Belligerent broadcasting and makeover television: professional incivility in Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

Michael Higgins, Martin Montgomery, Angela Smith, Andrew Tolson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article looks at the significance of the practices of ‘belligerent broadcasting’ in the popular ‘trouble-shooting’ business television programme Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, USA. Belligerent broadcasting is a broadcast style that offers as spectacle expressions of anger or impatience, or the exercise of intimidation, against an on-screen interlocutor. Focusing on the performances of Gordon Ramsay, the article analyses the management of on-screen confrontation between participants occupying asymmetrical positions of power and perceived expertise. The article looks at how the face-threatening component of belligerent talk is ameliorated by strategies of authenticity and its representation as a productive force within the narrative of the programme. Finally, we assess the relevance of arguments that this broadcasting style might be seen as part of a ‘new incivility’ across media discourses.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)501-518
Number of pages18
JournalInternational Journal of Cultural Studies
Volume15
Issue number5
Early online date21 Oct 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2012

Keywords

  • business broadcasting
  • indirect aside
  • incivility
  • politeness theory
  • confrontation talk

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