Knowledge and Reflection in
Entertainment.
A Case Study on Satirical
Programmes in Danish Public
Service Television
Hanne Bruun
University of Aarhus, Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
Papers on TV entertainment: Crossmediality and Knowledge
Aarhus, Denmark 2007
Published by the project ‘TV entertainment: Crossmediality and Knowledge’
Aarhus, April 2007.
Editor of the papers: Kirsten Frandsen
Hanne Bruun: Knowledge and Reflection in Entertainment.
A Case Study on Satirical Programmes in Danish Public Service Television
© The author, 2007
Printed at: Fællestrykkeriet for Sundhedsvidenskab og Humaniora, University of
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Knowledge and Reflection in
Entertainment.
A Case Study on Satirical
Programmes in Danish Public
Service Television
Hanne Bruun
University of Aarhus, Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
INTRODUCTION
Danish public service television has produced satirical programmes since 1968.
For many years the programmes were designed for Saturday night
entertainment, and a strong popular tradition of entertainment with an edge has
been established through the years. This paper will argue that in this
entertainment genre, important forms of knowledge are presumed and created.
By using forms of knowledge, reflections on political, social, and cultural themes
and issues are facilitated by the programmes. Currently, programmes within this
tradition are playing an important and successful role in the growing competition
for viewers, especially for young audiences. This development has brought
about important innovations and experimentation within the genre, involving the
Internet, and the genre is in many ways thriving in public service television.
As a point of departure the paper will discuss the characteristics of satire
as a communicative mode, and its dependency on the contextual knowledge
forms of the audience. A short outline of the history of satirical programmes in
Danish public service television will highlight two fundamental kinds of television
satire: political satire and social satire, as well as the general characteristics of
the genre use. Presently, social satire dominates the genre, and by analysing
examples from one of the innovative satirical series called “The Boys from
Angora” (DR2, 2004), this paper will demonstrate how specific kinds of
knowledge are presumed and created. These are conceptualized as the mediacultural and the socio-political forms of knowledge. They are the bedrock of the
entertaining qualities of the programmes, and facilitate political, cultural, and
perhaps even self-reflective processes.
Based on the analysis, this paper will discuss two issues regarding the
entertainment profile of public service television arising from current genre
development. First, the production modes and experiential potentials of political
and social satire as an entertainment genre on television will be discussed.
Second, it will be discussed whether the aim to secure competitive success by
the present use of the satirical genre could in fact lead to the death of the genre
as a significant part of an entertainment profile aimed at different audiences
groups and PSB-channels.
SATIRE, PARODY, AND KNOWLEDGE FORMS
In the different theoretical points of view on the phenomenon, satire seems to
be regarded as a particular genre, as well as a style creating a certain
communicative mode (Hutcheon, 1985; Schwind 1988; Agger 2005). In Danish
public service television, the two-sidedness of satire is important. Television
satire is a category of programmes typically designed for the weekend schedule
and regarded as part of the entertainment profile. Furthermore, specific stylistic
and aesthetic features as well as historical developments are linked to the
category. Put differently, the features and developments link the programmes
as a category. Broadcasters and producers, as well as television viewers, also
have a number of genre expectations linked to television satire, and an
important dimension is the contextual dependency of satire. In order to carry out
its satirical intention, satire has to have a strong reference to the social, political,
and cultural reality outside of the discursive universe of the text. If the satirical
intention of the text is to be understood and perhaps applauded by the viewers,
the viewers and the broadcasters have to share larger parts of this social,
political, and cultural reality. Based on Jakobson, Schwind argues that the
referential function of language is essential in satire, even if we are dealing with
fiction (Schwind, 1988, p. 35)
Because of its contextual dependency, satire first presupposes sociopolitical knowledge which can be either the viewer’s key to opening up a
congenial community, or the key to locking out the viewer. In short, satire can
either include or exclude individuals or groups. Laughter is often the most
obvious sign of inclusion, joining the people laughing in a common feeling.
Satire can in this way probably strengthen a feeling of togetherness among
people, who understand the satirical intention and references more or less
intuitively. By operating on a basis of presupposed socio-political knowledge
and a common feeling, satire is able to segment the audience. By the same
token it can create media phenomena, which can become a cult phenomenon
among certain audiences.
The ridicule created by satire can be regarded as a social act with
consequences, and its social dimension defines satire. The ridicule contains a
critique of the present state of things, and there is in this sense an intention to
change reality in satire. It has a moral sting and normative perspective, but not
necessarily of a politically progressive nature; thus, satire can easily have a
conservative or a regressive aim. In order to define satire’s intention of
changing the present state of things, critic Leif Ove Larsen (2001) distinguishes
between two satirical modes: egalitarian and elitist satire.
