Between Fact and Fiction: Documentary Telenovela, or Docusoap Polish Style
Beata Kosińska-Krippner
kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.plInstitute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
Abstract
The article deals with documentary soap operas, or the Polish version of docusoaps. This is a television genre that is a hybrid of observational documentary and elements typical of soap operas. In the introduction the author presents up to date research on docusoaps: she defines, following Margaret Lünenborg, the conditions that had to be met, in order for the genre to come into the existence, and she shows the circumstances in which it first appeared. She refers to the work of Richard Kilborn in order to present characteristic features of docusoap, and she uses the staging strategies for reality TV described by Elisabeth Klaus and Stephanie Lücke, in order to show staging strategies in docusoaps. In the main part of the article Kosińska-Krippner presents a short history of documentary soap operas, classification of its various types and the analysis of its components. She then defines this genre and describes its features. In the conclusion the author compares docusoaps and documentary soap operas, and shows the similarities and differences between the two genres, she also comments upon the value and usefulness of this genre. [originally published in Polish in Kwartalnik Filmowy 2011, no. 75-76, pp. 273-294]
Keywords:
docusoap, television, reality tvReferences
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Authors
Beata Kosińska-Krippnerkwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences Poland
Doctor of the Humanities, specialist in media studies and film studies; she works at the Department of Cultural Anthropology, Film and Audiovisual Arts – Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw); member of the Editorial Staff of Kwartalnik Filmowy; she collaborates with the “Polish Culture” quarterly. Her research interests include the theory and history of film and television, with a focus on documentary cinema in the context of hybrid border genres, the history and theory of film and TV genres, as well as Austrian cinema.
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