Televisual memory

Holdsworth, A. (2010) Televisual memory. Screen, 51(2), pp. 129-142. (doi: 10.1093/screen/hjq007)

Abstract

This essay weaves together a series of televisual moments which summon, manage, even simulate reflection and remembering. A sequence from the 9/11 documentary Out of the Blue (2006), a BAFTA necrology and the opening of the documentary Previously on ER (2009) are examples of what I refer to as 'televisual memory' – a term which refers to the representation and forms of memory on television. Taken from a range of television programmes, different in genre and address, these montage sequences act as both expressive of television's textuality and as examples of memory texts, or more specifically commemoration texts, as each is designed as a site of televisual commemoration and reflection. As 'memory montages' they work to reflect upon, construct, even manipulate televisual memory, playing with 'afterimages' and notions of haunting, and illuminating the forms and function of repetition on television. But as examples of 'televisual memory' they are also moments which capture a sense of the complexity of our experience of television and might be seen to offer a commentary on the similarities between the mechanisms of both television and memory

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Holdsworth, Professor Amy
• Authors: Holdsworth, A.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: Screen
• ISSN: 0036-9543