•
Egalitarian satire has its sting aimed at the political, the economic, and
the cultural powers in a society. Egalitarian satire attacks inequalities and
the injustices created by inequalities. The mockery is directed at the
establishment and is supposed to join the powerless, offering laughter as
their weapon. To elaborate on the definition and functions of egalitarian
satire, it can be said that it presumes that the viewers are able to identify
with the powerless in a given satirical treatment of a case, and gain a
self-affirmation by doing so.
•
Elitist satire has its sting directed towards those criticizing the
establishment and/or the things as they are. The target groups are
everyday citizens, and sometimes minorities and weak social groups in
society. Again, to elaborate on the functions of elitist satire it can be said
to facilitate self-criticism as well as self-affirmation by not identifying with
the target groups.
The two satirical modes involve the viewer’s experience of his or her social and
psychological status and place in the hierarchy of society. The sociopsychological aspect can be examined further by introducing Dolf Zillmann’s
theory of disposition. Zillmann tries to define the socio-psychological functions
of the comedy. By using Festinger’s social-comparison theory, especially the
so-called downward comparisons, Zillmann suggests that the audience appeal
of comedy is placing the audience as the “moral monitor” (Zillmann, 2000, p.
38). From this position the audience is able to judge and condemn the
behaviour and intentions of the characters. But two elements produce laughter
instead of compassion or contempt: First, the combination between the humour
cues of the text and the comic frame of mind of the audience (ibid. p. 45);
Second, the combination between the negative attitude of the audience towards
a character, and the character being the victim of humiliations, insults, and
defeat. The negative attitude is created because the character is breaking social
norms of good behaviour. For example, the character could be extremely
arrogant, snobbish, vain, and self-respecting, or the character could be very
stupid, egocentric, hypocritical, and vulgar. According to Zillmann the reactions
of the audience are not just consequences of feelings of superiority, but also of
the fact that the comic narration actually punishes the deviant behaviour.
According to Zillmann, this enables the audience to be “malicious with dignity”
(Zillmann, 2000, p. 49).
In order to understand the characteristics of satire, the presumed sociopsychological functions of comedy must be combined with the contextual
dependency of satire and its presumption of socio-political knowledge, as well
as the referential status of the satirical texts. For the audience this means that
the moral sting and the normative perspective in both egalitarian and elitist
satire explicitly facilitate value discussions. This also gives satire a special
genre status between the factual genres of television and fiction. Another
reason for this genre status is due to television satire’s dependency on parody.
In order to mock and make the viewers laugh, satire takes up established
discursive practices. In a discussion of the difficult distinction between satire
and parody, Linda Hutcheon argues that parody is always directed at another
text or coded discourse (Hutcheon, 1985, p. 16). It repeats a coded discourse
but with a distance by means of irony, exaggerations, and distortions. But
according to Hutcheon parody can be used in comprehensive ways. Parody can
be used to create a playful and kind celebration of the original, but also to
create a mocking and spiteful commentary. In television satire parody is often
the aesthetic engine, and the two speech acts are very difficult to separate. But
parody is not necessarily satirical. An example can be taken from a Danish
entertainer-team Linje 3, who has been known to do parodies of the Danish
Queen. One of the male entertainers dressed up like the Queen, and his diction
as well as choice of words presented a loyal and humorous exaggeration of
Queen Margrethe II, but with no intention of changing the Queen involved.
Television satire can probably not do without parody, but whether a parody
has the moral sting and the normative perspective of satire seems to be an
analytical task. Nonetheless, in analysing the relationship between parody and
satire in specific texts, two issues seem to be of importance pointing to the
limitations of textual analysis as the only methodological approach. First, the
contextual dependence of satire and its dependence on the knowledge of the
audience are important to the relationship between parody and satire. For
example, if constitutional monarchy were a controversial political question in
Denmark, the audience would perhaps regard the parody of the Queen by Linje
3 as much more malicious in its tone, and with a satirical intention of ridiculing
and criticizing the constitutional monarchy in Denmark. Second, as mentioned
above, the theoretical literature on satire emphasizes the referential language
function in satire despite the fictional status of the text. But the specific kind of
referential function of language involved in satire is not examined very
thoroughly. The question is, therefore, whether the theoretical definition of
satire, and consequently the distinction between satire and parody, assumes
reference to specific social, political or cultural issues or specific people or
television programmes on the current political agenda? For example, in satire
the characters in a text can be fictional, but the different issues they are talking
about must be part of a reality outside the textual universe, and shared by the
audience. Or, in a satirical text the characters must be parodies of existing
human beings or programmes known by the audience, but the settings or the
characters can be fictional. The question then is, if specific references are not
present, is satire then possible, or only parody? In the analysis of the present
developments in Danish television satire, I will return to the discussion of the
tricky relationship between satire and parody.
