Le texte de la série télévisée Friends a été analysé dans le cadre de l’Analyse Critique du Discours. L’étude concerne deux thèmes principaux présents dans les conversations des personnages de la série : les hommes et les femmes, ainsi que l’hétéro- et l’homosexualité. L’analyse se concentre sur les fragments concernant la situation des candidats sur le « marché des relations », les fragments où les personnages masculins et féminins se trouvent dans la même situation, mais où le langage utilisé pour parler des deux est diamétralement différent, les insultes adressées aux hommes et aux femmes, les fragments concernant le mariage et le divorce, ainsi que la maternité et la paternité. En ce qui concerne le deuxième thème principal, l’analyse se concentre sur les stéréotypes reproduits par le texte, les réactions, diamétralement différentes, des personnages masculins et féminins en face d’une accusation d’homosexualité, les insultes et la question du cross-voyeurism, apparemment normalisé dans le texte et limité exclusivement au cross-voyeurism masculin. Finalement, l’étude se concentre sur deux binômes : le langage et l’image, d’une part, le langage et le pouvoir d’autre part. Le pouvoir, vu dans une perspective foucaldienne, est étudié par rapport à la doxa et au discours encratique. / The text of the TV series Friends has been analyzed within the framework of the Critical Discourse Analysis. The study concerns two main themes present in the conversations of the characters of the series: men/women, as well as hetero-/homosexuality. The analysis concentrates on fragments concerning the situation of the candidates on the “relationship market”, fragments where male and female characters find themselves in the same situation but where the language used to talk about the two is utterly different, insults addressed at men and women, fragments concerning marriage and divorce, as well as those regarding maternity and paternity. As far as the second main theme is concerned, the analysis focuses on the stereotypes reproduced by the text, the reactions, utterly different, of male and female characters faced with accusations of being homosexual, insults, and the question of cross-voyeurism, apparently normalized in the text and restricted to male cross-voyeurism. Finally, the study focuses on two duos: language and image, and, on the other hand, language and power. Power, perceived from the Foucauldian perspective, is examined in connection with doxa and encratic discourse.

This study aims to investigate how English teachers in Sweden use fictional movies and TV series in their classrooms, in order to discover the potential they can have for students’ language proficiency, literacy, and cultural knowledge. The data is collected through a questionnaire distributed to 65 teachers in lower- and upper-secondary school, and secondary adult education. In the questionnaire the teachers are asked about their general habits in using fictional movies and TV series, such as how often they use them and whether they involve their students in the choosing of movies and TV series or not. Furthermore, the 65 respondents are asked what factors they take into consideration when choosing a movie or TV series, how they relate the viewing to the syllabus, what areas of language proficiency they most often address through the viewing, how they introduce the viewing to their students, and what intentional and accidental purposes they believe movies and TV series can serve. The results show that most teachers use fictional movies to a greater extent than fictional TV series. Furthermore, the results show that most teachers provide clear aims to their viewing of movies and TV series, as well as having clear connections to the different syllabuses. It is also evident that teachers see movies and TV series as a valuable resource when developing their students’ language proficiency, literacy, and cultural knowledge.

This diploma theses titled Story building in serial format focusing on the Chernobyl miniseries analyses the serial Chernobyl coproduced by American HBO and British Sky aired in 2019. Chernobyl miniseries gained public recognition and still ranks as one of the highest-rated TV shows in history according to movie databases in the Czech Republic and abroad. It also received wide media coverage from different newspapers and movie servers. The miniseries has five episodes it describes primarily the human aspect of a horrifying disaster in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. The main aim of this theses is content and dramaturgy analysis, description, and development of individual characters and themes. This diploma thesis also focuses on the story building of a serial in terms of theoretical concepts and aspects typical for making serials and series. Moreover, the thesis mentions particular Czech and international reviews of Chernobyl.

