I was not a fan of the Australian version of Gogglebox. This was not because it is a form of morally denigrating reality television that is typically associated with “low culture” (Tavener 2000 pp. 63), but because Gogglebox focuses on passive television viewing as opposed to reflecting on active viewing practices.
Gogglebox is a television series about “normal” people watching television. The show seeks people from predominantly middle and working class families in order to view their reactions to a diverse assortment of television shows including a diet of drama, reality television and factual documentaries. The show has been syndicated in many countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States since its inception in Britain in 2013 and is a global phenomenon.
In the past it has been suggested that television audiences are passive receivers, consuming the original meanings of the text as the media producers intended. However, Hall (1980, pp. 130) suggests that meanings are constructed by audiences in a complex system of media producers “encoding” media messages and then audiences then “decoding” those same messages and applying their own meanings.
The encoding of Gogglebox involves a high degree of construction, with the guise of reality. According to Tiffany Dunk and Andrew Fenton from the News Corp Australia Network, the production of Gogglebox includes a “two camera setup”, with a producer in a nearby “control room” inside the house during the filming. The subjects then watch a prescribed set of television shows while the cameras capture their reactions. Even though the program is unscripted, the often “shock” nature of the programs screened suggests that the participants are simply reacting to the content on screen rather than questioning or shaping their own meaning of the text.
The Australian version doesn’t differ much from the British version, however there are some notable differences. The show includes certain Australian stereotypes such as Australian drinking culture, as most of the people on screen drink while watching television and the inclusion of the typical aussie working class bloke character, Keith the “council worker from Melbourne’s outer-northern suburbs”. The type of characters the producers have chosen reflect a sense of passiveness as most participants are from a working class and middle class background and are predominantly from anglo-Australian backgrounds. This lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity is another way in which the show is constructed as only certain Australian viewpoints are being represented. Rather than providing a true representation of a Australian society, we see skewed representations portraying a stereotypical view of Australia. The living room setting also perpetuates the stereotype that people only watch television on a physical television set. The below clip clearly displays the stereotypes that the producers have constructed.
Not all representations of the Gogglebox participants are passive. Participants use mobile phone technology to acquire extra narrative information which is an example of the use of second screens. Participants also draw parallels between their own lives and the lives of the people represented on screen. This involves reflection and comparison between their own life experiences and the experiences portrayed in the television show, which is a form of narrative analysis and a personal interpretation of meanings. However, Gogglebox perpetuates some inaccurate stereotypes regarding Australians and their television viewing practices and presents television audiences as passive receivers of messages. Gogglebox parades predictable reactions as humour, possibly in order to represent an audience that is is less intelligent than the target audience of Gogglebox in order for them to feel as though they are smarter than the people represented on screen.
References
Hall, S 1980, ‘Encoding/Decoding’, in Hall, S, Hobson, D, Lowe, A & Willis, P (eds), Language, Hutchinson, London, pp. 128-137.
News.com.au 2015, The things you need to know about the Aussie version of the UK hit show Gogglebox, News.com.au, viewed 20 October 2015, <http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/gogglebox-cast-revealed-meet-the-10-households-coming-to-aussie-tv-screens/story-fn8yvfst-1227205095552>.
News.com.au 2015, Gogglebox cast revealed: Meet the 10 households coming to Aussie TV screens, News.com.au, viewed 20 October 2015, <http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/the-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-aussie-version-of-the-uk-hit-show-gogglebox/story-fn8yvfst-1227214712426>.
Tavener, J 2000, ‘Media, morality, and madness: The case against sleaze TV’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 17, no. 1, pp.63.
