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‘You’ve Embraced Britain and We Embrace You Back’ – Narratives and

Representations of National Identities in Britain’s Got Talent’s 2013 Live Final

Introduction

National identity is an integral part of human life. It is nevertheless a cultural myth, an ‘imagined

community’ (Anderson, 2006), which relies on retelling national narratives in the mass media. How

the story is told has the ability to shape our attitudes to a shared identity and also how we place

ourselves in relation to other national identities. Who ‘we are’ and what ‘we are not’. The spine of

this essay will be the use of Saussure’s idea of oppositional concepts (in Berger, 1997) which will

enable me to find meanings in my text based on binary oppositions and their positive or negative

connotations. Narratives and representations of ‘Britishness and the others’ therefore will be looked

at with a paradigmatic analysis conducted on the 2013 Britain’s Got Talent winner’s performance.

Britain’s Got Talent is an interactive reality style television talent show produced by ITV, a

commercial public service broadcaster. As many contemporary talent formats such as the Idol series

(2001-), The Voice (2010-) and the X-Factor (2004-), the series is broadcast weekly and goes through

different stages such as auditions and finals. The contestants perform in front of four judges and a

studio audience while the viewers vote for the performance of their choice. In 2013 the title was

won by a non-British act, performed by a Hungarian shadow theatre group called Attraction. This

fact on its own would make space for analysis of representations of these national identities as it

forces the two narratives to interact with each other, also allowing a viewer to engage in the

discussion. However, the text itself reveals an extra layer. Attraction uses an unmistakably British

patriotic imagery combined with appropriate music and snippets of recorded British History. This

essay aims to analyse the text in two layers. The first one is Representations and Narratives of

Britishness and Hungarianness in Attraction’s winning act. The second layer is within a broader

television narrative of Britain’s Got Talent, where these narratives are shaped further by other actors

such as the judges.

The aim of the essay is to discover ideologies transmitted through different readings of the text.

Nationalist narratives and representations will be questioned as they have the potential to promote

pernicious ideas about the nation and ‘the other’, while keeping in mind that a reading of a text

depends on what meanings the individual ascribes to its content (Berger, 1997:191).

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National Identities and their Representations and Narratives in Television

In this section, the essay will draw up some of the arguments around nationalism with discussing

some of the narratives and representations of Britishness in contemporary British Television.

Miller (1995) describes national identity as a shared belief system that depends on mutual

recognition. It is rooted in history, in occupying the same space, having common characteristics and

a distinguishable culture (Miller, 1995:22-25). It has been argued that every person experiences their

own national identity in a unique way and its characteristics are therefore hard to point out (Orwell,

1945 in Lacey, 1998:89). In our everyday life national identity can be symbolized by ‘national

symbols, customs and celebrations *that+ are the most potent and durable aspects of nationalism …

they embody its basic concepts, making them visible and distinct for every member’ (Smith, 1991 in

Edensor, 2002:9). It is argued by Edensor (2002:9) that including only these images would be

reductionist as they do not offer a modern identity (ibid).

In contemporary Britain, where globalization and individualism is changing the political-economic

and cultural landscape (Curran and Morley, 2006:46), how we perceive our national identity is in also

how we interact with minorities. The European Union allows free migration (of people and culture

among many), and immigration as well as Britain’s place in the EU is being attacked by nationalist

narratives in everyday politics and in the media. Who is British and what defines Britishness is a

question that we make sense of by contrasting it to its opposite: what is excluded from Britishness.

As it has been developed by Structuralists such as Saussure and Levi-Strauss, a text contains various

oppositional relationships (Berger, 1997:30). Examining the binary oppositions in national identities

can become a question of British identity being defined by right-wing or liberal views, both of which

are expressions of dominant bourgeois ideology (Lacey, 1998:99). These two opposing views can

manifest in the way we narrate British national identity: a welcoming place for other nationalities

(liberal) or an exclusive one that protects its culture from intrusion (right-wing).

While arguably liberal views on economics and national identity are equally questionable, this essay

will focus on the right-wing narrative and its potential harmful practices. It defines its own identity

by ‘marking “difference” [which] leads us, symbolically, to close ranks, shore up culture and to

stigmatize and expel anything which is defined as impure, abnormal’ (Hall, 1997:226). This practice

sees patriotism as ‘a last refuge’ (Sennet, 2003:1) where the dissonance and disorientation

experienced due to the ‘increasing “transnationalization” of economic and cultural life’ (Robins,

1997 in Woodward, 1997:16). Anderson explains that the exclusion of foreign elements is ‘rooted in

fear and hatred of the other’(2006:141) which contradicts the idea that ‘nations inspire love’(ibid.)

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It is also important to establish the difference between right-wing attitudes of nationalism and

patriotism. The first has been explained in the previous paragraph and is potentially dangerous for

excluding not just foreigners but sometimes members of its own society based on ethnicity or

religion among many. The latter, however, is merely a ‘sentiment subjects have for king and country

which may carry over to the modern state’ (Curran and Morley, 2006:77). This sentiment that

arguably also embodies the characteristics of binary oppositions has manifested itself in British

television, especially in factual history programming (Dillon, 2010:185).

