The programme itself
uses the conventions of
a documentary but it is
openly set up and it is
not informative or
educational in anyway
therefore making it a
pastiche of a
doucmentary
The representations are
stereotypical however, they
are so clearly 'fake' and
constructed that we are not
expected to take them
seriously as representing
'real' people from Essex- they
have no referent
The people in the programme could be seen as
copies of copies, simulacra of 'celebrities' who
are themselves media creations
Mikhail Baktin-
Carnivesque is used to describe
those culutral forms that turn things
upside down or do things
inappropriately
TOWIE features behaviour which is over
exaggerated- for example a scene
where Lauren pushes her ex Mark into
the pool after finding he has cheated on
her
Jameson
Postmodernity is the style brought
out by modern corporate capitalism.
He argues media texts rework styles
from the past in order to make profit
as they know they have been
successful before which he refers to
as Historicism. He believes
postmodern media is dominated by
pastiche and is shallow and has a
lack of depth
TOWIE reworks
conventions and elements
from other programmes
such as the hills and jersey
shore as the producers
know audiences are
entertained by it
Lyotard
Argues postmodernism means moral
relativism- in the postmodern world world we
no longer share the same agreed moral
values.
Argues moral relativism gives us freedom- but in
TOWIE's case the representation of gender are very
traditional and values such as economic aspiration,
marriage and materialism still appear to be important,
both in the text and society- these metanarratives
seem to still be there