In this work, I focus on the propagation of environmental issues through sitcom and comparison of the perception of these topics by Czech and Dutch audiences. I report on the results of focus group research of the American show The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019), from which artefacts were pre-selected with the assistance of thematic analysis. These findings suggest different perception of the environmental contents included in the researched series, the same as the varying perception of hypothetical promotion of the environmental issues in the future series. Generally speaking, the global sample perceives the promotion of environmental issues in popular media positively, though the degree and the form of the accepted usage of these topics vary. Czech audiences perceive the topics more negatively than the Dutch audience, showing a lower sensitivity threshold for a possible attack on their own opinions and identity. The most significant differences were observed in the perception of the concept of nature, the person interested in the environment, and the individual impact on the improvement/deterioration of the environment. A suitable tool for communicating environmental issues in the sitcom is corrective irony (allowing to emphasize the contrast between environmental awareness and personal actions to...

Nel contesto italiano, molti prodotti mediali sono di origine straniera: diffusi o trasmessi insieme a quelli di produzione nazionale, al tempo stesso cambiano spesso forma, per andare incontro al pubblico italiano, e diventano, almeno in parte, diversi dall’originale. La tesi vuole, pertanto, porre le basi teoriche per uno studio sistematico dei processi di “mediazione” che intercorrono nel passaggio di un testo mediale da un Paese all’altro: l’appropriazione nazionale (“italianizzazione”), l’adattamento, la distribuzione, la circolazione e la messa in pagina di contenuti e prodotti. Tali strumenti trovano poi applicazione (e insieme conferma) nell’analisi delle vicende italiane della sitcom americana, e di alcuni titoli in particolare, sotto tre punti di vista: la ricostruzione della storia del genere, che segue le evoluzioni del sistema televisivo e mediale nazionale e da questo è mediato; la definizione delle oscillazioni e variazioni che il testo affronta, senza limitarsi alla traduzione ma seguendone l’adattamento e la traslazione; infine, il racconto dei percorsi tra mercati, doppiaggi e reti che compongono la filiera della sitcom, mettendo in evidenza il ruolo intermedio svolto dalle routine produttive e dagli addetti ai lavori coinvolti nella distribuzione internazionale (e poi, nel nuovo contesto, nazionale). / In the Italian context, several media products have foreign origins: diffused or broadcast together with the national productions, they often change their nature in order to reach the Italian audience, and consequently become partially different products. Therefore, this dissertation aims to put the theoretical basis of a systematic study of the “mediation” processes that take place in the passage of a media text between two countries: national appropriation (“Italianization”), adaptation, distribution and circulation of different contents and products. Subsequently, these tools are applied on (and confirmed by) the analysis of the Italian vicissitudes of the US-made situation comedy, focusing on five titles, in order to study three aspects: the genre history on Italian TV, connected with the evolution of the national TV and media system; the variations and gaps that every text has to face, thus expanding the concept of translation into adaptation and transposition; in conclusion, the US sitcom chain in Italy, including TV markets, dubbings and broadcasting, highlighting the intermediary role played by production routines and professionals involved in the national and international distribution.

This study tried to have an exploratory study about the cross-cultural effect of the content of the message board by examining the sitcom programs both broadcasted in Japan and Taiwan. The theory of Individualism versus Collectivism from Hofstede is used as a basis of this study. Moreover, the other factors such as country of origin and viewers’ profile have specific effects toward our findings as well. The content analysis was applied to analyze the data collected from the message board. The practical research relates to the objective of customers and the segmentation of products by analyzing the data of a company. There are important implications of cross-cultural customers and marketing practices according to this research. The future research is expected by examining other aspects of relative issues.

