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Belligerent broadcasting, male antiauthoritarianism and anti-environmentalism: the case of Top Gear (BBC, 2002–2015)

Drake, Philip and Smith, Angela (2016) Belligerent broadcasting, male antiauthoritarianism and anti-environmentalism: the case of Top Gear (BBC, 2002–2015). Environmental Communication, 10 (6). pp. 689-703. ISSN 1752-4032

Item Type: Article

Abstract

This article considers the format and cultural politics of the hugely successful UK television program Top Gear (BBC 2002–2015). It analyzes how—through its presenting team—it constructed an informal address predicated around anti-authoritarian or contrarian banter and protest
masculinity. Regular targets for Top Gear presenter’s protest—curtailed by broadcast guidelines in terms of gender and ethnicity—are deflected onto the “soft” targets of government legislation on environmental
issues or various forms of regulation "red tape". Repeated references to speed cameras, central London congestion charges and “excessive” signage are all anti-authoritarian, libertarian discourses delivered
through a comedic form of performance address. Thus, the BBC’s primary response to complaints made about this program was to defend the program’s political views as being part of the humor. The article draws on critical discourse analysis and conversation analysis to consider
how the program licensed a particular form of engagement that helped it to deflect criticisms, and considers the limits to such discursive positioning. We conclude by examining the controversies that finally led, in 2015, to the removal of the main presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, and the ending of this version of the program through the departure of the team to an on-demand online television service.

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PDF (This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in [Environmental Communication] on [22nd August 2016], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2016.1211161?scroll=top&needAccess=true)
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More Information

Depositing User: Barry Hall

Identifiers

Item ID: 6668
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2016.1211161
ISSN: 1752-4032
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/6668
Official URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/175240...

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Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2016 09:54
Last Modified: 30 Sep 2020 11:04

Contributors

Author: Philip Drake
Author: Angela Smith

University Divisions

Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries
Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries > School of Media and Communications

Subjects

Culture > English Language and Literature
Media > Media and Cultural Studies

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