The purpose of this research is to examine the current reception situation of the chosen four American TV series in Chinese college campuses. Rather than focusing on the series content, this thesis would focus much more on the audience part, to explore how the personal backgrounds and social factors would influence certain ATS received by certain group of people. This research is based on 222 valid responses from a highly structured questionnaire. The responses are collected from five universities which are located in the east, west, south, north and middle of China, with consideration of gender, major and school year as basic variables. The questionnaire is published on a website. Students are given a web link, finish the questionnaire and submit their answers online. Collected materials are processed with Excel functions and illustrated both by numbers and different graphs. The analysis revealed that there existed several motivations for Chinese students to watch American TV series and it turned out to have influence on them in a more or less similar way. A noticeable finding includes that both the motivations and the influences vary depending on the students' age, gender, major and the geographic location they belong to. And this is supported by the data obtained from their responses. Generally speaking, motivations for Chinese students include practicing English and gaining knowledge of western culture and societies through watching ATS; following the fashion in order to get along better with their peers; enhancing self-identity by choosing different genres; and escaping from study pressure from the real life. Very interesting phenomenon is that few students watch ATS merely for relaxation, which means ATS is received in China more than a simple tool for entertainment. Most of the motivations are gratified. Studies show that ATS does have great impact on Chinese college students both as a language learning tool and a culture messenger. However, it should be noted that influences vary depending on some factors. Geographically speaking, students in the less developed cities in China, where educational infrastructure is relatively backward, mostly utilized ATS as a useful tool to improve their English; while students in the developed cities, find more similarities between their life and what is portrayed on the screen hence they believe the greatest influences lie in culture aspects. Studies also found that, compared with boys, girls are more likely to be influenced by external factors such as peer pressure. In terms of genre, girls show evident preference for romance and emotions while boys insist their likes on crime, technology, violence etc. Senior students, due to more spare time out of class, indicate a more positive engagement in watching ATS, with more time devoted to it while the freshmen obviously have less time because they are busy with themselves not only in class but also in other extra-class activities in addition to ATS. Students of different majors show diverse preferences for different genres, which is supported by data from the research, too. General findings can be expanded and concluded into two aspects: Firstly, ATS is more than an entertainment in Chinese college campus; secondly, social context works greatly on young audiences' reception in American · TV series/serials. The context incorporates not only an economic one, but more importantly, a cultural one. Audiences' own identities, along with these social contexts, will work together in altering the audiences' reception for certain content. The thesis is not free from limitations, which is listed at the end of the text. Given more time, adding more qualitative interviews to deepen the obtained results from the quantitative responses, and adding more control in questionnaire retrieval process, I believe this research would go further in where it aims to go. However, since there is so far not any empirical study concerning Chinese college students' reception for American TV series/serials, this research still hopes to contribute a bit to the reception studies framework within a Chinese context. Future exploration could be oriented to cross-cultural reception studies, which expect to find more diversity within different social context.

The aim of this case study is to analyze how gender is portrayed in the TV series Euphoria. Previous research has indicated that gender media portrayal often is narrow and stereotypical, reinforcing outdated perceptions of masculinity and femininity. These portrayals can keep harmful stereotypes alive and affect how people see themselves and others. By examining the portrayal of gender, this study aims to determine whether the show reproduces or challenges gender stereotypes. The theoretical framework includes discourse analysis, various theories about gender, objectification theory and film theory. This study is conducted through a multimodal critical discourse analysis, utilizing the semiotics of denotation and connotation in specific scenes from both seasons of Euphoria, focusing on three characters. After analyzing the scenes, each character was placed in a "stereotype schema" which includes attributes of nine different typical gender roles for both men and women. This approach allows for systematically assessing how each character aligns with or deviates from traditional gender roles. The results of this study demonstrate that the TV series presents a complex depiction of gender, both reinforcing and challenging gender stereotypes. The show portrays a limited range of gender expressions, with some characters conforming closely to traditional stereotypes, while others offer a more diverse and unconventional representation, diverging from typical gender norms.

