Brett Mills
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 3586429 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Brett Mills |
| NOMBRES | Brett |
| APELLIDO | Mills |
| FIRMA | MILLS B |
| AFILIACIONES | University of East Anglia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9899-5303 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 35 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 61 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 34 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1998 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
The Cambridge Companion to Stand-Up Comedy
Stand-up comedy is one of the simplest theatre forms in existence. The comedian stands on a (usually) bare stage, talking straight to the audience in the hope of getting laughs. Yet it has never been more popular, with national scenes developing across every continent except Antarctica. In this insightful and accessibly written volume, diverse chapters explore the subject from many angles, ranging from national scenes, live venues, and recordings…
BeastEnders
While soap operas typically focus their storylines on human characters, animals serve significant roles in them too. Focussing on the most common animal in the series - dogs - this analysis examines the functions animals play in EastEnders (1985-present), foregrounding species-based hierarchies and popular culture's normalised anthropocentrism. The focus here is on how pets function as symbols of the domestic, the familial and human-animal relati…
Television, Animals, and History
Animals have been a part of television’s offerings since its inception. Yet animals are largely absent in television’s histories; indeed, animals are largely absent in most histories, with history itself a practice that reproduces anthropocentrism. But animal histories remain methodologically problematic, given the kinds of records usually understood as historical evidence are not those produced by non-humans. And recent attempts to widen televis…
Creative approaches to landscape research
The research project discussed here used artist-led workshops to enable people from marginalised groups to explore and communicate their relationships with nature and landscapes. Aligning with multisensory and multispecies methodologies, five workshops took place in England’s north-west, in which participants from marginalised and excluded communities co-produced creative works representing their sensorial responses to those environments. Drawing…
Jaws , From the Shark's Point of View
This is the story of my death.’How would the shark in Jaws (Spielberg 1975) make sense of, and respond to, the representational forms and cultural norms they are entrapped within? Would they see the story - and their role within it - in a manner akin to that the film offers to its assumed human audience? And what happens to the film, and anthropocentric understandings of it, if it is read by the eponymous shark?This creative-academic text explore…
Jaws, anthropocentrism and cinema as a monster-making machine
Jaws () is a film in which a shark is depicted as a monster. Readings and analyses of the film routinely describe the shark as a monster, and pleasures associated with the film rest on audiences reading the animal as such. The book the film is adapted from constructs the shark in similar ways, but there are notable differences between the two. This article examines how the film constructs the shark as a monster, with particular reference to diffe…
The Popular Entertainment Side of Broadcasting Should Receive Much More Attention
This article outlines and examines the role comedy and entertainment have played at the BBC in constructing a sense of national identity both in the UK and overseas. It demonstrates the ways in which UK national identities are intertwined with ideas of a sense of humour, and the extent to which this is a performative act. Beginning with a historical approach, the article shows how the BBC, over time, has employed comedy as a way to evidence parti…
The Pleasure of the Death of the Shark
The Death and Resurrection of Brian Griffin
This essay explores the animated American sitcom Family Guy (Fox, 1999–) as a case study for thinking about the use of animals in narratives. It focuses on episodes in which the program’s dog, Brian, is killed and subsequently resurrected. Brian is a useful subject for this examination in view of his hybrid dog/human status. My discussion of Brian’s death and subsequent resurrection demonstrates how narratives exploit animals for anthropocentric …
Animals on Television
This book is the first in-depth study of the representation of animals on television. It explores the variety of ways animals are represented in audio-visual media, including wildlife documentaries and children’s animated series, and the consequences these representations have for those species. Brett Mills discusses key ideas and approaches essential for thinking about animals drawing on relevant debates in philosophy, politics, gender studies, …
“Out There, in the World”
Make Me Laugh
The three-year (2012–2015) AHRC-funded research project Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry worked with writers, producers, directors and other industry personnel to map the productions they work on and follow their labor as they move from one job to another and strive to maintain a career. This article draws on interview material from this project to investigate the ways in which comedy workers negotiate the maint…
If this was a human
The television documentary series The Supervet (Channel 4, 2014–) follows the eponymous Noel Fitzpatrick as he carries out experimental surgery on animals seemingly beyond help. This article examines the series in order to explore how this programme depicts animal medicine. Drawing on animal studies approaches, it argues that the programme foregrounds the humans rather than the animals, and, in its focus on surgery, legitimizes humans’ dominance …
Towards a theory of documentary representation for animals