One of these programs, All Our Yesterdays ran between 1960 and 1973, then between 1987 and

1989 (ibid.). Its purpose was to narrate British history ‘stirring individual memories but also creating

new collective memories for different generations because of their emotive power’ (Dillon,

2010:187). All Our Yesterdays used newsreel footage and a carefully constructed narrative told by

presenters established as authority figures. This authority is achieved by partly television being a

personal medium and partly by positioning the narrator sitting in a chair, talking to the camera.

Dillon explains that the narrator in a factual program acts as a gatekeeper to British History, where

the narration offers a representation of history as a ‘guided tour into the past’ (Dillon, 2010:188).

Britain’s Got Talent is also from the factual programming genre where the judges act as gatekeepers

to common culture. How they narrate the acts can become an intrinsic tool to make sense of the

content. As Woodward argues ‘all signifying practices that produce meaning involve relations to

power, including the power to define who is included and who is excluded’ (Woodward, 2010:15).

Thus, we have to see the judges in a talent show as a power authority, one which has the potential

to drive the public opinion on the topics discussed in the show. This can be problematic when the

discourse is about representing one view or another on national identity. Reading media narratives

and representations, however, faces the problem of inference (Dillon, 2010:191). The viewer is part

of the meaning making process and how one person decodes the signs depends on his or her

background.

One last point to argue here is that special media events such as the final of Britain’s Got Talent

‘function within the site and ideology of nation and nationalism’ (Curran and Morley, 2006:4).

Special media events are considered to be one or a combination of three categories: contests,

conquests and coronation. Britain’s Got Talent arguably embodies two of these. It is easily defines as

a contest, for being a talent search show, however, we can also find in it the narrative of coronation,

that Curran and Liebes describe as ‘rites of passage of the great’ (ibid.). At the end of the show the

winner is elected and celebrated by the audience, receiving the title of Britain’s talent and a money

price, lifting the winner up to a higher social status.

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Symbols of Patriotism in Attraction’s Act

In this section I will look at the winner act of the 2013 Britain’s Got Talent, performed by the

Hungarian shadow theatre group, Attraction. As I mentioned in the introduction, this alone poses

some ideological questions, such as can a foreign act win the title? The winner of the show also has

the opportunity to perform in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, thus carried

forward to another grand national narrative. But before we see this outer narrative, this essay will

start with the analysis of Attraction’s final act.

The act consists of the eight dancers using their bodies to make out words and other visual images

with the aid of music and other audio signs. We see the shadow of the dancers as they are moving

into the first formation while the ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ starts to play. The backdrop is a digital

screen showing a picture of the Union Jack. The first formation is one of Britain’s most iconic

symbols: the map (appendix 1). For the rest of the performance the viewer watches the dancers

displaying very basic cultural symbols of Britishness with their bodies. A few include recordings from

political leaders such as King George VI and Winston Churchill. Other signs are written on the screen

behind the dancers including ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’ and ‘God save the Queen’. The latter also

comes back time after time in the recordings of some of Britain’s historically important moments.

And lastly, the dancers use their body to make formations of the Queen’s Coronation, also Elizabeth

II’s iconic profile from the British Pound Sterling. The act ends with the group forming into a lion

statue wearing the crown.

All of these visual and linguistic signs are in some way signifiers of Britishness as they employ widely

known cultural landscapes of Britain. As they are easily recognizable by the audience they ‘epitomize

Britishness’ (Edensor, 2002: 186). Watching the act is like flicking through the memory album of

Britain, each picture being a symbolic sign such as the flag. They are representatives of a collective

British national identity, a very nostalgic one indeed. When we look at these representations from a

constructionist view described by Stuart Hall (1997:10) we find some of them fitting in a narrative of

superiority. The formation in appendix 2 denotes the queen’s profile and also connotes a coin by

these images being fixed together in a naturalized way. The national currency is also a symbolic sign

of wealth. Also together with other symbols of the Monarchy, such as the coronation and the lion,

the coin arguably serves to reproduce a nostalgic patriotic sentiment. These generic landscapes, as

Edensor calls them, can ‘become symbolic of the nation when they are perceived as being under

attack’ (2002:53).

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However, in this case these cultural symbols are used by a non-British group, which poses new

questions. Attraction is established to have a Hungarian national identity, still they employ a range

of nostalgic images while arguably refusing to represent their own national identity. One way to

interpret this would be to call it a strategy that enables the troupe to win the show. While Attraction

is not a group of Hungarian immigrants living in the UK, this strategy to win can still be paralleled

with the immigrants’ need to gain acceptance from dominant society.