“Can women talk about anything but men? – a comparative narrative analysis of the television series “Skilda världar” and “SKAM””   The purpose of this study is to compare how young women are portrayed in two different Scandinavian television shows. Especially which roles they are given as young women in different decades since the television shows were aired with a 19-year time difference. The first one being the Swedish “Skilda världar” and the second one is the Norwegian international internet success “SKAM”. Theories used in this study are postmodern theories and gender theories. Anja Hirdmans Tilltalande Bilder (2001) are used to explains how women are presented in the media. It follows by a subchapter on how women are portrayed in TV series and soap operas. The theories and previous research served as tools for the analysis. A narrative method has been used, with Vladimir Propps functions to make indentations. The three first episodes of each series has been analysed with 1-4 indentations. In addition to Propps functions the actant-modell of Algirdas J. Greimas has been used to explain the roles of the characters. The result of the study shows a difference between the main young female characters. Sandra, the main female character of “Skilda världar” is much more controlled by her family. She’s to a greater extent treated like an object than the female main character in “SKAM”, Eva. Eva shows more moral courage and independency. Both of the leading female roles have a dream of liberating themselves. They have various types of liberations but with similar elements. Sandra wants to free herself from the oppressing demands of her home, and find passion and love through a relationship. Eva wants to become more independent from her boyfriend and create an own social circle. Heterosexual relationships are the subconscious centre in both of their stories.

Résumé : Ce mémoire propose d’étudier les représentations de la masculinité dans les productions cinématographiques post-apocalyptiques. Il consiste plus précisément en une analyse qualitative de contenu qui cible six films et trois séries télévisées, tous réalisés depuis les événements du 11 septembre 2001. Partant du principe que la masculinité hégémonique peut être définie comme le modèle actuel de masculinité idéalisée et imposée, ce mémoire cherche à dégager quels traits de personnalité sont valorisés et lesquels sont dévalués. Les résultats montrent que les représentations de la masculinité sont encore conservatrices : les personnages masculins occupent des rôles plus importants que les personnages féminins et les leaders des groupes restreints sont généralement des hommes blancs, hétérosexuels et âgés de 35 à 44 ans. Cependant, les personnages masculins possèdent une grande variété de traits de personnalités, un changement considérable par rapport aux caractéristiques stéréotypées du Action Hero. / Abstract : The following study pursue an analysis of the various representations of masculinity in post-apocalyptic movies and TV-series. It consists more precisely of a qualitative content analysis, which focus on six movies and three TV-Series pilots, all produced since September 11th 2001. Assuming that hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the current model of imposed and idealized masculinity, this paper seeks to identify which personality traits are valued and which ones are devalued. The results show that the representations of masculinity are still conservative: the male characters occupy more important roles than female characters and leaders of small groups are usually white, heterosexual men aged 35 to 44 years. However, the male characters have a variety of personality traits, a considerable change from the stereotypical characteristics of the Action Hero.

