The Aesthetics of TelevisionMedia & cultural studies #2af Gunhild Agger & Jens F. Jensen

The concept of aesthetics is traditionally connected with art and high culture (e.g. literature, theatre, pictorial art etc.) whereas mass media such as television are usually associated with a lack of cultural quality, originality and authenticity - and consequently with a lack of aesthetics. And, undoubtedly, most television programmes will fail if judged by the aesthetic standards and valuation criteria of traditional art forms. However, television as a medium also has aesthetic aspects.
The aesthetics of television concern the medium's means of expression, its forms, conventions and "styles". But it also concerns the content and the relationship between content and expression, as well as the relationship between programme and genre, programme and audience etc.
The aim of the anthology is to describe and analyse television as an aesthetic phenomenon. It addresses the question from different approaches and in a variety of ways: general, aesthetic problems concerning the audio-visual media, the special aesthetic means of expression belonging to the television medium, the quality of the individual programme, the distinctive features and aesthetic codes of individual TV genres, enunciation and forms of address in television etc.
Among the TV genres and programme formats dealt with are: talk shows, television documentaries, police series, TV sport, TV fiction, TV advertising, everyday talk on television, comedy series, TV journalism, and interactive programme formats.