Comparison of a TV Show & a Movie and B

The film, Broadcast News, and the television situation comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, have numerous characteristics in common and some differences as well. It is understandable that there are similar themes and treatments in these two works as the director-writer-producer for both is James L. Brooks, who also created Terms of Endearment. It is the purpose of this paper to examine this film and television situation comedy in terms of current film theory and to compare and contrast the two works.

The concept of genre theory in connection with film and television arose in the late sixties and seventies to fulfill two primary functions. This literary term came into use to challenge and displace the notion of taste that belonged only to a few journalists and reviewers and to establish that the new art form of the cinema contained inner structure that related to social grounding (Neale, 1980, 1).

This new double function of film as literature brought into being the concept of "auteurism", the creator's relation to the finished product. This new relationship between creator and creation provided a new set of problems for reviewers, cinema professionals and the film-viewing public. Previously film genre was rather concise such that movies could be easily identified as gangster, western, or musical. In a sense, the form was more important that anything personalized by the creator. However, as the film-makers

. . .
al conflict to resolution with the larger, familiar scene (Bathrick, p. 106). This shifting back and forth confirms the viewer's belief in Mary's power to mediate, and in fact in the newsroom, as well as at home, she is physically situated in the center. At work she is seated between Murray and Mr. Grant, and at home, her apartment is physically situated between Phyllis and Rhoda in the divided Victorian house. The newsroom is visually portrayed as a man's world. There is little in the way of decor. The desks and walls are plain, and Mr. Grant's office is sealed off in a glassed-in private space which is often used as a private sanctum where the emotional working-out of the office relationships takes place. Mary's clothing and personal animation contrast with the grey neutrality of the newsroom. Her voice is high-pitched, and she moves speedily from her desk to the boss' door in an effort to deal with an overly-rational male atmosphere. The office is rather harsh and mechanized, and Mary in modern True Woman fashion serves to soften the male work world with female communication skills (Bathrick, p. 111). Although Mary occasionally dates, it is evident that her greatest satisfactions come from the conversations and comrade
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tyler Moore, Terms Endearment, Hardy Wood, Ted Baxter--Sit, Garden Eden, Andrew Tudor, Phyllis' Rhoda's, Jack Nicholson, Phyllis Rhoda, Tom Ted, tyler moore, mary tyler, mary tyler moore, situation comedy, television situation, film television, neale 1980, film genre, feuer 1987, broadcast mary tyler, popular art, particular genre, television situation comedy, tyler moore numerous, january 11 1988,
Approximate Word count = 3906
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Comparison of a TV Show & a Movie and B