Lors des années 2000, le paysage télévisuel américain a été profondément bouleversé par l’arrivée d’Internet. Que ce soit dans sa production, sa création ou sa réception, l’évolution rapide des technologies numériques et l’apparition des nouveaux médias ont contraint l’industrie télévisuelle à changer, parfois contre son gré. C’est le cas de la chaîne généraliste américaine NBC, pour qui cette période de transition a été particulièrement difficile à traverser. Au coeur de ce moment charnière dans l’histoire de la télévision aux États-Unis, la sitcom Community (NBC, 2009-2014; Yahoo!Screen, 2015) incarne et témoigne bien de différentes transformations amenées par cette convergence entre Internet et la télévision et des conséquences de cette dernière dans l’industrie télévisuelle. L’observation du parcours tumultueux de la comédie de situation ayant débuté sur les ondes de NBC dans le cadre de sa programmation Must-See TV, entre 2009 et 2014, avant de se terminer sur le service par contournement Yahoo! Screen, en 2015, permet de constater que Community est un objet télévisuel qui a constamment cherché à s’adapter à un média en pleine mutation. Son incapacité à survivre à l’instabilité secouant l’industrie télévisuelle, par l’entremise de la télévision traditionnelle et de la télévision en ligne, souligne ainsi que le passage de la télévision vers cette ère numérique est plus complexe qu’il ne paraît. / During the 2000s, the American televisual landscape was deeply shaken by the arrival of the Internet. The quick growth of digital technologies and the emergence of new types of media forced a reluctant television industry to change; be that in production, creation or reception. This transition from a pre-digital to a digital form of television was particularly difficult for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). In the midst of this defining moment in American television history came Community (NBC, 2009-2014; Yahoo!Screen, 2015), a sitcom that embodied and reflected the various transformations brought by the convergence of the Internet and television, as well as the consequences this confluence bore to that industry. From being broadcast on NBC’s Must-See TV lineup between 2009 and 2014 to then moving to Yahoo!’s online platform in 2015, Community’s journey in television revealed its multiple attempts at adapting to a media in mutation. Therefore, the inability of the series to survive an unstable television industry through both traditional and online means underlines the complexity pertaining to television’s transition to a digital era.

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Through exploring the use of documentary style in a selection of contemporary American comedy series, this thesis closes in on the question whether texts that stylistically differ from traditional sitcom can still be regarded as part of the sitcom genre. The contemporary American TV series that are being analyzed are The Office, Arrested Development, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Michael J. Fox Show. As the series’ place within sitcom becomes apparent, the analysis ultimately leads to a critical investigation of the term “comedy verite.” Questioning the concepts applicability for the American series and their development leads to the investigation of new definitions. This analysis of contemporary televisual styles reveals a myriad of deeper issues and elucidates how stylistic developments point towards broader developments of the TV medium – towards a medium more and more defined by, or even drenched in, “reality.”

