Overview

Television/Death intertwines the study of death, dying and bereavement on television with discussion of the ways that television (and the TV archive) provides access to the dead. Section One looks at the representation of death, dying and the afterlife on television, in historical and contemporary factual television (from around the world) and in US television drama. Section Two focuses on dramas of grief and bereavement and discusses how the long form seriality and narrative complexity of television, from family melodramas to the ghost serial, allows for an emotionally realist representation of experiences of grief, bereavement and death-related trauma. Finally, Section Three proposes that television has been overlooked in critical analyses of recorded sounds' and images' propensity to 'bring back the dead'. It argues that television is the posthumous medium par excellence and looks at how the dead return via incorporation into new television programmes or through projects to bring television out of the archive.

Full Product Details

Author:   Helen Wheatley (Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick.)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.603kg
ISBN:  

9781474451727

ISBN 10:   1474451721
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   30 April 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction: Television/Death Section One: Death and Dying on Television Chapter One: Everyday death: The early history of death on British television Chapter Two: Signs of care: Assisted suicide on television Section Two: Dramas of Grief, Bereavement and the Television Afterlife Chapter Three: A good death? Death and the afterlife in US television fiction Chapter Four: Dramas of grief: television and mourning Chapter Five: Haunted houses, haunted landscapes: grief and trauma in the television ghost story Section Three: Posthumous Television Chapter Six: Entering the mausoleum: Posthumous television Chapter Seven: Ghost town: Posthumous television in the city Notes References Index

Reviews

""In Television/Death, Helen Wheatley pursues the topic of television and death in many different and unexpected ways. In the process she sheds light on issues and ideas that are at once illuminating and compelling. This includes the ways in which television's representations of death, and the television archive, serve as a source of memory, grief, and even trauma. She handles these issues with distinctive sensitivity and insight. This is a wholly original study from a scholar whose critical eye and theoretical mind consistently open the field to new ideas, and this book is no exception."" --Professor Mimi White, Northwestern University Television, Helen Wheatley argues cogently and persuasively, is much possessed of death. Her book is a dazzlingly wide-ranging study of the dying, the dead and the afterlife in documentaries and dramas. Exploring questions of television and intimacy, ethics, community and, crucially, the archive, this is a rich, engaging, essential volume. --Professor John Wyver, University of Westminster

"""In Television/Death, Helen Wheatley pursues the topic of television and death in many different and unexpected ways. In the process she sheds light on issues and ideas that are at once illuminating and compelling. This includes the ways in which television's representations of death, and the television archive, serve as a source of memory, grief, and even trauma. She handles these issues with distinctive sensitivity and insight. This is a wholly original study from a scholar whose critical eye and theoretical mind consistently open the field to new ideas, and this book is no exception."" --Professor Mimi White, Northwestern University Television, Helen Wheatley argues cogently and persuasively, is much possessed of death. Her book is a dazzlingly wide-ranging study of the dying, the dead and the afterlife in documentaries and dramas. Exploring questions of television and intimacy, ethics, community and, crucially, the archive, this is a rich, engaging, essential volume. --Professor John Wyver, University of Westminster"

Author Information

Helen Wheatley, Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick.

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