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
Reading Media Theory
1 Introduction Part One - Reading Theory 2 What is Theory? 3 What is Reading? Part Two - Key Thinkers and Schools of Thought 4 Liberal press theory Reading: Mill, J. S. (1997 [1859]) 'Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion' 5 Chicago school Reading: Park, R. E. (1967) 'The Natural History of the Newspaper' 6 Walter Lippmann Reading: Lippmann, W. (1965) 'News, Truth and a Conclusion' 7 F. R. Leavis Reading: Leavis, F. R. (1930) Mass Civilisation…
I Think Women are Possibly Judged More Harshly with Comedy
Critics and creative workers have recently highlighted the lack of women working in British television comedy. Through thematic analysis of interviews with British television comedy professionals, this article explores how women talk about their work and their position within the industry. Outlining the specific industrial contexts within which female comedy professionals work, the article examines institutionalised gender norms and practical imp…
‘Shane, don’t film this bit’
‘Shane, don't film this bit’
The animals went in two by two
This article examines British television wildlife documentaries in order to outline the ways in which limited representations of animal behaviour recur. It focuses on representations of animal sexuality, monogamy and parenthood, and suggests that how such activities are repeatedly represented draw on normalised human notions of such behaviour. This is demonstrated through comparison of these representations with literature from zoology and etholo…
An Introduction to Animals and Visual Culture
“Fox Tots Attack Shock”
On June 7, 2010, UK media outlets reported that 9-month-old twins living in East London had been rushed to hospital following a “suspected fox attack”: the babies had been seriously injured. This story received sustained coverage for several months, and became the focus of debate over the behavior of urban foxes, and how they and humans should coexist. Using textual analysis to unravel the various discourses surrounding this moment, this paper di…
A pleasure working with you’
This article uses humour theory to examine Joan Rivers' performance in Live at the Apollo. It outlines the three main branches of humour theory (superiority, incongruity and relief) and examines specific comic moments from the performance to show to what uses these theories can be put; in doing so, it foregrounds pleasure, and the relationship between joke-teller and audience, as the key paradigms in such an analysis. It concludes by discussing t…
Analysing stand-up comedy
The Guardians of the General Interest”
Through an analysis of the British comedy quiz show QI (BBC2/BBC4, 2003—7; BBC1, 2008—), this article examines the ways in which “knowledge” as a discourse is constructed, maintained, and disseminated in popular television. The article draws on the work on discourse of Michel Foucault as well as sociological analyses of education and knowledge from writers such as Karl Mannheim and Pierre Bourdieu. The analysis explores the ways in which being kn…
Television wildlife documentaries and animals’ right to privacy
This article examines the BBC wildlife documentary series Nature's Great Events (2009) in order to investigate the ways in which such texts engage with (or ignore) debates about animal ethics, in particular, animals’ right to privacy. Through analysis of the ‘making of’ documentaries that accompany the series, it shows how animals’ right to privacy is turned into a challenge for the production teams, who use newer forms of technology to overcome …
Television wildlife documentaries and animals’ right to privacy
This article examines the BBC wildlife documentary series Nature's Great Events (2009) in order to investigate the ways in which such texts engage with (or ignore) debates about animal ethics, in particular, animals’ right to privacy. Through analysis of the ‘making of’ documentaries that accompany the series, it shows how animals’ right to privacy is turned into a challenge for the production teams, who use newer forms of technology to overcome …
Invisible Television
The animals went in two by two
This article examines British television wildlife documentaries in order to outline the ways in which limited representations of animal behaviour recur. It focuses on representations of animal sexuality, monogamy and parenthood, and suggests that how such activities are repeatedly represented draw on normalised human notions of such behaviour. This is demonstrated through comparison of these representations with literature from zoology and etholo…
Animals on Television
This book is the first in-depth study of the representation of animals on television. It explores the variety of ways animals are represented in audio-visual media, including wildlife documentaries and children’s animated series, and the consequences these representations have for those species. Brett Mills discusses key ideas and approaches essential for thinking about animals drawing on relevant debates in philosophy, politics, gender studies, …
Towards a theory of documentary representation for animals
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
Being Rob Brydon
Through analysis of the writer, actor and comedian Rob Brydon, this paper aims to examine the performative role afforded to the comedian. The paper argues that the comedian occupies a space which, while drawing on representational processes similar to those for stars and celebrities is, in fact, of a sort all of its own. It is suggested that the fact that comedians can perform as themselves – even in texts which are quite clearly signalled as fic…
Paranoia, paranoia, everybody's coming to get me
This essay examines the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show . The programme employs an innovative shooting style in which the audience is aligned with the characters' points-of-view, and also has access to the inner thoughts of its main protagonists. It is argued that in distinguishing between social action and unrestrained subconscious thoughts the programme demonstrates the effects of social norms on behaviour. This idea is related to Foucault's notion …