Although animated sitcom fiction has always been the focus of researchers analysis, historical studies about animated series aired on TV are still scarce. Moreover, whether researchers have investigated animated sitcoms, it was not with the intention of discussing their relation to the images of Brazil and Brazilians conveyed both on TV and the Internet. Because of that the object of study of this thesis is the discussion of socio-historical-political dimensions in The Simpsons , a profitable animated sitcom and a satirical parody of a working class American lifestyle family, whose episodes have been aired on Brazil and all over the world s TV channels for more than two decades. Therefore, the corpus of this investigation is some of the series episodes, notably Blame it on Lisa during which the fictional family travels to Brazil. With the objective of bringing to light the representations of Brazil in the last decades the research makes use of the internauts speech acts of which emerge their critical discourse construction of the The Simpsons. The Internet, an interesting locus to reveal Brazil and its relation to the American production of series, is also used not only in an attempt to define simpsonized language and discuss the (re)signification of Brazil s imagery as created by the internauts, but also to put to question concepts such as family, childhood, criminality, violence, sexuality in children s programs and the lampooning of Brazilian identity symbols, always treated in an unflattering or negative light, in the search for larger audiences (Top 30 ratings) and for money, categories also selected for the development of this work. Still, anthropophagy, a category largely used in Brazilian literary (con)texts in the beginning of the XX century, supported the analysis of internauts and actual viewers perception of the series as a point of departure for helping engender behavior and attitudes that can help rebuild realities, via massive media, even if inspired by The Simpsons, and mainly based upon criticism revealed by the episode Blame it in Lisa. On the one hand, the text attests the capacity of Brazilians, by means of using communicative technologies, for reacting against the negative satirical portrait of Brazil and Brazilians and on the other, for rescuing this image, even if utilizing that simpsonized language . Research leads to the conclusion that Brazilian internauts and actual viewers do not watch The Simpsons passively but stand up against the unflattering insinuations in relation to Brazilian culture, society, history, folklore, Brazil and the Brazilian people, and try to rescue those images conveyed by the sitcom episodes, especially the ones in Blame it on Lisa . And yet, the text evidences that certain images of Brazil and Brazilians represented in the animated sitcom expresses the troublesome reality of truthfully and because of that they have become one of the thesis concerns and another significant aspect to be considered. Such images are the reason for the investigator s raising relevant questions and his strongly suggesting accurate reflection and discussion on such a matter. / Embora as séries ficcionais animadas tenham sido alvo de análises pelos pesquisadores, estudos históricos sobre os desenhos animados da TV são ainda incipientes. Alem disso, se os pesquisadores investigaram os seriados animados, não foi com a intenção de discutir sua relação com as imagens de Brasil e de brasileiros veiculados na TV e na Internet. Por essas razões, o objeto de estudo desta tese é a discussão sobre as dimensões sócio-histórico-políticas em Os Simpsons , paródia satírica lucrativa sobre uma família de classe média americana cujos episódios povoaram as telinhas do Brasil e de outros países por mais de duas décadas. Portanto, o corpus desta investigação são alguns dos capítulos da série, em especial O Feitiço de Lisa, durante o qual a família ficcional viaja ao Brasil. Com o objetivo de trazer à luz as representações de Brasil das últimas décadas, esta pesquisa utiliza a fala dos internautas da qual emerge a construção de seu discurso crítico sobre Os Simpsons e nosso país. A Internet, lugar para revelar o Brasil e suas relações com a produção americana de séries ficcionais, é também usada, não apenas como tentativa para definir linguagem simpsonizada e discutir a (re)significação da imagem do Brasil como criada pelos internautas, mas também para repensar os conceitos de família, infância, criminalidade, violência, sexualidade em programas infantis e o descaso pelos símbolos identitários do Brasil, sempre tratados de modo negativo e denigritório, na busca por maiores níveis de audiência e dinheiro, estas, categorias também selecionadas para se desenvolver esta investigação. Também, a antropofagia, categoria muito utilizada em (con)textos literários brasileiros no começo do século XX, foi o suporte da análise da percepção dos internautas e telespectadores sobre a referida série, como geradora de atitudes e comportamentos que ajudam a reconstruir realidades, via mídia de massa, mesmo se inspiradas por Os Simpsons, principalmente a partir da crítica revelada no episódio O feitiço de Lisa . O texto, por um lado, atesta a capacidade dos brasileiros, com o uso de tecnologias comunicativas, de reagir contra o retrato satírico-negativo do Brasil e dos brasileiros e, por outro, de promover a retomada dessa imagem, mesmo fazendo uso daquela linguagem simpsonizada . A pesquisa leva à conclusão de que os brasileiros, internautas e telespectadores, nem sempre assistem aos episódios de Os Simpsons passivamente, mas reagem criticamente, posicionando-se contrários às insinuações depreciativas em relação à cultura, sociedade, história, ao folclore, ao próprio povo brasileiro e ao Brasil, e tentam resgatar as imagens do Brasil e dos brasileiros veiculadas na série Os Simpsons, principalmente as exploradas no episódio O Feitiço de Lisa. E, no entanto, o texto evidencia que certas imagens de Brasil e dos brasileiros representadas no desenho animado expressam a problemática realidade do Brasil e, por isso, tornaramse uma preocupação e outro aspecto significante a serem considerados nesta tese. Por essas razões, essas imagens de Brasil se tornam a razão de o investigador levantar questões pertinentes e sugerir veementemente reflexões e discussões sérias sobre esse assunto. / Doutor em História