For 40 years, the Singapore government has successfully promoted the English language for its citizens to operate in an international Western economy. However, English-language television drama, with no cultural-linguistic roots in Singapore's multi-Asian society, has been heavily criticised for its lack of quality in comparison to its successful Chinese-language counterpart. A case study of the prime-time drama @Moulmein High demonstrates how state involvement in English-language television has an impact on drama's content, popularity and commercial aims. This paper explores whether a television network endowed with the responsibility of maintaining a national value system can produce a TV drama series able to win favour with an increasingly English-educated local audience, and whether the drama can translate to television markets outside Singapore.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
@Moulmein High, (2003), Series 2, MediaCorp Channel 5, Singapore.
AngIenStrattonJon1995, ‘The Singapore Way of Multiculturalism: Concepts/Asian Cultures’, in Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, no. 1, August, pp. 65–89.
4.
AngPeng HwaFuWayne2004, ‘Singapore's TV Market: One Player or Two?’The Straits Times, 11 February, p. 12.
5.
AquiliaPieterKeshishoglouJohn2005, Broadcast and Electronic Media in Singapore and the Region, 2nd edn, AMIC, Singapore.
6.
AquiliaPieterKeshishoglouJohn2004, ‘The SARS Channel in Singapore: A Short Return to Non-commercial Public Service Broadcasting’, Media Asia, vol. XXX, no. 4, pp. 206–15.
7.
AquiliaPieterKeshishoglouJohn2003, ‘Young Singaporean Audience Response to @Moulmein High’, unpublished raw data, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, September.
HoladayDuncan1998, ‘Television and Identity in Singapore: The Chinese Majority’, Media Asia, vol. XXV, no. 2, pp. 78–87.
11.
KwokYvonne2003, ‘Lights Camera, But No Action’, Streats, 8 October, p. 30.
12.
LatifA.2005. ‘MediaCorp Promises Quality TV’, The Straits Times, 25 January, p. H4.
13.
LeeBoon Yang2003a, ‘Media Free-for-all? No, Our Values Can't be Sacrificed’, transcript of speech given by the Minister for Information, Communications and Arts and the Singapore Press Club on 12 November 2003, The Straits Times, 13 November, p. 20.