Ce travail porte sur la mise en scène et mise en visibilité des problèmes publics et débats de société dans les séries et feuilletons télévisés français. Le terrain mobilise un corpus de quatre séries françaises, deux de service public et deux de la chaîne payante Canal+. Au travers d'une double approche, nous envisageons le rôle de ces productions dans la sphère publique française ainsi que les enjeux différenciés qu'elles revêtent. D'une part, certaines endossent une fonction de lien social et de consolidation des valeurs de la société française, en élaborant des mises en scène traitant de débats de société ou de questions de moeurs et en offrant au téléspectateur-citoyen l'accès à ces problématiques grâce aux potentialités spécifiques du genre sériel. Il s'agit également d'étudier les stratégies de communication publique qui, en s'inscrivant dans le cadre de ces feuilletons ou séries, renouvellent leur champ d'action et bénéficient des atouts de la fiction. D'autre part certaines de ces productions peuvent être envisagées comme une tribune alternative permettant à des acteurs engagés - ou issus de sphères professionnelles antérieures – de relayer des revendications et d'accéder à la visibilité de la scène médiatisée. La série s'érige alors en « opérateur de la visibilité » au service d'entrepreneurs de cause et devient partie intégrante des processus de construction des problèmes publics dans les arènes publiques françaises. / This work focuses on the staging and public visibility of social problems and social debates in French television series and soap operas. The field mobilises a corpus of four French series, two from public service and two from the pay-TV channel Canal +. Through a double approach, we consider the role of these productions in the French public sphere as well as the differentiated stakes they take. One the one hand, some endorses a function of social bonding and consolidation of values of the French society by elaborating stagings regards with societal debates or morality issues and by offering the citizen-viewer access to these problematic thought the specific potential of the serial genre. It is also a question of studying the strategies of public communication which, by being part of these soap operas or series, renew their field of action and benefit from the assets of the fiction. On the other hand, some of these productions can be considered as an alternative platform allowing actors involved – or from previous professional spheres – to relay claims and gain access to visibility of the media scene. The series then become a “visibility promoter” in theof entrepreneurs' cause and become part of the process of building social problems in the French public arena.

Sätten att titta på TV-serier har utökats de senaste åren i och med Internets allt mer centrala rolli vår mediekonsumtion. Sverige har gått ifrån att vara ett land med en enda public service-kanaltill ett med ett stort utbud av kommersiella TV-kanaler med syfte att locka tittare och annonsörer.I vår studie har vi undersökt aspekter av TV-serier som ligger utanför själva texten. GerardGenette (1997) var den som myntade uttrycket paratext som består av de två delarna peritextoch epitext. Dock är det Jonathan Gray (2010) som pratar om paratexter i relation till TV-serier,medan Genette (1997) endast beskriver paratexter i samband med litteratur. Eftersom det finnsså många olika TV-serier och TV-kanaler är det viktigt för en ny TV-serie att sticka ut blandmängden, samt att skapa en bild av vilken typ av TV-serie den är innan den faktiskt börjat sändas.Vi har använt oss av tre olika metoder för att kunna besvara våra två frågeställningar som rörvilka epitexter TV-kanaler använder sig av och hurvida det finns ett intresse hos tittare att kunnaengagera sig vidare i en TV-serie. Vår första metod utgjordes av en kvantitativ innehållsanalys avtio svenska TV-serier på fem olika svenska TV-kanaler, där vi främst riktade in oss på epitextersom kan hittas online. Därefter skapade vi en kvantitativ enkätundersökning där 79 respondentersom tittar på TV-serier deltog. Den sista metoden var en kvalitativ innehållsanalys på fyrapopulära svenska TV-seriers officiella webbplatser.Vårt resultat tyder på att det finns ett starkt intresse hos TV-tittare att följa en TV-serie på andrasätt än endast på utsatt tid på TV:n, och även att det finns en vilja att diskutera TV-serier, medsläkt och med vänner, likväl som med främlingar på Internet. Webbplatser för de olika TV-serierna erbjuder besökare möjligheter till både diskussion och vidare läsning om exempelvisavsnitt eller karaktärer. På så sätt skapas ett engagemang som gynnar båda parter. / Ways of watching TV series have increased over the years by way of the ever expanding part theInternet plays in our media consumption. Sweden has gone from being a country with a singlepublic service channel to one with a wide range of commercial TV channels with the purposeto attract viewers and advertisers. In our study we have examined aspects of TV series that existbeyond the text itself. Gerard Genette (1997) was the one who coined the expression paratextwhich consists of two parts; peritext and epitext. Though Jonathan Gray (2010) is the one whowrote about paratexts in relation to TV series, whereas Genette (1997) only describes them interms of literature. Because there are so many different TV series and television channels it isimportant for a new series to stand out from the rest, while also making it easy for potentialviewers to determine the show’s genre even before it has started airing. We have used threedifferent methods to be able to answer our two main questions about what different epitexts TVchannels use and whether there is an interest among viewers to be able to engage themselvesfurther in a TV series. Our first method consisted of a quantitative content analysis of tenSwedish TV series from five different Swedish television channels, where we mainly looked atepitexts found online. After this we made a quantitative survey in which 79 people who watchTV series took part. Our last method used was a qualitative content analysis of the officialwebsites of four popular, Swedish TV series.The result of our study shows a strong interest among viewers to follow a television seriesbeyond its regular broadcasting on television, and also that there is a will to discuss TV series,among family and friends, as well as with strangers found online. Websites of the different TVseries give visitors possibilities for discussion and further reading about, for example, episodesand characters from the show. In this way an involvement that benefits both parties is created.