After the Interview
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
Make Me Laugh
The three-year (2012–2015) AHRC-funded research project Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry worked with writers, producers, directors and other industry personnel to map the productions they work on and follow their labor as they move from one job to another and strive to maintain a career. This article draws on interview material from this project to investigate the ways in which comedy workers negotiate the maint…
I Think Women are Possibly Judged More Harshly with Comedy
Critics and creative workers have recently highlighted the lack of women working in British television comedy. Through thematic analysis of interviews with British television comedy professionals, this article explores how women talk about their work and their position within the industry. Outlining the specific industrial contexts within which female comedy professionals work, the article examines institutionalised gender norms and practical imp…
An Introduction to Animals and Visual Culture
Analysing stand-up comedy
Creative approaches to landscape research
The research project discussed here used artist-led workshops to enable people from marginalised groups to explore and communicate their relationships with nature and landscapes. Aligning with multisensory and multispecies methodologies, five workshops took place in England’s north-west, in which participants from marginalised and excluded communities co-produced creative works representing their sensorial responses to those environments. Drawing…
The Popular Entertainment Side of Broadcasting Should Receive Much More Attention
This article outlines and examines the role comedy and entertainment have played at the BBC in constructing a sense of national identity both in the UK and overseas. It demonstrates the ways in which UK national identities are intertwined with ideas of a sense of humour, and the extent to which this is a performative act. Beginning with a historical approach, the article shows how the BBC, over time, has employed comedy as a way to evidence parti…
On Television Comedy as an Invented Tradition
Existing analysis of the relationships between comedy and nation commonly work from an assumption that nations have a sense of humour that in some way defines them, while comedy texts - such as those broadcast on television and radio - merely draw on these pre-existing phenomena (Richards, 1997). This article instead demonstrates a more complex relationship between the two, suggesting that broadcast comedy is an 'invented tradition' (Hobsbawm and…
A National Joke
The key moment in A National Joke concerns what Medhurst calls ‘the seaside incident’ (pp. 20–25). Medhurst recounts a joke he was told by a barman in a bar on Brighton pier. The joke is, as Medhurst admits, offensive in both sexual and racial terms, and precisely the kind of humour which the academy often finds politically problematic. Yet Medhurst, aware of the joke's troubling nature, nevertheless admits that he laughed when he first heard it.…
My house was on Torchwood
Using life writing, this article examines my responses to seeing my house on television — during an episode of Torchwood filmed around Cardiff. The article explores the intersections between personal history, ideas of home and televisual representation. It focuses on the ways in which personal knowledge affects readings of programmes; the relationships between tourists and residents; the emotive nature of responses to representations; and televis…
Replication of Optimism and Pessimism of Distance-Learning and On-Campus Students
The purpose of this study was to replicate a prior study showing distance-learning students scored predominately more optimistic and less pessimistic than on-campus students using the Optimism and Pessimism scale with 197 distance learning and 200 on-campus graduate students. t tests for independent samples indicated the expected significant differences
Replication of Optimism and Pessimism of Distance-Learning and on-Campus Students
Comparing Optimism and Pessimism of Students in Distance-Learning and on Campus
To assess whether distance-learning students scored more optimistic or less pessimistic than students on campus the Optimism and Pessimism scale was given to 73 distance-learning and 75 graduate students on campus. The mean differences between groups on both subscales were significant on a t test
My house was on Torchwood
Using life writing, this article examines my responses to seeing my house on television — during an episode of Torchwood filmed around Cardiff. The article explores the intersections between personal history, ideas of home and televisual representation. It focuses on the ways in which personal knowledge affects readings of programmes; the relationships between tourists and residents; the emotive nature of responses to representations; and televis…
Paranoia, paranoia, everybody's coming to get me
This essay examines the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show . The programme employs an innovative shooting style in which the audience is aligned with the characters' points-of-view, and also has access to the inner thoughts of its main protagonists. It is argued that in distinguishing between social action and unrestrained subconscious thoughts the programme demonstrates the effects of social norms on behaviour. This idea is related to Foucault's notion …
After the Interview
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
A National Joke
The key moment in A National Joke concerns what Medhurst calls ‘the seaside incident’ (pp. 20–25). Medhurst recounts a joke he was told by a barman in a bar on Brighton pier. The joke is, as Medhurst admits, offensive in both sexual and racial terms, and precisely the kind of humour which the academy often finds politically problematic. Yet Medhurst, aware of the joke's troubling nature, nevertheless admits that he laughed when he first heard it.…