Nonetheless, in Danish television satire, parody is a very important lever in
the present developments of the genre. Parodies of specific television
programmes, and media genres and features, play an important role. By
performing parodies, the satire is often directed at these media genres or
features as well as at political and social issues. In short: Television satire is
strongly dependent on the media-cultural knowledge of the audience, and to
sum up, two contextual knowledge forms are presupposed in television satire:
socio-political knowledge and media-cultural knowledge. By using the forms of
knowledge, they are also created. The satirical programmes add to the media
aesthetics knowledge of its audience, and they may also add to their sociopolitical knowledge, and perhaps facilitate value discussions, and political,
cultural, and possibly even self-reflective processes. The knowledge dimension
of entertainment is obvious in television satire, and will be discussed in more
detail later in this paper using an example from the DR2-series “The Boys from
Angora”. It is, however, necessary to present a short outline of the genre history
and characteristics of television satire in Danish public service television, in
order to contextualize the present genre developments.
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SATIRE
Television satire started out as an entertainment genre in Danish public service
1
television in 1968. The inspiration came mainly from an already established
tradition of radio satire in DR, from the BBC-series That Was The Week That
1
The main features of the historical developments in Danish television satire in this section of
the paper are based on H. Bruun (2006), Politisk og social selvreflektion i dansk tv-satire
(political and social self-reflection in Danish television satire), CFJE-knowledge base,
www.cfje.dk/cfje/vidbase.nsf/
Was, and last but not least from the shows at political revue theatres in the
1960s. Right from the beginning the programmes were characterized by
blending the two satirical modes - the egalitarian and the elitist - in the sketches.
The blend meant that the sketches and the programmes as a whole contained a
double-edged sting. On the one hand they had a self-ironic tone that
commented on the political and national-cultural issues and lifestyles, offering
the viewers self-critical perspectives on the Danes, as well as providing selfaffirmation. On the other hand, the programmes critiqued the establishment,
giving the viewers the opportunity to identify with the powerless in a given
satirical treatment of an issue, and gain a self-affirmation by doing so. This
satirical style put a damper on the political confrontations in the programmes:
They were not, of course, neutral, but the critique was not one-sided and was
often directed at the lifestyles and self-delusions of the ordinary Danes. Three
different reasons for this particular style can be highlighted.
First, the ambiguity in the programmes created by the double-edge sting
can be seen as a consequence of the monopoly that existed until 1988. Satire
could very easily be regarded as controversial when broadcast by DR. The
double-edged satirical sting and the ambiguity protected the broadcaster from
accusations of being politically biased. Second, the programmes were part of
weekend entertainment programming, and the programmes were meant to
entertain the viewers and make them laugh. The primary intent was not to
offend the viewers who did not agree. Third, the ambiguity in television satire
could be connected to the political history in Denmark, and a specific notion of
the relationship between the citizens and the establishment embedded in the
political culture. An understanding of the concept of the public/the people
(folket) is important. As the Danish historian Niels Kayser Nielsen has pointed
out, there is a special political notion of this concept in Denmark, and in
Scandinavia in general (Nielsen, 2004). ‘The people’ is, in the political sense of
the concept, defined as the prerequisite for the nation state and for a
democracy. But ‘the people’ also exists in the ethnographic sense of the
concept, defined as a spiritual and national cultural phenomenon. In Denmark
the inspiration of the latter understanding of ‘the people’ was strongly influenced
by the Danish theologian, romantic poet, and politician N. F. S. Grundtvig
(1783-1872). These understandings of the people are blended into each other
in the view of history, society, and humanity, held by the social democratic
movement that built the welfare state after the Second World War. The ideal
model of society was the ‘people’s home’ (folkehjem), and reaching the ideal
was to be seen as a common task. The society was not conceptualized in terms
of insuperable conflicts of interests between the elite and the masses/the
people, but more like a common goal. The Danish social democrat and
politician Hal Koch was a very important figure with a strong ideological
influence on the social-democratic movement. In his understanding, the
prerequisite for a democracy was that “the individual member of society took
responsibility for his own life and for his people, in recognition of the fact that
what linked the people was the fact that they belonged to a people” (translated
by HB from Kayser Nielsen 2004:100). For this same reason, politics had to
become social. This meant that in order to form the foundation for a democracy,
the biological and social needs of the people had to be secured, giving the
individual a basic sense of security in life. Consequently, the organization of
society had to aim at providing this basic security (Nielsen, 2004, p. 102). The
strong political influence of the social-democratic movement in Denmark formed
a specific political culture, which can be regarded as reflected in the doubleedged sting and ambiguities of satirical programmes blending the egalitarian
and elitist modes.
2
Apart from these three different attempts to give possible reasons for the
particular satirical style, the double-edged sting became a part of the satirical
tradition in Danish television, and can still be found in the present use of the
genre. On the one hand the satire could be criticized for being anything but
dangerous. One the other hand it could be seen as disturbing, because no
political viewpoints and no groups in society can feel safe. From this point of
view the blending of the egalitarian and elitist satirical modes emphasized
critical political and social self-reflection rather than political mobilization in a
particular directions. The programmes were, and still are, popular among the
television viewers, and during the monopoly they satisfied the public service
broadcaster’s need for popular entertainment, as well as entertainment with an
edge.
