Page 109 - Culture Media Language Working Papers in Cultural Studies

98 ETHNOGRAPHY

are presenting the ‘man’s world’. However, there is also an acceptance that the
‘real’ or ‘man’s world’ is important, and the ‘right’ of their husbands to watch
these programmes is respected: but it is not a world with which the women in
this study wanted to concern themselves. In fact, the ‘world’, in terms of what is
constructed as of ‘news’ value, is seen as both alien and hostile to the values of
the women. For them television programmes appear to fall into two distinct
categories. The programmes which they watch and enjoy are: comedy series
(Selwyn Froggitt, Are You Being Served?); soap operas (Emmerdale Farm, The
Cedar Tree, Rooms, Crown Court and, predominantly, Crossroads and
Coronation Street); American television films (MacMillan and Wife, Dr Welby,
Colombo); light entertainment and quiz shows (Whose Baby?, Mr and Mrs); and
films. All these programmes could be broadly termed as ‘entertaining’ rather
than ‘educational and informative’. The programmes which are actively rejected
deal with what the women designate the ‘real world’ or ‘man’s world’, and these
predominantly cluster around the news, current affairs programmes (Panorama,
This Week), scientific programmes (Tomorrow’s World), the subject-matter of
politics or war, including films about war, and, to a lesser extent, documentary
programmes. Selected documentaries will be viewed as long as the subject-matter
is identified as of feminine interest. The following are extracts from responses to
questions about television, and it can be .seen from these that there is a clear
distinction between what men and women watch and what is seen to be the right
of the husband to watch (news and current affairs programmes).
Anne
D. What programmes do you watch on television?
A. Er…Crown Court, Rooms, Cedar Tree, Emmerdale Farm, Mr and Mrs.
What else is there? Dr Welby. Then there’s a film on of a Friday.
D. This is all on ITV, isn’t it?
A. (Long pause while she thinks of other programmes) Yes, er…yes, that’s
another programme. Whose Baby?
D. There’s a film on on Mondays as well, isn’t there?
A. No, no…oh, yes, there is. It’s Mystery Movie. I don’t like, I’m not very
interested in them, you know. I sort of half-watch them.
D. So it’s more the short series. ((Yes.)) What do you like about the
programmes that you watch?
A. Something to look forward to the next day ’cos most of them are serials.
D. Do you like them to…Which do you like the best, which type?
A. Er, I like The Cedar Tree more than Emmerdale Farm. I’m not really keen
on that. I only watch it through habit. Er, more romantic, I think, you
know, there’s sort of, er, family life, that is, more than Emmerdale Farm. I
don’t know, I…something about that isn’t so good.
D. That only really takes you up to tea time, so do you watch the television at
night?