Period Drama and Young Audiences: The Foundations of the Research

In studying teenage responses to period drama, this book brings together a range of different areas of scholarship. This chapter sets out the academic foundations for the study by providing an overview of the key areas of thinking that informed the research design and data analysis. One key inspiration for the study was the lively debates that have been inspired by the period drama genre, or the ‘heritage film’ as it is often conceptualised in academic discourse. The chapter begins by considering the ways in which this genre has been politicised, before moving on to consider attitudes towards history on screen more generally and pre-existing scholarship on audience engagement with period dramas. It then explore the other central consideration of this research project, namely young people and their engagement with media texts. The chapter demonstrates the links between period drama and the more traditionally youth-centred genre of the teen film, a comparison which strengthens the rationale for researching young people’s responses to the period drama genre. Following this, the chapter look at research into young people’s responses to the media in general, focusing on the history of ‘media effects’ research and the ways in which this conceptualises young audiences.