Quiz Shows
Páginas: 10 (2369 palabras)
Publicado: 2 de noviembre de 2012
The Light Programme
Alba Galan Iñigo
Quiz shows in Light Entertainment
The aim of this essay is to explain light entertainment’s origins, to understand the influence of quiz and game shows in low-culture people and to know the key issues of competition, spectacle, knowledge/skills and prizes.
The light entertainment´s function is the interactive relationship between the show andaudience. Its origins could be related to the Pagan ritual, the Medieval Carnival, the Music Hall... from where it obtains the characteristics of the theatre, humorous and spectacle. The sources of humour and entertainment were: the parody, the body as a physical an sexual exhibition, the market, competition and class identification, and familiarity.
The light programme began as a radio programmebetween 1948 and 1957, and graduated to television format in the 1950s. The fact of that housemates watching light programmes as a way of relieve their boredom indicates that they assume them as a cultural and social practice. It became the main form of entertainment for the working class, at least for the population who, in the fifties, had the possibility to have a television at home.
Lightentertainment´s producers did not worry about the critical acclaim; they just wanted to give people what they wanted, even of their age, race or genre, and even if the programme´s quality was poor. They felt much more closer to the audience than the informative programmes. With television, the family could sit all together and watch their favourite programme at the same hour every week. It became atradition where the family felt confortable as a unit.
One of the sources of light entertainment that has been commented is the role of competition, which became really famous with quizzes and game shows in the latest fifties.
PRE-HISTORY
As Thomas De Long (1991) claims, the meaning of the concept “quiz” has been changing throughout history. In the 18th century it was understood as a practicaljoke, but by the 20th century it was linked to the idea of testing someone´s knowledge.
The tradition of parlour games in Victorian and Edwardian times spawned a whole subgenre from “Animal, Vegetable and Mineral” in the 1950s, to “Call My Buff” in the 1970s.
The carnival tradition involves directly in the birth of the quiz shows. The sense of carnivalesque articulates quiz shows withentertainment, fun and a way of evasion. It offers the pleasures of life, such as eating, drinking, earning money and sexuality without guilt. It is just fun and entertainment, the two items that quizzes need to achieve success. It is an spectacle associated with school or domestic labour but with flashing lights, stage, audience, music and applause. It is the representation of the ordinary, whereeveryone is special, just for have been selected for the show.
In the 18th century, the huge popularity of bingo proves that broadcasting must be regarded as appropriating rather than inventing, a national penchant for games that combines skills and chance. The most clear origins came with the radio, the newspapers and the music halls. The radio became the medium that had the characteristics of thelight entertainment that quiz shows needed: cheap budget, needing noscript, public involved (interactivity), presence of celebrities, tension and the chance of winning. The growth of newspapers has also involved in the quiz game success. In the 20th century, they included a section of question-and-answer that was very helpful to attract the audience. Moreover, theatrical performers in music hall,after the hit of quizzes, adopted some games into their spectacle, while gambling was clearly having a presence in cultural life.
It is important to understand quizzes and games as a cultural practice outside of broadcasting. Radio and television transformed them into programmes by their own. And overtime, they became genres. The quiz show is a special broadcasting because it did not emerge...
Alba Galan Iñigo
Quiz shows in Light Entertainment
The aim of this essay is to explain light entertainment’s origins, to understand the influence of quiz and game shows in low-culture people and to know the key issues of competition, spectacle, knowledge/skills and prizes.
The light entertainment´s function is the interactive relationship between the show andaudience. Its origins could be related to the Pagan ritual, the Medieval Carnival, the Music Hall... from where it obtains the characteristics of the theatre, humorous and spectacle. The sources of humour and entertainment were: the parody, the body as a physical an sexual exhibition, the market, competition and class identification, and familiarity.
The light programme began as a radio programmebetween 1948 and 1957, and graduated to television format in the 1950s. The fact of that housemates watching light programmes as a way of relieve their boredom indicates that they assume them as a cultural and social practice. It became the main form of entertainment for the working class, at least for the population who, in the fifties, had the possibility to have a television at home.
Lightentertainment´s producers did not worry about the critical acclaim; they just wanted to give people what they wanted, even of their age, race or genre, and even if the programme´s quality was poor. They felt much more closer to the audience than the informative programmes. With television, the family could sit all together and watch their favourite programme at the same hour every week. It became atradition where the family felt confortable as a unit.
One of the sources of light entertainment that has been commented is the role of competition, which became really famous with quizzes and game shows in the latest fifties.
PRE-HISTORY
As Thomas De Long (1991) claims, the meaning of the concept “quiz” has been changing throughout history. In the 18th century it was understood as a practicaljoke, but by the 20th century it was linked to the idea of testing someone´s knowledge.
The tradition of parlour games in Victorian and Edwardian times spawned a whole subgenre from “Animal, Vegetable and Mineral” in the 1950s, to “Call My Buff” in the 1970s.
The carnival tradition involves directly in the birth of the quiz shows. The sense of carnivalesque articulates quiz shows withentertainment, fun and a way of evasion. It offers the pleasures of life, such as eating, drinking, earning money and sexuality without guilt. It is just fun and entertainment, the two items that quizzes need to achieve success. It is an spectacle associated with school or domestic labour but with flashing lights, stage, audience, music and applause. It is the representation of the ordinary, whereeveryone is special, just for have been selected for the show.
In the 18th century, the huge popularity of bingo proves that broadcasting must be regarded as appropriating rather than inventing, a national penchant for games that combines skills and chance. The most clear origins came with the radio, the newspapers and the music halls. The radio became the medium that had the characteristics of thelight entertainment that quiz shows needed: cheap budget, needing noscript, public involved (interactivity), presence of celebrities, tension and the chance of winning. The growth of newspapers has also involved in the quiz game success. In the 20th century, they included a section of question-and-answer that was very helpful to attract the audience. Moreover, theatrical performers in music hall,after the hit of quizzes, adopted some games into their spectacle, while gambling was clearly having a presence in cultural life.
It is important to understand quizzes and games as a cultural practice outside of broadcasting. Radio and television transformed them into programmes by their own. And overtime, they became genres. The quiz show is a special broadcasting because it did not emerge...
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