Mediation, verisimilitude and claims about realism

Overview

Recall questions on generic and cultural verisimilitude, claims to realism, the conventions of social realism, handheld and documentary techniques, constructed reality formats, live reporting and public footage, and why definitions of realism change.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define the term verisimilitude.

   Model answer

   Verisimilitude is the quality of seeming true or plausible within the world a text sets up, rather than being an accurate record of the real world.

2. 2

   Distinguish generic verisimilitude from cultural verisimilitude.

   Model answer

   Generic verisimilitude is what seems plausible within the rules of a genre, while cultural verisimilitude is what seems plausible in the real social world outside the text.

3. 3

   Why can an audience accept a character bursting into song as realistic?

   Model answer

   It satisfies generic verisimilitude, because audiences accept the conventions of the genre even when the behaviour would be implausible in everyday life.

4. 4

   What is meant by a claim to realism?

   Model answer

   A claim to realism is the way a text signals that it should be taken as a truthful account of the world, using techniques such as location shooting, natural light or unrehearsed speech.

5. 5

   Name three conventions television drama uses to signal social realism.

   Model answer

   Shooting on location in ordinary places, naturalistic lighting, and dialogue that uses regional accents and everyday speech.

6. 6

   Explain how handheld camerawork supports a claim to realism.

   Model answer

   Unsteady framing imitates footage grabbed by an observer on the spot, so it connotes immediacy and the absence of staging.

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