2
Johannes Andersen (1997) has looked at political culture as a phenomenon and as a concept.
Using Wildavsky (1985) he characterizes different political cultures. Social-democracy is
characterized by hierarchical collectivism combined with egalitarian sectarianism, and would
probably be an apt description of the political culture in Denmark.
During the 1980s and 1990s the satirical sting in the programmes were
directed more and more systematically towards the media. Television in
particular was viewed as part of the political establishment, with growing power
in the political processes and with influence on the social changes in society.
But television was also criticized for being populist and in bad taste, and marked
by tendencies known from commercial television. Parodies of specific television
genres, personalities and trends were used as a lever for the satirical aim. The
double-edge satirical sting and ambiguity generated by the blending of the
egalitarian and elitist satirical modes continued, involving the viewers as targets
of the moral critic.
By the end of the 1990s two important developments took place within the
genre. First, the genre broke free of the theatrical tradition inherited from the
political revue, and started to use the genres of television as its setting, for
example the news cast and the current affairs discussion show. This
development made the link between the situation comedy and the satirical
programmes clearly visible. Second, the genre developed into two different
branches. The first branch could be called political satire, which continued to
reflect the current news flow of the media, and was oriented towards specific
political issues, social problems, and/or people on the national agenda; all
things considered, issues traditionally addressed by the daily news flow. The
second branch developed as social satire, which cultivated an interest in the life
of ordinary Danes. The focus of social satire was on different lifestyles and
mentalities, and the way cultural and political trends, and new social demands
affected the individual in terms of behaviour, norms, and self-image. In
particular, the gap between the demands and the actual abilities of the
individual was exposed, and the programmes cultivated loss of face as the
comic engine. In this manner social satire broadened the reach of areas that
could be the objects of television satire, and was no longer restricted to current
political issues.
At the moment, social satire is the dominant satirical form on Danish public
service television, and political satire is becoming scarce. The knowledge forms
central to the political and the social satire will now be illustrated and discussed
in more detail, then followed by a more elaborated account of the characteristics
of the social satire.
THE KNOWLEDGE FORMS AT WORK IN TELEVISION
SATIRE
The brief account of the aesthetic and thematic developments of the genre
reveal that Danish television satire implies a growing complexity in the
knowledge forms presumed. The viewers are expected to have various forms of
knowledge in order to understand the satirical sting in the programmes.
Increasingly, the programmes presuppose media-cultural knowledge created by
the media themselves. To understand the satirical sting, the viewers have to be
familiar with the media, with conventional ways of staging specific television
genres, and with specific features and trends in television. This presumption of
knowledge was added to the already presumed knowledge of the programmes
of the current political agenda, and the broader knowledge of Danish life-styles
and mentalities. This kind of socio-political knowledge is of course partly
generated by, and based on, the viewer’s own experiences of everyday life. But
in part, socio-political knowledge is a mediated knowledge form. The media
gives access to the satirical treatment of political viewpoints and issues, as well
as specific lifestyles; social fields and mentalities to which the viewers to a large
extent have only mediated access. This mediated socio-political knowledge was
added to the non-mediated socio-political knowledge. As mentioned in the
outline of the historical development of the genre, social satire is presently very
much the dominant form of satire. In this respect the satirical programmes have
in fact benefited enormously from the growing interest in everyday life and the
private sphere, evinced by the media, especially television. Consequently, the
presupposed knowledge of political actuality and the current political agenda
and personalities in the media and in everyday life has been very much toned
down. Compared to the use of the genre from the late 1960s until the late
1990s, more emphasis has instead been given to the audiences’ socio-political
knowledge of different lifestyles and mentalities, as well as their media-cultural
knowledge.
SOCIAL SATIRE
The combinations and blends of the socio-political knowledge of lifestyles and
mentalities and the media-cultural knowledge made the programmes into small
cultural prisms. For viewers who did not have the necessary kinds of
presupposed knowledge, these were difficult to understand. Because of the
demands on the contextual knowledge of the audience, the programmes
became perfect for integrating the viewers in fan-like relationships with the
programmes. At the same time, these demands made the programmes perfect
for segmenting audiences.
As an example of social satire produced for TV 2’s main channel, the
series “The Kingdom” (“Kongeriget”, 1999, 1998, and 2002) stands out. The
series was performed by, and also partly written by two female comedians.
