16 - Espionnage
Vincent Chenille
Le national et l’international dans les séries télévisées d’espionnage américaines et britanniques des années soixante
Le Temps des médias n°16, Printemps 2011, p. 74-85.In this article, the author looks at British and American TV spy series from a cultural point of view; he focuses on those of the 1960’s; they were marked by nationalism, internationalism and what would later be called globalization.
The cultural practices dealt with are paradoxical: while secret services defend national interests the series’ production companies strategies are geared towards every potential export market. The only instance that looked as if might avoid this paradox - NATO’s secret services - is the series Danger Man, but American audiences rejected it.
The author analyses discourses and representations. In this respect, the creation of fictional international organisations such as the UNCLE, Nemesis, Department S, as well as their demise prove that production companies failed to reassure public opinion (the viewing public), of the importance of international organisations such as NATO. Throughout the 1960’s, these organisations were wary of cosmopolitanism while the hippie movement spread the concepts of fellowship and peace.
As far as international finance was concerned, these private sector production companies, however much they were pervaded with a market culture, seemed to know nothing of how international economy operates, except for public institutions such as the IMF. They present legal trade as illegal and thus make the audience believe that national and international public authorities can intervene in the field.
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