Imagining resistance: Māori audiences resist trauma and reimagine representations in television dramas

Abstract

Television drama has implications beyond providing entertainment and beyond immediate audience reactions and responses. Māori focus group participants in my research on local television dramas were acutely aware of how they were represented on screen. As an audience they were deeply affected and worked hard to pre-empt and address what they saw or expected to see. Against a backdrop of colonisation and negative stereotypes that pervade Māori representations, they undertook multiple forms of meaning making and negotiated complex responses. Colonial trauma emerged as a deeply felt response to representations that reminded participants of the effects of colonisation; for example, the denigration of te reo Māori (Māori language) and issues of identity. When viewing troubling depictions, participants deployed strategies of resistance, including a response I termed ‘Imagining Resistance’ where, they created backstories and interpretations for characters’ motivations and behaviours.