Each episode of the series was focused on a specific theme, for example the
package tour, pets, the music festival, the football match. With the theme as a
framework, the episodes consisted of portraits of Danes from different social
groups, age groups, and regions in Denmark. The viewers witnessed how these
different characters performed on the package tour or at the music festival,
much in line with “The Kingdom” DR2 broadcast series “Getting to Grips with
Life” (“Check på tilværelsen”, 1998) and “Getting to Grips with Traditions”
(“Check på traditionerne”, 2000). In these series, two male comedians
addressed young people’s difficulties with the conflicts of everyday life, between
social norms and individual needs. The two comedians played all the
characters, and the ‘problems’ and the ‘solutions’ were acted out in
recognizable social situations, such as spending Christmas at your parents’
house, while your well-intentioned, but self-centred parents still treat you like a
10-year-old. By showing situations typical of Danish norms and traditions,
recognizable conflicts and behaviours in different life-style groups were
displayed and enlarged. In the series, losing face and the displayed gap
between the on-stage and back-stage behaviour of the characters was central
to the satirical sting directed at them. In this way, the ridicule in social satire put
forward a kind moral critique of the way life was lived, and of the norms and
values of the ordinary Danes portrayed.
The style was continued with more malice in series such as “Are You
Poorly Love?” (“Er du skidt skat?”, DR2, 2003-2004), “Banjo’s Liqueur Room”
(“Banjos likørstue”, DR2, 2001-2002), and last, but not least, in “The Boys from
Angora” (DR2, 2004). The latter series was broadcast on Friday nights from
21.00 to 21.30, and during its two seasons the ratings grew from 2.7% to 7.4%.
The series had a strong appeal to young adults, and built a well-developed and
much used website. At the website it was possible to view the already
broadcast episodes, and it was possible to also find material with a satirical
content that was produced directly for the website. “The Boys from Angora”
rapidly developed into a cross-media phenomenon and a satirical universe, not
just a television programme. The reason was to a large extent the way the
website supported, maintained, and enhanced the interest of the audience
3
created by the television programmes. The television part of “The Boys from
Angora” was a parody of a variety show-like programme set in a hotel room, but
put together as studio segments and many small features. The host was a
young man, who had a couple of peculiar male co-hosts. The intention of the
studio parts was to be entertaining, but everything ended in disaster because of
the shortcomings of the co-hosts and the conflicts between them, and because
of the host’s inability to control the co-hosts.
The male host also had to set the stage for the features in the programme.
The features consisted of new episodes of series with returning characters and
universes, of which the satirical docu.soap-parody about the wanna-beprofessional bicycle team Team Easy On particularly stood out. The team tried
against all odds to participate in the Tour de France, but in the first place, the
two team-members and their team coach had absolutely no talent. Second,
none of them was able to see the enormous gap between their own abilities and
what was in fact necessary, if they were to succeed. The satirical docu.soapparody had lots of vague allusions to the former Danish Tour de France-winner
Bjarne Riis, who is now the Director of the professional bicycle team CSC. Riis
in fact appeared in the series, and he was of course the idol of Team Easy On.
The people behind “The Boys from Angora” were three young men, who
wrote the material and played all the characters in the series. They formed an
ensemble, and had previously done radio satire and a very interesting, but at
the time overlooked, satirical docu.soap-parody called “The Bikers”, also for
DR2. One of the characters from “The Bikers”, Lars Allan Baunsbøl with the
nickname Baune reappeared in “The Boys From Angora”. In the series Baune
is, among other things, the host of a television agony column called “Baunes
3
Adding to the media attention of the series, and its growing number of viewers and users, was
the fact that one of the actors, Simon Kvamm, had several smash hits with his band Nephew
during this period.
brevkass’”. He also stars as the expert in the show, answering all the questions
put to the programme by the viewers. The feature illustrates the characteristics
of current social satire with regard to the relationship between egalitarian and
elitist modes and the use of the knowledge forms:
Baune is a rather ugly young man in his early twenties. He is dressed like a
tough biker and has a hip-hop influenced haircut that is styled with a lot of wax.
He is further blessed with an overbite and braces. Baune is not very bright, but
unfortunately he is not at all aware of his own limitations. He comes from
Jutland, in the western part of Denmark, and does not speak dialect but has the
specific inflection associated with the mid-western part of Jutland. People from
this part of Denmark are often mocked for being red-necks, and Baune certainly
confirms these prejudices. Baune has a strong need for presenting himself as a
very masculine individual of high social status, and in control of his life (cf. his
clothing style). But in every episode he loses face in front of the camera, and he
cuts a sorry figure, revealing the gap between his abilities and the demands put
to him by life and by the agony column. In the episode broadcast on
05.03.2004, the question put to him by a viewer regards how to attend a football
match. First of all, Baune has some difficulties in reading the letter aloud, and
his lack of proficiency in reading is demonstrated. But when he finally
understands the question, he answers with laughter and enthusiasm, throwing
himself into a chronologically organized narration of the phenomenon, with
himself as the protagonist. In the narrative, he tries to present himself as an
individual who masters the norms of masculinity and behaviour associated with
being part of a group of supporters. As an example, these norms involve being
able to master aggressive playfulness and have fun even while drunk.
