Julie Taddeo

Rape in Period Drama Television considers the representation of rape and rape myths in a number of the most influential recent television period dramas. Like the corset, has become a shorthand for women's oppression in the past. Sexual violence has long been, and still is, commonplace in television period drama, often used to add authenticity and realism to shows or as a sensationalist means of chasing ratings. However, the authors illustrate that the depiction of rape is more than a mere reminder that the past was a dangerous place for women (and some men). In these series, they argue, rape functions as a kind of “anti-heritage” device that dispels the nostalgia usually associated with period television and reflects back on the current cultural moment, in which the #MeToo and #Timesup movement have increased awareness of the prevalence of sexual abuse, but in which legal and political processes have not yet caught up. In doing so, Rape in Period Drama Television sets out to explore the assumptions and beliefs which audiences continue to hold about rape, rapists, and victims.

On May 25, 2023 Julie Taddeo published a review of "This is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s," a recent photo Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The exhbit included 46 photos, most of them in black and white. Julie writes: "The exhibit gives us multiple versions of what it means to “be British” as a generation of socially conscious photographers expose issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality that threaten inclusivity during these two tumultuous decades." The exhibit also includes an hour-long film, Handsworth Songs, made in 1986 by the Black Audio Film Collective and directed by John Akomfrah for Channel Four’s series, Britain: The Lie of the Land. The newsreels and still photographs from the 1985 riots featured in Handsworth Songs provide context for the racism directed against the Black community in Birmingham in the 1980s. 

From the review: "This Is Britain is a powerful visual reminder that trash and runoff, like proudly displayed Union Jacks on bikes, furtive kisses, and power suits on posh Londoners, are just some of the “bits and bobs” that make this history worth revisiting."

The exhibit runs until June 11, 2023. Read the full review HERE.

Julie Taddeo's new book has now been published by Lexington Books, co-edited with Jo Parnell. According to the publisher, Writing Australian History On-Screen: Television and Film Period Dramas "Down Under" "reveals the depths of Australian history from convict times to the present day. The essays in this book are thematically driven and take a rounded historical-cultural-sociological-psychological approach in analyzing the various selected productions. In their analyses and interpretations of the topic, the contributors interrogate the intricacies in Australian history as represented in Australian filmic period drama, taken from an Australian perspective. Individually, and together as a body of authors, they highlight past issues that, despite the society’s changing attitudes over time, still have relevance for the Australia of today. In speaking to the subject, the contributing writers show a keen awareness that addressing new areas arising from the humanities is key to learning; and hence to developing an understanding of the Australian culture, the society, and sense of the ever-unfurling flag of an Australian something that is not yet a national identity."

See the publisher's website here for more information.

Writing Australian History On-screen: Television and Film Period Dramas "Down Under" reveals the depths of Australian history from convict times to the present day. The essays in this book are thematically driven and take a rounded historical-cultural-sociological-psychological approach in analyzing the various selected productions. In their analyses and interpretations of the topic, the contributors interrogate the intricacies in Australian history as represented in Australian filmic period drama, taken from an Australian perspective. Individually, and together as a body of authors, they highlight past issues that, despite the society’s changing attitudes over time, still have relevance for the Australia of today. In speaking to the subject, the contributing writers show a keen awareness that addressing new areas arising from the humanities is key to learning; and hence to developing an understanding of the Australian culture, the society, and sense of the ever-unfurling flag of an Australian something that is not yet a national identity.

Julie Taddeo is pleased to announce the publication of her latest book,  Writing Australian History On-screen:Television and Film Period Dramas “Down Under”, co-edited with Jo Parnell (University of Newcastle, Australia), published January 2023 by  Rowman and Littlefield. 

The book uses a historical-cultural-sociological-psychological approach in analyzing the various selected productions; the contributors interrogate the intricacies in Australian history as represented in Australian filmic period drama, taken from an Australian perspective. Individually, and together as a body of authors, they highlight past issues that, despite the society’s changing attitudes over time, still have relevance for the Australia of today. 

Julie Taddeo's most recent book, Diagnosing History: Medicine in Television Period Drama, coedited with Katherine Byrne and James Leggott (Manchester University Press, 2022) will be featured in a virtual book launch on September 23, 2022 at noon EST, 5pm in the UK, The launch is hosted by Moving Image, Popular Media & Culture Research Group at Northumbria University, UK .

From the publisher's website:

"This timely collection examines representations of medicine and medical practices in international period drama television. A preoccupation with medical plots and settings can be found across a range of important historical series, including Outlander, Poldark, The Knick, Call the Midwife, La Peste, and A Place to Call Home. Such shows offer a critique of medical history while demonstrating how contemporary viewers access and understand the past. Topics covered in this collection include the innovations and horrors of surgery; the intersection of gender, class, race, and medicine on the American frontier; psychiatry and the trauma of war; and the connections between past and present pandemics. Featuring original chapters on period television from the UK, the US, Spain, and Australia, Diagnosing History offers an accessible, global and multidisciplinary contribution to both televisual and medical history."

The BAFTSS British Cinema and Television SIG is hosting an online event on Friday 8 July at 4pm (GMT) in celebration of four book projects that have been published within the last two years.

This is in recognition of the fact that our community has produced some fantastic scholarship recently, but the challenges and uncertainty of the global situation has sometimes created challenges for promotion.  As a SIG, we’re committed to providing a space for colleagues to share their work as it is developed and when it is realised, and recognise that opportunities to do this have been reduced since the pandemic began. 

We’re pleased to announce that our event will be in celebration of the following books:

Hannah Andrews, Biographical Television Drama (Palgrave, 2022)
Katherine Byrne and Julie Taddeo, Rape in Period Drama Television (Lexington, 2022) 
Sarah Godfrey, Masculinity in Contemporary British Cinema: Troubled Times 1990-2010 (Edinburgh, 2021)
Jaap Verhuel (ed.), The Cultural Life of James Bond: Specters of 007  (Amsterdam, 2020)
To register for attendance, please sign up here. The event will be on Teams and will last around an hour. All welcome! A link will be sent closer the time.