Fictional encounters and real engagements: the representation of medial practice and institutions in medical TV shows.

Authors

  • Josep M. Comelles Medical Anthropology Research Center – Universitat Rovira i Virgili
  • Serena Brigidi Medical Anthropology Research Center – Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Keywords:

TV medical dramas, health and disease representation, audience’s experiences, ethnographic gaze.

Abstract

The first episode of E.R. (1994-2009) was a revolution and opened a new era in the production of TV medical dramas. Years later, Grey’s Anatomy (2005-active), among other series, became a cultural phenomenon in the USA. The success of this TV genre is related to its subject matter and some debate has been raised concerning its influence on audiences. In order to discuss the interaction between what is displayed on the screen and the viewers’ point of view, we have chosen a few examples of TV medical shows to explore their role in the configuration of the global experience with respect to to specific illnesses. Our hypothesis is that directors and writers expect the viewers to share and embody these representations. Our aim is to map the cultural patterning of this encounter (viewers with TV medical dramas) and shed light on how it engages and constructs the experience of viewers. Through the analysis of some shows produced in the US, the UK and Spain, we conclude that medical dramas cannot be reduced to the condition of entertainment, and that their ethnographic gaze opens up suggestive research perspectives in the sphere of the construction of health, disease and care processes, and of the associated personal and collective experiences.

Keywords: TV medical dramas, health and disease representation, audience’s experiences, ethnographic gaze.

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Issue

Vol. 7 (2014)

Section

Dossier: Science on Television

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