Unfortunately, Baune gets carried away by his own narrative; he loses
control and he tells a defamatory story: In Baune’s universe attending a football
match involves getting too drunk and getting into a fight. And instead of having
a night out with the lads after the match, Baune goes home, drinks coffee and
watches football on commercial television with his mother. While telling the
story, Baune loses his high spirits and enthusiasm. He lowers his voice, looks
away from the camera and ducks. At this moment of total loss of face suffered
by the host and expert of the show the episode of the agony column ends.
Obviously, to understand the satirical sting in “Baunes Brevkass’”, complex
and detailed socio-political knowledge is presupposed. The audience has to be
familiar with certain lifestyles and social classes, norms, and specific cultural
codes, and prejudices in the Danish society. And perhaps knowledge is even
added to this kind of knowledge. By using this knowledge, Baune becomes the
object of ridicule: He is presented as a loser, and his self-delusions are
exposed. At first glance, the satirical sting is elitist and linked to the so-called
downward comparisons introduced earlier in this paper, placing the audience as
the “moral monitor” (Zillmann, 2000, p. 44). From this position the audience is
able to judge and condemn the behaviour and intentions of the characters. But
this perhaps rather misanthropic position could be the Achilles heel of social
satire, due to the egalitarian genre expectations of the audience, as well as the
producers, established by the genre tradition. In “Baunes Brevkass’” two things
are done to avoid a clear-cut elitist mode.
First, the discomfort of witnessing loss of face suffered by other human
beings is used to bring a tragic dimension into the portrait of Baune. His
emotional shift from enthusiasm to shame and confusion shows how vulnerable
he in fact is, and feeling pity for him is an option. Again, complex socio-political
knowledge is presupposed in the feature. The audience has to be familiar with
the problems in life that could be facing naïve and underprivileged members of
society like Baune. In this process, the viewer might even recognize his or her
own shortcomings in life. Second, his vulnerability is underpinned by the
egalitarian mode in “Baunes Brevkass’”. The feature is in fact a parody of the
television agony column as a sign of trash and low-budget television: The host
is a terrible amateur and he is not a trustworthy expert on life. The example
shows that he will never be able to give the viewers advice on anything
important. Accordingly, “Baunes Brevkass’” has a satirical sting pointed at the
media, and especially television, for taking advantage of young people wanting
to attain the high status associated with being in the media. They are being
made fools of, and so are the viewers who contact television to get some actual
help in life. Seen from this point of view, both Baune and the viewers are victims
of the cynical media.
The satirical sting directed at the media presupposed a media-cultural
knowledge of the conventions of a television genre, as well as the expectations
the hosts and the experts in this genre have to meet. It also presumed a
knowledge of the status television has in society, and the sometimes dubious
qualitative standards of its programming. The presupposed media-cultural
knowledge in “Drengene fra Angora” did not just involve the series broadcast on
television. The website added to the satirical sting directed at the media. As an
example, the website had a link to the (fake) sponsor behind the bicycle team
Team Easy On. The sponsor Easy On produced condoms, and the link again
linked to the advertising agency that designed the homepage. But the link either
did not work or worked very badly. The features depended heavily on the user’s
sense of humour and on the media-cultural knowledge of how often links
actually do not work. Furthermore, it added to the whole atmosphere of
enormous distance between ambitions and abilities surrounding Team Easy On
and the Angora-universe as a whole.
The website was an integrated part of what gradually became a satirical
cross-media format, and the satire introduced by the television episodes
continued on the web in different ways. An example was the alleged sale of a
video featuring the piano player performing as the co-host in the television part
of the series: Henrik Solgaard. The video was supposed to be on sale at
carefully selected petrol stations in Northern Jutland. The piano player had no
talent at all, but like all other characters in the show, he had no sense of his own
shortcomings, and the (fake) website-information added to the staging of the
character in the show. Again, the satire in “The Boys from Angora” depended on
the media-cultural knowledge of the audience. The audience had to be familiar
with the way in which websites are used as commercial back-up to television,
selling different products as well as branding the media company. The audience
also had to be aware of the specifics of the kind of music normally sold at petrol
stations in Denmark, especially in Northern Jutland. Furthermore, the audience
had to hold a socio-political knowledge of the quality assessment of this kind of
popular music by the cultural elite, in order to get the satirical sting.
4
4
The development of the website for the series evolved as the series grew more and more
popular during its second season. There was no actual ‘master plan’ from the beginning, but
the producer and the editor of the website worked together closely when trying out different
ideas. They wanted to make the website more than just an appendix to television. The stories
taking place on the website did not affect the televised series, though television was still the
main platform. The source for this information is the editor at DR-Ung, Rasmus Ladefoged,
who was the webmaster and web-editor during the production of “The Boys from Angora”.