Denna uppsats undersöker TV-serien Star Treks värderingar ur ett politiskt ideologiskt perspektiv. Star Trek är en amerikansk science fiction-serie som skapades av Gene Roddenberry i mitten av 1960-talet. Frågeställningarna behandlar om det finns politiskt relaterade värderingar framställda i Star Trek, vilken politisk ideologi som mest liknar värderingarna i serien, och om det går att tolka det som om Star Trek har en ideologisk värdegrund. Med hjälp av dagordningsteori, kritisk medieteori och teorier om budskap diskuteras TV-bolagens makt över seriens innehåll. De politiska ideologierna konservatism, liberalism och socialism har valts för att kunna jämföras med analysmaterialet. Sex avsnitt från originalserien analyserades med hjälp av en hermeneutik och kvalitativ metod för att bäst kunna få insikt i materialet. Den faktiska analysen har skett med den narratologiska aktantmodellen samt närläsning baserad på kritisk medieteori, där citat bryts ut och tolkas. Resultaten har delats in i tre kategorier, nämligen ekonomi, människosyn och samhällsstruktur för att underlätta sammanställandet. Undersökningen visar att det finns både positivt och negativt framställda värderingar i Star Trek.Ingen politisk ideologi framställs som denenda rätta, men tendensen är att konservatism är minst propagerat för, medan den demokratiska varianten av socialism verkar förespråkas mest. Att resultatet blev splittrat kan härledas till att medieföretagen har stort inflytande över innehållet och att det är svårt att konsekvent framhäva en politisk ideologi i en TV-serie som Star Trek. Detta till följd av formatet på serierna och att de amerikanska TV-bolagen sätter speciella kommersiella krav på produktionen. Det reflekteras också över att politiska värderingar i ett underhållningmedium kan vara effektiva eftersom de politiska budskapen inte har fokus utan intas indirekt. / This thesis examines the values in the TV-series called Star Trek from a political perspective. Star Trek is an American science fiction-series that was created byGene Roddenberry during the mid-1960s. The queries are about whether or not political values are expressed in Star Trek, what political ideology is coherent with those, and if it is possible to interpret this as if Star Trek has an actual politically ideological fundament. Media power over content has been discussed, and because of this there has been made use of critical media theories together with theory of agenda setting and message. The political ideologies of conservatism, liberalism and socialism have been chosen to be compared with the material of analysis.Seven episodes of the original series have been chosen to get a good view of the material by the use of hermeneutic and qualitative research methodology.The analysis was done with the narratological actant model plus a method based on critical media theory, where quotes are being extracted and interpreted. The results have been categorised as either relating to economics, view of mankind or structure of society. The examination shows that there are both positively and negatively described values in Star Trek. No distinct political ideology is being clearly advocated, but there are tendencies for negative views of conservative values aswell as a positive coherence with democratic socialism. The results were difficult to conclude, and this could point towards that the media companies have big influence over their transmitted contents, and that it is difficult to consistently highlight politically ideological values in a television series like Star Trek. This is because the format of TV-series set by american commercial interests puts certain demands on productions. There are reflections about that political values in a medium of entertainment could be effective since the political messages are not in focus but received indirectly.