Describe, analyse and explain the variety of specifically religious programmes on the four terrestrial TV channels.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Newlands Girls’ School

Religion and the Media

Question (a) (i) – Describe, analyse and explain the variety of specifically religious programmes on the four terrestrial TV channels.

With the advent of television broadcasting, all the television-broadcasting companies were expected to show programmes with a religious theme. These were mostly aired on Sundays, and were aimed at regular Christian worshippers.

Religious broadcasting now is aimed at a different audience, due to the decline in numbers of churchgoers. The target audience is the vaguely religious, although there are still programmes for the committed followers.

Religious broadcasts are still shown today for a number of reasons:

80% of the UK still believes in God.
Congregation numbers, although declining, are still sizable.
Religious and moral issues often generate interest in a broader audience than purely religious people.
Television should cater for all interests.
There is a duty to update people on important topics, of which religion is one.

Each television company is required to devote a certain quantity of religious broadcasts per year. BBC 1 shows 80 hours, BBC 2 20 hours, ITV 100 hours, Channel 4 52 hours and Channel 5 approximately 50 hours.

There is such a small amount because British Society has an increasingly diverse ethnicity; meaning less people are inclined to watch specifically Christian broadcasts. The secular society has also grow, creating even less demand for worship programmes. Television broadcasting is now very modern, and so more hours are devoted to broadcasting films, cartoons and soaps etc. to meet demands, leaving fewer hours for less popular religious broadcasting.

Other factors affecting the amount of religious television broadcasting are the religious backgrounds of the television companies. The BBC’s head of religious programming, an Anglican Vicar, resigned in 2000 due to what he saw as the ‘increasing marginalisation of religion on television’. An agnostic replaced him. This is likely to have reduced the amount of broadcasting on the BBC that is aimed at strictly religious audiences. The programme editor of the BBC, David Kremer, now considers the target audience to be the ‘vaguely religious’.

The table below shows all of the specifically religious broadcasts that were shown on the 5 main terrestrial channels in one week in November. In this week BBC 1 broadcasted 1 hour 35, BBC 2 0 hours, ITV 2 hours, Channel 4 1 hour 15, and Channel 5 0 hours each of religious programming.

The genres of religious programming on television for the week I studied were varied. The majority of the programmes were documentaries. This may be because documentaries can evoke interest in both religious and non-religious audiences, giving a broader range of viewers watching the programme. There were also a few worship programmes, shown only on Sunday, for the strictly religious. There are fewer of these because they have a narrower target audience, but still large. There was only one magazine programme shown, The Heaven and Earth Show, which was also on a Sunday. This may be because it has a religious focus, but isn’t a worship programme, and so it doesn’t interest as many people.

The target audience is a mixture of vaguely religious and committed people. The programmes aimed at vaguely religious audiences are often shown at prime times when there are more potential viewers. The programmes aimed at more committed religious people are often on either on a Sunday or at less popular times, such as late at night.

There are increasingly less specifically religious programmes on the four main television channels, of narrowing variety. This is due to a number of reasons related to the change in target audience and demand for these programmes.

Question (a) (ii) ...

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Question (a) (ii) – Describe, analyse and explain how a religious or moral issue of concern has been dealt with in a soap opera.

The moral issue I chose to analyse is from the soap opera Emmerdale, where a 16-year-old boy, Robert, is sleeping with a 24-year-old woman, Nicola.

There are two main concerns involved with this particular moral issue. Firstly, whether or not Robert and Nicola were right to act in that way in the first place, as it is barely legal, but also that Robert betrayed Nicola’s trust by telling all of his friends about it.

The majority of the views shown in this episode were disapproving of the situation. There were a variety of views, with a handful of characters non-committal in their views, but for the most part the reactions of the other characters were negative, for example Nicola was ostracised by her friends. The only characters shown defending their actions and in support of the situation were the two characters themselves.

This episode demonstrates the double standards and hypocrisy in the community, where Nicola was having a discussion with her father about the situation, He told her she was wrong and ought not to continue to see Robert, yet when Nicola reversed the situation to he father’s much younger partner, he said that that was a completely difference set of circumstances. A similar attitude was also shown in a similar conversation held in the pub between other characters.

The show does not seem to have a particularly strong view about the situation. Although they show many disapproving views from the villagers, the affair continues and the two characters involved are unconcerned by the reactions. I think the issue was dealt with in this way so that the audience could decide to either agree or disagree with the disapproving villagers. It allows the audience to have their own views without unfairly representing one side in preference to the other. Other ways in which this issue could have been dealt with is having a legal situation; perhaps Robert’s family could have pressed charges against Nicola. Robert and Nicola could have had an argument, highlighting the different areas on concern relating to this issue. Or they could both have run away together. These are just a few alternative ways of dealing with the issue within the soap. Also, a documentary style fly-on-the-wall programme could have been produced, interviewing several parties involved in a real life situation. Or a television drama could have re-enacted a similar situation based on a true-life story.

I think the soap opera was a good way of dealing with the issue because it relays the characters’ thoughts and feelings in a fair way, showing both sides, whilst not casting judgement on them, and remaining fictitious so that no party involved receives any backlash from the show. The way in which the soap opera dealt with the situation was sensitive and unbiased and showed some quite old-fashioned views, but that is the reaction that most likely would occur in a similar community.

Question (a) (iii) – Describe, analyse and explain the way in which a religious or moral issue has been dealt with in a TV drama or film.

