter as zones of sociality which constitute and are constituted by other zones (105). Changes in genre therefore articulate changes in modes of thinking and inscribe different reading strategies. DA - 1995 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1995 T1 - Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons TI - Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18257 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/18257
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBaderoon G. Viewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1995 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18257en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of English Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherLiterary Studiesen_ZA
dc.titleViewing postmodernist television : Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and The Simpsonsen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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