voice-overs in TV-dramas

[Michael Badzik]

Birgit Kellner asked:

>How come that Japanese TV-dramas place so much emphasis on voice-over
>narration? ... One feels tempted to explain this as a device to make up
for 
>bad acting or directing, but perhaps there are other reasons. 
>

Well, those who believe Japanese television to be nothing more than "denki 
kamishibai" will say the answer is obvious. Sata Masunori, one writer who 
doesn't think this way, believes drama narration to be a connection not to 
storytelling with pictures but to the storytelling in Noh and Joruri.

I see entirely different reasons. The first is the link that television has

with radio. Radio dramas were producing large audiences long before the 
advent of television, and so it would be natural to have stylistic
borrowings 
from a proven format. Moreover, the large number of creators who came to 
television from radio probably also played a part here.

But since narration is hardly necessary in television, shouldn't its use
have 
atrophied as television came into its own? Well, most people would probably

name the NHK Taiga Drama and the NHK Renzoku Terebi Shousetsu as the 
programs with the most narration in them. On the Taiga Drama the narration 
is used to simplify the telling of the story, as well as a means of
dispensing 
bits of historical trivia. It was found a long time ago that audiences like

shows that educate them, so I would not expect to see narration disappear 
from this show anytime soon. As for the morning drama, I see a very simple 
reason for it having narration (ignoring any consideration here of
tradition 
- which should never be discounted when it comes to this drama). It is
shown 
in the morning at a time when its largest audience (women) are often 
involved in serving breakfast or the cleaning up after, and therefore may
be 
losing visual contact with the television. The narration then helps keep 
continuity with the story, even though it may seem inanely redundant to the

viewer able to watch it all the way through.

Or it could be just as Birgit thought - to make up for bad acting or
directing. 
But then wouldn't we be hearing a lot more narration? 

Michael Badzik
mike at vena.com