Skip to main content

‘There’s no harm, is there, in letting your emotions out’: a multimodal perspective on language, emotion and identity in MasterChef Australia

  • Chapter
Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action

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’).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bednarek, Monika (2008) Emotion Talk across Corpora (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bednarek, Monika (2010) The Language of Fictional Television: Drama and Identity (London/New York: Continuum).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bednarek, Monika (2011) Expressivity and televisual characterisation. Language and Literature, 20(1): 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonsu, Samuel K., Aron Darmody & Marie-Agnes Parmentier (2010) Arrested emotions in reality television. Consumption Markets & Culture, 13(1): 91–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

  • Caple, Helen (2013) Photojournalism. A Social Semiotic Approach (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Culpeper, Jonathan (2005) Impoliteness and entertainment in the television quiz show: The Weakest Link. Journal of Politeness Research, 1: 35–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVolld, Troy (2011) Reality TV: An Insider’s Guide to TV’s Hottest Market (Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions).

    Google Scholar 

  • Enfield, Nick J. & Anna Wierzbicka (eds.) (2002) Special issue of Pragmatics and Cognition 10 (1/2) on The Body in Description of Emotion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Englebretson, Robert (ed.) (2007) Stancetaking in Discourse (Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe, Alexandra M. (ed.) (2009) Stance: Sociolingustic Perspectives (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen (2006) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (London/New York: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria (2009) ‘You’re barking mad, I’m out’: Impoliteness and broadcast talk. Journal of Politeness Research, 5: 159–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Planalp, Sally (1999) Communicating Emotion: Social, Moral and Cultural Processes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Reiss, Steven & James Wiltz (2004) Why people watch reality TV. Media Psychology, 6: 363–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roscoe, Jane (2011) Reality TV: Manufacturing emotions, or evoking authenticity. Paper presented at the Manufacturing Emotions collaboratory, University of Sydney (9 September).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scannell, Paddy (ed.) (1991) Broadcast Talk (London: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz-Friesel, Monika (2007) Sprache und Emotion (Tuebingen/Basel: A. Francke Verlag).

    Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

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

Publish with us

Policies and ethics