SATIRICAL PARODIES AND MENTAL RECREATION
In order to produce this kind of cross-media satirical universe or format, the
production mode of social satire has to work with a production mode different
from the one traditionally applied in political satire. As an example, the
production of content needs to be planned ahead in detail, if the interaction
between the platforms involved in the cross-media product is to be successfully
utilized. In many ways, this new mode of production represents a change in
favour of social satire. As a consequence, the kind of traditional political satire
with a satirical treatment of the past week’s political agenda is no longer given
priority. The typical production mode of traditional political satire was for the
producer to hire a group of authors with a track record for being able to write
satirical material for newspapers, revue theatres, and radio. The bulk of the
material for the shows was produced very quickly, and often close to a weekly
dead-line. It was then handed over to a group of actors and a director/producer.
The actors often rehearsed the sketches immediately before the shows were
broadcast, and often there was very little time for rehearsals. Because of a
production mode very much in line with characteristics of news production, the
material had a good chance of reflecting the issues on yesterday’s political
agenda. Only the stand-up comedian Jan Gintberg has tried to combine the
immediacy of the stand-up tradition with political satire, in series like “Gintberg
Show Off” on DR2 (2000-2001) and “Gintberg’s Big Night” on TV 2/Zulu (2005).
But as symptomatic of the production mode of political satire, the shows did not
involve other platforms than television.
The production mode of social satire is much more in line with the
characteristics of the production mode of fiction, especially sit.com., and here I
would like to return to the discussion of the theoretical definition of satire, and
the relationship between parody and satire. As illustrated, in social satire the
reference to the context outside of the text is not as specific and manifest as in
political satire. The reference is often of a much more general and universal
kind, with no aim at specific current issues, people or programmes. This raises
the question of whether social satire is in fact satire, or merely more or less
malicious parody mistaken for satire. I am not able to answer the question, but
the feature “Baunes Brevkass’” in “The Boys from Angora” is an example of the
tension between satire and parody, and perhaps more to the point, the
difficulties in drawing a bullet-proof line between the two. Danish public service
television calls the series mentioned in this paper satire, and the labelling could
be a sign of what is currently understood by the term.
Social satire will probably dominate the development of television satire on
public service television in the years to come. As mentioned in the beginning of
the paper, the perhaps provocative ambiguity of the satirical sting, due to the
blend of elitist and egalitarian modes, could facilitate national-cultural selfreflection. As pointed out by Yngvar Kjus (2005) national-cultural self-reflection
probably does not lead to either major change in society or in the media genres
subject to satire or parody. In his analysis of humorous television series on
NRK, he suggests that satirical-parody programmes have a mental-recreational
function for the audience. Using Bakhtin’s theoretical view on the carnival, Kjus
argues that the programmes are probably neither subversive of social norms,
conventions, or power structures, nor conservative. The overall intention of the
programmes is to produce either playful laughter, or critique through ridicule,
but the function of laughter is essential. The function of laughter is to create a
sort of breathing space for the audience, where it is possible to experience a
reflective distance from specific social phenomena or the media forms that
guide us (Kjus, 2005, pp. 230-231). Nonetheless, one could add, this reflective
distance created by the laughter is deeply dependent on the audience’s mastery
of different forms of knowledge operating in the programmes. As the genre
development and the characteristics of cross-media used in social satire also
underpin, a growing complexity of knowledge forms are involved in the
programmes. In this way, television satire still represents a very special
entertainment genre on public service television.
SATIRE AND THE SEGMENTATION OF AUDIENCE BY
PUBLIC SERVICE
As the account of the main developments of the satirical programmes have
shown, the genre has gone through important innovations involving and
presupposing new forms of knowledge, as well as new media platforms. The
genre represents a strong tradition in Danish television, one that can be seen in
other north-western European countries, such as Great Britain and Norway.
Presently, the genre is in many ways thriving on Danish public service
television, as well as on the commercial niche channels operated by
broadcasters with public service obligations. The genre has managed to
creatively renew itself, and to use the aesthetic characteristics and
communicative potentials of the television medium in this process.
In the present use of the genre by Danish public service broadcasters, the
programmes are increasingly meant for selected audience segments, rather
than a wide, mainstream audience. As an example, target affinity for “The Boys
from Angora” illustrates the kind of ratings of which this strategy is a result. In
the 12-20 age group, the series had an average target affinity of 91%, but in the
21-30 age group the series had an average target affinity of 209%, and in the
31-40 age group the average target affinity was 160%. This strategy secures
reach in the politically important and commercially interesting target groups, and
is used to brand niche channels with limited penetration: TV 2/Zulu and DR2.
