Abstract
This chapter explores the Australian version of the ‘reality-competition’ cooking show MasterChef,1 focusing on how it celebrates positive, rather than negative emotionality. In so doing, this chapter is intended as a novel contribution to linguistic research on reality television, the majority of which has tended to focus on reality TV programmes and genres that centre around conflict rather than less conflict-rich shows such as MasterChef Australia (henceforth also ‘MCA’).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aslama, Minna & Mervi Pantti (2006) Talking alone: Reality TV, emotions and authenticity. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(2): 167–84.
Bednarek, Monika (2008) Emotion Talk across Corpora (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan).
Bednarek, Monika (2010) The Language of Fictional Television: Drama and Identity (London/New York: Continuum).
Bednarek, Monika (2011) Expressivity and televisual characterisation. Language and Literature, 20(1): 3–21.
Blas-Arroyo, José Luis (2010) La descortesía en contextos de telerrealidad mediática. Análisis de un corpus español. In Francesca Oreletti & Laura Mariottini (eds.), (Des)cortesía en español. Espacios teóricos y metodológicos para su estudio (Roma-Estocolmo: Università degli Studi Roma Tre-EDICE), pp. 183–207.
Bonsu, Samuel K., Aron Darmody & Marie-Agnes Parmentier (2010) Arrested emotions in reality television. Consumption Markets & Culture, 13(1): 91–107.
Byrnes, Holly (2009) Channel Ten show MasterChef secret recipe. The Daily Telegraph online, 11 July 2009 (12.00 am). Downloaded from: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/channel-ten-show-masterchef-secret-recipe/story-e6freuy9–1225748411764 (accessed 27 July 2011).
Byrnes, Holly (2010) Crying scenes cut from Junior MasterChef. The Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2010 (09:00 pm). Downloaded from: http://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/crying-scenes-cut-from-junior-masterchef/story-e6frg30c-1225947059375 (accessed 23 October 2012).
Caple, Helen (2013) Photojournalism. A Social Semiotic Approach (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Culpeper, Jonathan (2005) Impoliteness and entertainment in the television quiz show: The Weakest Link. Journal of Politeness Research, 1: 35–72.
Devic, Aleks (2011) Father claims Junior MasterChef contestants are groomed before cooking. Herald Sun online, 19 October 2011 (12:00 am). Downloaded from: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/tv-radio/junior-chefs-losing-flavour-over-professional-cooking-acting-lessons/story-e6frf9ho-1226170105799 (accessed 23 October 2012).
DeVolld, Troy (2011) Reality TV: An Insider’s Guide to TV’s Hottest Market (Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions).
Enfield, Nick J. & Anna Wierzbicka (eds.) (2002) Special issue of Pragmatics and Cognition 10 (1/2) on The Body in Description of Emotion.
Englebretson, Robert (ed.) (2007) Stancetaking in Discourse (Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins).
Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar, Nuria Lorenzo-Dus & Patricia Bou-Franch (2013) Identity and impoliteness: The expert in the talent show Idol. Journal of Politeness Research, 9(1): 97–120.
Goodwin, Marjorie H. & Charles Goodwin (2000) Emotion within situated activity. Available to download at <http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/clic/cgoodwin/00emot_act.pdf>, last accessed 19/5/09. (Originally published as pp. 33–54 in Communication: An Arena for Development, edited by Nancy Budwig, Ina C. Uzgris & James V. Wertsch (Stamford, CT: Ablex).
Gottman, John M., Lynn Fainsilber Katz & Carole Hooven (1996) Parental metaemotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data. Journal of Family Psychology, 10(3): 243–68.
Hearn, Alison (2006) ‘John, a 20-year-old Boston native with a great sense of humour’: On the spectacularization of the ‘self’ and the incorporation of identity in the age of reality television. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 2(2): 131–47.
Hyland, Ken (1999) Disciplinary discourses: Writer stance in research articles. In Chris Candlin & Ken Hyland (eds.), Writing: Texts, Processes, and Practices. (London: Longman), pp. 99–121.
Hyland, Ken (2009) Constraint vs creativity: Identity and disciplinarity in academic writing. In Mario Gotti (ed.), Commonality and Individuality in Academic Discourse (Bern: Peter Lang), pp. 25–51.
Jaffe, Alexandra M. (ed.) (2009) Stance: Sociolingustic Perspectives (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen (2006) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (London/New York: Routledge).
Lewis, Tania (2011) ‘You’ve put yourselves on a plate’: The labours of selfhood on MasterChef Australia. In Helen Wood & Beverly Skeggs (eds.), Reality Television and Class (London: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 104–16.
Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria (2008) Real disorder in the court: An investigation of conflict talk in US television courtroom shows. Media, Culture & Society, 30: 81–108.
Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria (2009) ‘You’re barking mad, I’m out’: Impoliteness and broadcast talk. Journal of Politeness Research, 5: 159–87.
Martin, James R. (2008) Innocence: Realization, instantiation and individuation in a Botswanan town. In Ahmar Mahboob & Naomi Knight (eds.), Questioning Linguistics (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing), pp. 32–76.
MasterChef (U.S. TV series). Wikipedia, 2012. Downloaded from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterChef_%28U.S._TV_series%29 (accessed 4 November 2012).
Nabi, Robin, Carmen R. Stitt, Jeff Halford & Keli L. Finnerty (2006) Emotional and cognitive predictors of the enjoyment of reality-based and fictional television programming: An elaboration of the uses and gratifications perspective. Media Psychology, 8: 421–47.
Planalp, Sally (1999) Communicating Emotion: Social, Moral and Cultural Processes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Reiss, Steven & James Wiltz (2004) Why people watch reality TV. Media Psychology, 6: 363–78.
Roscoe, Jane (2011) Reality TV: Manufacturing emotions, or evoking authenticity. Paper presented at the Manufacturing Emotions collaboratory, University of Sydney (9 September).
Scannell, Paddy (ed.) (1991) Broadcast Talk (London: Sage).
Schwarz-Friesel, Monika (2007) Sprache und Emotion (Tuebingen/Basel: A. Francke Verlag).
Selting, Margaret (1994) Emphatic speech style — with special focus on the prosodic signalling of heightened emotive involvement in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 22: 375–408).
Ten Network holdings Limited (2010) Annual Review. Available from http://tencorporate.com.au/annualreport/2010/pdf/TNHL_Annual_Review_2010.pdf (last accessed 30 November 2011).
Tracy, Karen (2002) Everyday Talk: Building and Reflecting Identities (New York/London: The Guilford Press).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Monika Bednarek
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bednarek, M. (2013). ‘There’s no harm, is there, in letting your emotions out’: a multimodal perspective on language, emotion and identity in MasterChef Australia. In: Lorenzo-Dus, N., Blitvich, P.GC. (eds) Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313461_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313461_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-230-36872-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31346-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Language & Linguistics CollectionEducation (R0)