The religious theme of concern that I studied is that of marriage versus cohabitation. The film that I analysed was the 1994 box office hit Four Weddings and a Funeral, starring Hugh Grant as Charles and Andie MacDowall as Carrie. The strap line to the film is “Five good reasons to stay single.”

The message of the film is an advert for cohabitation, rather than marriage. It shows that cohabitation is just as good as marriage and brings equal happiness.

Marriage is shown as being important in the film. A lot of screen time is devoted to the services, highlighting the importance and significance of the vows. In the scene where Charles forgets the rings, these are shown to be symbolic. There is also a lot of focus on the guests of the wedding, showing the significance of the witnesses.

The bonds of marriage are shown to be important, where the audience is meant to feel devastated for Charles when Carrie tells him that she is getting married. He already knows that she has had many partners but that didn’t matter as much to him. Therefore marriage is an important and powerful bond.

Marriage is shown not to be anything that should be partaken lightly. Charles has many conversations about getting married, saying that true love is important, but husbands and wives can be found. However, when Carrie marries and isn’t in love with her husband, the marriage quickly collapses.

Charles was getting married because he thought that marriage automatically meant settling down and happiness, and that waiting for true love is a waste of time. However, his brother persuaded him not to go through with it, as marriage is for the rest of your life, and so you must be with someone you love with your whole heart. Charles agrees, as he does not go through with the marriage.

Marriage is also shown as being unimportant in the film. At the beginning Charles doesn’t seem to think too highly of it when he is late and forgets the rings, and also when they make fun of the singers at the first wedding.

The film promotes cohabitation instead, where at the end of the film Carrie and Charles have a baby, as shown in the photographs. The audience knows that they have promised each other never to marry, so they are cohabitating. The range of photos shown at the very end of the film shows all of the couples are married, apart from the gay couple and Charles and Carrie, but they are all happy and smiling. Each pictures is shown for an equal amount of time, showing the message that cohabitation is as good as marriage.

The theme was chosen in the film because divorce and cohabitation were becoming more popular, and it was still an important issue for religious people. The majority of the audience would meet someone and fall in love with him or her, and the issue would apply to him or her also. The affect this film might have on the audience is to show that marriage and cohabitation are equal, and it might persuade religious and non-religious people alike to agree.

The treatment of religious people was fair, because the film never said marriage was wrong. In fact the majority of the film was marriages and most of the characters at the end were married and apparently happily so. The services were respectfully and accurately done, so that no offence could be taken of them.

Question (b) – Give your response to the view that: “Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world.”. Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have considered different points of view.

The term ‘out of touch’ means that religious people are not up-to-date with modern society; they are perhaps old-fashioned and behind the times in their opinions, speech, clothes, and tastes for example.

I disagree with the statement that religious people are always presented on television as being out of touch with the modern world. There are cases where religious people are deliberately shown to be so, maybe to create drama or comedy, and some people are traditional in their views, but equally there are many modern religious people shown on television.

For example, in the television sitcom The Vicar Of Dibley, the vicar Geraldine Grainger is shown to be very trendy and modern. Firstly, she is a female vicar, which is in many Churches a modern development. Also, she is very upfront with her humour. Her tastes are modern, for example in the first episode she talks about watching Top Of The Pops and having a stiff drink, and her dress sense was quite fashionable. Geraldine is shown to be modern and in touch in all these ways, and being a vicar is an undeniably religious person.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that certain characters in this programme represented as out of touch, for example David Horton, the chairperson of the Parish Council. He is shown to be sexist and is very against female vicars – he telephones the Bishop to complain about Geraldine and get her removed. Until David met her and realised that Geraldine was female, he was eager to meet the new vicar. Afterwards, without having heard Geraldine give a sermon, he complained that she was an unsuitable replacement for Reverend Pottle. The audience knows that he was expecting a male replacement from his earlier conversations with Hugo. David also followed the old bible, being very opposed to modern practices. This, alongside his very formal speech and old-fashioned dress gave the complete opposite impression to Geraldine Grainger.

In the end, however, Geraldine is shown to have won the ‘contest’ between modern and traditional, where the congregation under Geraldine increases from 4 people to a packed church. The other characters in the show are presented as rural and cut off from the modern world, but are surprisingly acceptant to change and willing to move with the times. For example, Jim and Owen have a conversation about what they think of Geraldine, and are much more acceptant to her than David Horton.

Another programme that showed religious people as being modern was The Simpsons. Although the Flanders family use old-fashioned language and are very proper and formal, they alongside almost the entire congregation were willing for the church to be commercialised and “modernised” to save the building. Then Lisa disagrees and looks for other religions, she is not accepting to the change of the Christian church, but embraces a new religion, Buddhism. Here she is both resisting change and accepting it. The Buddhists are shown to be trendy people, with Richard Geer, a big film star, a prevalent character. This celebrity endorsement of religion is a very modern concept.

Examples of programmes that show religious people as out of touch are Songs of Praise. This programmes attracts a much older, more traditional audience than the previously mentioned programmes. The format is formal and in the style of a traditional service, with lots of hymns to sing along to. Generally the presenters and congregations shown are older people with smart dress and proper language. The absence of modern, popular music, slang words, abbreviations and informal language, and casual dress makes this programme appear to be presenting religious people as out of touch with the modern world.

In conclusion, I disagree with the statement that on television religious people are always shown to be out of touch with the modern world, because in many cases they are not. The evidence shows that within one programme there can be a variety of representations of religious people, and certainly there is between programmes. This is probably due to the changing society where all aspects of life are continually being modernised to fit in with the 21st Century lifestyle, including religion.