Tsukamoto, Eri (2020) Online audience responses to the representations of animals in wildlife docu-soaps. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates audience responses to representations of animals in two wildlife docu-soaps: Meerkat Manor and Orangutan Island. Wildlife docu-soaps area hybrid genre which shares features with other genres such as soap opera and reality TV. I undertake a qualitative study that uses content analysis to explore online audience comments, reviews and interactions on three websites: IMDb, TV.com and YouTube. I also carry out a textual analysis of an episode from each of the programmes. My findings indicate that audiences respond to meanings offered by the texts but also read texts in a range of ways, indicating their active engagement with the narrative. Furthermore, individualisation and anthropomorphism are key to audiences’ emotional responses to the animal characters. In my analysis, I draw on concepts which have been developed for understanding audience responses to programmes depicting humans, specifically human-interest story, identification and para-social relations. I find, however, that, while useful, they are unable to completely account for responses that relate to wildlife docu-soaps’ focus on animals; this suggests a different conceptual framework is required for programmes narrativizing animal lives. I explore how online communities shape audience responses: audience members not only use online spaces to share their interests and enthusiasm about the programmes, but also to exchange information with each other. They also compare and judge various para-texts and encourage others to do so which contributes to their responses to wildlife docu-soaps. I conclude that wildlife docu- soap audiences show a variety of responses which can be contradictory and are often in tension with each other; they raise questions about the ethics of filming wild animals and about relationships between humans and animals as well as exhibiting emotional responses to individual animal characters. Online communities have a significant role in shaping audience responses, which are different on the three platforms.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Animals on television, Wildlife television programs -- Great Britain, Wildlife television programs -- Electronic discussion groups, Documentary television programs -- Great Britain -- History and criticism
Official Date:	2020
Dates:	Date Event 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Charles, Nickie
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	306 leaves : illustrations (some colour)
Language:	eng

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