March 3, 15.15-17.00, room NIC 0826, Niagara

Abstract:

This article draws on empirical research of television crime drama The Bridge (Filmlance International, Endemol Shine), a format within the nordic noir genre (see Waade and Jensen 2013). The research includes interviews and observations with thirty producers, and audience interviews, focus groups and participant observations with over one hundred audiences and fans (aged 18-65+) in Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, America and Mexico (2013-2015). The empirical research is used to critically examine varieties of audience experiences, specifically how cultural engagement with this crime drama is situated and multilayered within production and reception environments. This research uses a variety of methods to critically analyse what Kathleen Stewart (2007) calls ordinary affects, the contemporary registers in popular culture that mark ‘the intensities and banalities of common experiences.’ The article makes two key points. First, there is not one definition of engagement with this crime drama, but rather a complex semantics of engagement within production and audience interactions. John Corner (2011) calls this stages of engagement that are based on cognitive and affective work. Second, there is a spectrum of audience engagement, from positive, to negative to disengagement with The Bridge, suggesting a shifting in and out of different identity positions and intensities of engagement. Overall, the idea of a spectrum of engagement encapsulates the interplay between institutional contexts, producer and audience practices, aesthetic form and affective structures.

References

Corner, John. (2011) Theorising Media, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Stewart, Kathleen. (2007) Ordinary Affects, Durham North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Waade, Anne Marit and Pia Majbritt Jensen. (2013) ‘Nordic Noir Production Values’, Academic Quarter, Vol. 7(2).

Author Biography

Annette Hill is a Professor of Media at Lund University, Sweden. Her research focuses on audiences, with interests in media engagement, everyday life, production practices, genres and cultures of viewing. She is currently project leader for Media Experiences, funded by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. Her latest book is Reality TV: Key Ideas (Routledge 2015) and her forthcoming book is Media Experiences (Routledge 2017).