TV 2/Zulu’s target audience is young people or young adults, and it is important
to note that TV 2/Zulu is one of the company’s commercial activities not subject
to public service obligations. The figures on the channel’s actual share of
viewing in 2005 show that young people (12-20) and young adults (21-35) are
very well represented among the channel’s viewers (TV-Meter Årsrapport,
2005, pp. 24-25). DR2’s target audience is defined more by life-style than age.
The channel is targeted at the well-educated segments of the population with
interests in arts and culture and current affairs. Because the target audience is
defined by life-style, the age profile of the viewers is rather old, but as
illustrated, the satirical programmes have managed to attract the younger
viewers.
As a consequence of DR and TV 2’s programming strategies, the ratings
for satirical programmes have become very low. As an example of this
development, a satirical series in 1993 on TV 2 (“More Sport in a
Moment”/“Mere Sport om Lidt”) had a rating of 12.5%, and a series on TV
2/Zulu in 2005 (“Gintberg’s Big Night”/ “Gintbergs Store Aften”) had a rating of
0.9%. The same pattern can be seen on DR-TV between DR1 and DR2. An
example could be the series called “The TV-Anchovy” (“Tv-Ansjosen”),
broadcast from 1996-98 and with an average rating of 11%, compared to the
DR2-series from 2002 “The Wind Screens” (“Vindhætterne”).
A general discussion can be raised in the light of this development in the
programming strategies of public service television in Denmark. DR and TV 2
have, through the years, legitimized themselves politically as public service
broadcasters with a universal-service interpretation of the remit. In the
universal-service interpretation, diversity in programming has been a core value
promoted by the broadcasters, and so has the aim to cater to both broad
audiences and segments of the audience with special tastes or needs.
However, in actual scheduling and programming practice, the strategic use of
niche channels by DR and TV 2 means that the public service broadcaster’s two
main channels no longer offer programmes within the genre. Since 2002 no
satire series designed for the two main channels has been produced, “The
Kingdom” being the last one, and diversity in genre within entertainment has in
fact narrowed on the main channels. The entertainment profile is dominated by
quiz and game shows. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these two
entertainment genres, and DR and TV 2 have had tremendous success with
both during the last 10 years. Public service television in Denmark has
managed to build and maintain a strong entertainment profile. The profile
involves an adaptation to developments in commercial television, but at the
same time builds a specific value profile dominated by egalitarian values
(Bruun, 2005, pp. 160-61): In the quiz and game shows of Danish public service
television, the distinctions between the entertainer and the entertained are
increasingly blurred. The programmes depend on the concrete participation of
the audience in the programmes. The genre profile makes television a medium
of participation and sociability that is, to a large extent, produced by the viewers
themselves. The egalitarian values dominating the programmes lead to
inclusive entertainment underscoring the positive relations between human
beings. The programmes try to include everyone and to exclude no one from
the atmosphere of playfulness and belonging, and the programmes are full of
face-saving and polite modes of address. Consequently, the programmes are
harmless and playful, but they sometimes run the risk of being very boring.
As the presentation of the genre tradition and the genre characteristics of
television satire in Denmark hopefully have shown, the pain of boredom is not a
problem in satire. In this respect, the genre represents a difference to the
overall value profile of public service entertainment dominating DR1 and TV
2/Danmark. The renewed use of the genre could enhance and diversify the
value profile of public service entertainment directed at different target
audiences, not only the young audiences and the well-educated segments of
the audience. The satirical programmes have, through the years, proved to be a
rather popular entertainment genre, and could probably be used to reach
different target groups by different ways of using the genre, just as we have
seen in the use of the news genre.
At the moment, the aesthetic innovations and the creative renewal of the
genre involving new media have no obvious spin-off effect into the main
channels. The reason the creative energy is fixed to certain target groups is
perhaps not only a question of commercial, political, and branding
considerations, but also a question of the way programme development and the
creative processes are being structured by the broadcasting organizations and
the recruitment of the individuals involved. The historical changes in production
modes, just touched upon in this paper, need further research. At the moment,
the creative relationship between primary channels and a growing number of
niche channels in a media organization with public service obligations is
probably one of the issues facing Danish public service television. TV 2 in
particular has a conflict between the company’s commercial niche channels and
the public service obligations of the main channel. Recently, Head of
Programmes at TV 2, Bo Damgaard, asserted that the company’s growing
number of commercial niche channels was to be seen as a supplement, not an
alternative to the main channel. He was quoted as saying that the aim of TV 2’s
main channel “is to produce mainstream television drawing large audiences, not
to add to the segmentation and fragmentation of television”. He further added
“the difficult thing is to do mainstream programming that moves and challenges
the Danes” (TV 2/Danmark newsmail, August 26th, 2005, translated by HB).
Taking the statement by Bo Damgaard into account, Danish public service
television is, perhaps, now becoming involved in a more profound and visible
conflict between a traditional universal-service interpretation of the public
service remit, and the ability to creatively cater to different target groups with
diversity in programming within a variety of genres, including entertainment.
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