Identity, culture and television in France

Abstract

This thesis is a study of identity and culture through the prism of television and policy. It examines the relationship between national culture and identity, nation-state and mediated communication with the intention to clarify and concretise the role of television in identity politics generally. It employs a historical and critical comparative analysis of policy documents and relevant literature. France serves as a case study, providing the framework within which the above relationship is analysed.

The case study examines the development of cultural policy in France with particular reference to the audio-visual industries and more specifically television. Its main actors are a Ministry (Culture and Communication), a man (Jack Lang) a medium (television) and a mission (affirmation of the nation). Overall, the case study focuses on policy formation and the role of the state. The main argument is that the former has become increasingly problematic, as the role of the nation-state has been put in question by external forces.

The study approaches the complex link between identity politics, political/national aspirations and cultural production and the interaction between the factors that influence the formulation and implementation of national cultural and audiovisual policy from different levels: national and international. It creates frameworks within which the above issues are examined: theoretical and policy and focuses on factors, internal and external to the nation-state, with a strong emphasis on the political/ideological factors that play internally and many times as a response to outside pressures.

The thesis is divided in three parts. Each contains two chapters and explores a different set of factors and issues. The first part is the theoretical and policy discussion, providing the tools to evaluate and analyze policy as it appears in the case study. The second and third parts focus on the case study and each approach it from a different set of factors, part two from the internal factors perspective (politico / ideological) and part three from the external ones (internationalization, Americanization, Europeanization). Deregulation, cultural protectionism, francophonie, international audiovisual and cultural policy, cultural hegemony and anti-americanism are some of the issues discussed in this thesis.