Top Gear media research

Top Gear has become synonymous around the world.  The three presenters have become icons in the automotive industry and TV world.  They travel the world making rude comments about cutlers, cars, and popular icons.

One article about Top Gear I would like to bring to attention in my research of the show is an article about the branding of the show itself.  Catherine Johnson wrote about this.  She wrote, “The development of content brands threatens to sever the relationship between the programme and the broadcaster. What is branded is the programme itself and not the corporation that broadcast it; Top Gear rather than the BBC.” (Johnson, 2013).  She talks about how Top Gear has made its own brand out side of just being a BBC created brand.  TG is its own brand being known around the world. 

The next article I would like to bring to attention is one written by Kieran Tranter and Damien Martin.  They discuss masculinity of the show and how it has become law of man.  The show appropriates masculinity as being a law men must follow.  They say, “there are cars. Usually, new, expensive, fast cars being driven at speed on racetracks, or objects of desire surrounded by the mostly male audience on the cavernous set (an aircraft hangar at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey).”  They are examining the humor and cultural references that make the show one of the laws of masculinity. 

The third article I would like to examine in relation to the show is one written by Stephen Harrington.  This article examines how the shows presenters can assist with political journalism.  Harrington writes, “The analysis of the show is here framed in the form of three ‘lessons’ for journalists, suggesting that some of the entertaining (and highly engaging) ways in which Top Gear presents information to its viewers could be usefully applied in the coverage of politics” (Harrington, 2010).  The show presenters can show people that something many consider to be irrelevant and even boring can be made into something everyone can watch and enjoy. 

These are just some of the articles I intend to examine and contribute to my own research and opinions about the show and its presenters. 

Harrington S. Top Gear, top journalism: Three lessons for political journalists from the

world's most popular TV show. Continuum: Journal Of Media & Cultural Studies [serial online]. December 2010;24(6):933-942. Available from: Communication & Mass Media Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 10, 2015.

Johnson, C. (2013). From brand congruence to the 'virtuous circle': Branding and the

commercialization of public service broadcasting. Media, Culture & Society, 314-331.

Tranter, K., & Martin, D. (2013). 'The Cutting Edge of Cocking About': Top Gear,

Automobility and Law. Law Humanities Law and Humanities, 1-18.