The Guardians of the General Interest”
Through an analysis of the British comedy quiz show QI (BBC2/BBC4, 2003—7; BBC1, 2008—), this article examines the ways in which “knowledge” as a discourse is constructed, maintained, and disseminated in popular television. The article draws on the work on discourse of Michel Foucault as well as sociological analyses of education and knowledge from writers such as Karl Mannheim and Pierre Bourdieu. The analysis explores the ways in which being kn…
Television wildlife documentaries and animals’ right to privacy
This article examines the BBC wildlife documentary series Nature's Great Events (2009) in order to investigate the ways in which such texts engage with (or ignore) debates about animal ethics, in particular, animals’ right to privacy. Through analysis of the ‘making of’ documentaries that accompany the series, it shows how animals’ right to privacy is turned into a challenge for the production teams, who use newer forms of technology to overcome …
On Television Comedy as an Invented Tradition
Existing analysis of the relationships between comedy and nation commonly work from an assumption that nations have a sense of humour that in some way defines them, while comedy texts - such as those broadcast on television and radio - merely draw on these pre-existing phenomena (Richards, 1997). This article instead demonstrates a more complex relationship between the two, suggesting that broadcast comedy is an 'invented tradition' (Hobsbawm and…
Invisible Television
Being Rob Brydon
Through analysis of the writer, actor and comedian Rob Brydon, this paper aims to examine the performative role afforded to the comedian. The paper argues that the comedian occupies a space which, while drawing on representational processes similar to those for stars and celebrities is, in fact, of a sort all of its own. It is suggested that the fact that comedians can perform as themselves – even in texts which are quite clearly signalled as fic…
A pleasure working with you’
This article uses humour theory to examine Joan Rivers' performance in Live at the Apollo. It outlines the three main branches of humour theory (superiority, incongruity and relief) and examines specific comic moments from the performance to show to what uses these theories can be put; in doing so, it foregrounds pleasure, and the relationship between joke-teller and audience, as the key paradigms in such an analysis. It concludes by discussing t…
Analysing stand-up comedy
“Fox Tots Attack Shock”
On June 7, 2010, UK media outlets reported that 9-month-old twins living in East London had been rushed to hospital following a “suspected fox attack”: the babies had been seriously injured. This story received sustained coverage for several months, and became the focus of debate over the behavior of urban foxes, and how they and humans should coexist. Using textual analysis to unravel the various discourses surrounding this moment, this paper di…
‘Shane, don’t film this bit’
‘Shane, don't film this bit’
The animals went in two by two
This article examines British television wildlife documentaries in order to outline the ways in which limited representations of animal behaviour recur. It focuses on representations of animal sexuality, monogamy and parenthood, and suggests that how such activities are repeatedly represented draw on normalised human notions of such behaviour. This is demonstrated through comparison of these representations with literature from zoology and etholo…
An Introduction to Animals and Visual Culture
Towards a theory of documentary representation for animals
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
Reading Media Theory
1 Introduction Part One - Reading Theory 2 What is Theory? 3 What is Reading? Part Two - Key Thinkers and Schools of Thought 4 Liberal press theory Reading: Mill, J. S. (1997 [1859]) 'Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion' 5 Chicago school Reading: Park, R. E. (1967) 'The Natural History of the Newspaper' 6 Walter Lippmann Reading: Lippmann, W. (1965) 'News, Truth and a Conclusion' 7 F. R. Leavis Reading: Leavis, F. R. (1930) Mass Civilisation…
I Think Women are Possibly Judged More Harshly with Comedy
Critics and creative workers have recently highlighted the lack of women working in British television comedy. Through thematic analysis of interviews with British television comedy professionals, this article explores how women talk about their work and their position within the industry. Outlining the specific industrial contexts within which female comedy professionals work, the article examines institutionalised gender norms and practical imp…
“Out There, in the World”
Make Me Laugh
The three-year (2012–2015) AHRC-funded research project Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry worked with writers, producers, directors and other industry personnel to map the productions they work on and follow their labor as they move from one job to another and strive to maintain a career. This article draws on interview material from this project to investigate the ways in which comedy workers negotiate the maint…
If this was a human
The television documentary series The Supervet (Channel 4, 2014–) follows the eponymous Noel Fitzpatrick as he carries out experimental surgery on animals seemingly beyond help. This article examines the series in order to explore how this programme depicts animal medicine. Drawing on animal studies approaches, it argues that the programme foregrounds the humans rather than the animals, and, in its focus on surgery, legitimizes humans’ dominance …
Art (26 obras) · Sociology (21 obras) · Media studies (14 obras) · Political science (13 obras) · Aesthetics (12 obras) · Comedy (12 obras) · Geographies of human-animal interactions (12 obras) · Literature (10 obras) · Psychology (10 obras) · Computer Science (9 obras)