This leads to Miller’s (1995) observations on different identities of immigrants. He argues that

because immigrants ‘feel that they are discriminated against and undervalued, they desperately try

to assimilate to the norms of the dominant group even at the cost of weakening or abandoning their

own cultural traditions’ (Miller, 1995:138). Attraction’s performance can be simply read as an

attempt to represent Britishness, however, representations of Eastern Europe may still be observed

in the text. Contemporary narratives around Eastern Europeans work with stereotypes that range

from ‘hard-worker’, ‘benefit-claimer’, ‘taking jobs from British people’ or even dangerous, just to

mention a few. Attraction, however, is portrayed as a driven group of young people, all white,

gender-equal, with an unthreatening presence. They are established as dancers, breaking the

stereotype of the immigrant that works for minimum wage without speaking English. Therefore,

even though the viewer does not get a sense of what it means to be Hungarian, an alternative

representation of immigrants are on offer.

In the act there is an edited audio-recording of David Cameron’s speech to the winning athletes in

the 2012 London Olympics.

‘We are a country that may be small geographically, but …you showed that

we can take on the world and, yes, we can win.’(BGT Season 7, Live Final,

1:44:31 – 1:44:37)

Its use in the performance can be read in at least two ways. One supports the narrative of Britain’s

glory, recognizable by the audience. However, if we take the words out of the context, or rather we

put it in the context of the group representing their Hungarianness, it provides a different meaning.

In this case, Hungary becomes the geographically small country and the British public has the

opportunity to show that a Hungarian group can win Britain’s Got Talent. This can be read as a

message to the viewer to vote for Attraction and also promotes the liberal ideology that Britain is a

welcoming country.

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Attraction’s Performance – Narrated by the Show

When looking at representations and narratives in Attraction’s act, we need to look at it within a

broader context in Britain’s Got Talent’s final. This includes the intro before the act and also the

discussion after the performance where the judges react to it.

In the intro to the performance, we see the group practicing their act which supports their

representation as a hard working, motivated group that deserves to win. Their Hungarian nationality

is also present as some of the scenes had been shot in Hungary, featuring some of the landmarks

such as the Hungarian Parliament. This representation of cultural symbols of a foreign country may

give the viewer an opportunity to observe ways in which Hungary differs from Britain. We also see

an edited interview with the group, where only the leader (Zoltan Szucs)speaks.

‘I think that Britain is a land of hope *…+ Our performance is to say “Thank

you” to the British public for believing in Attraction.’ (Szucs in BGT Season 7,

Live Final, 1:42:23 – 1:43:35)

This supports the argument that the group needs to be accepted by the British public in order to win

the show. Szucs does not talk about Hungary or the reason to come to compete in Britain’s Got

Talent. However, by saying that he believes Britain to be ‘a land of hope’ (ibid) he takes on the

persona of a non-threatening foreigner that believes in the superiority of Britain. Not necessary

superior to Hungary but superior nevertheless, which supports the narrative of a nostalgic

nationalism.

After the act, Attraction is standing in front of the judges and the audience and we hear the final

verdict from the judges. This is arguably a very important component of the show as the judges have

the opportunity to express their opinion and also to pick up the patriotic narrative to dismiss or to

approve. First we hear judge Amanda Holden saying:

‘Oh my goodness. I mean you couldn’t have done a better performance. I

am already enormously proud to be British and you just made it bigger

today… You’ve embraced Britain and we embrace you back.’ (Holden, BGT,

Season 7, Live Final, 1:46:06 – 1:46:26)

Holden’s speech can be read as the act’s dominant reading. She approves the British imagery used

by the Hungarian group and states that the display of nostalgic, monarchist images made her proud

to be British. This also implies that symbols of the monarchy is representative of British national

identity despite it being old-fashioned and sometimes exclusive of minorities. However it does

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support a narrative of acceptance and that Britain is open to anyone. As Holden is an authority

figure, a gatekeeper to culture, she arguably represents a view of the show. How we interpret the

‘message’ is, of course, down to each viewer.

Conclusion

The final question is: can we interpret the show’s message as a liberal view on nationality? Britain

here is shown as a ‘land of hope’ and a society accepting towards its minorities. Attraction won by

the public vote, which can be interpreted as a climax of the liberal national narrative. However, it

can be argued that the Hungarian group only won the show by displaying British images of cultural

symbols; masquerading their own potentially threatening foreign identity. Attraction therefore

becomes an example to other minorities living in British society. In order to gain complete

acceptance, immigrants have to conform, do and act in a way a larger society expects them. This

message can arguably read as a conservative view on nationalism, where diversity is dismissed and

culture stays static.

In this essay considered how national identities are represented in Attraction’s performance in

Britain’s Got Talent and found the British identity problematic in places. The representation of

Hungarians is arguably also vague and focuses on easily apprehendable symbols from a foreign

culture. It uses culture non-specific stereotypes such as ‘dancers’ and ‘ambitious young people’,

which makes identification with the group almost effortless and their culture perceived as less

foreign. However, Eastern Europeans have been represented here as something other than leaches

on the country; artists that are just like ‘us’, which can be interpreted as a positive representation.

As with any analysed media text, meaning comes from the reader just as much as from the text

itself. This essay aimed to point out many competing narratives in the final of 2013 Britain’s Got

Talent while noting that none of them are necessary visible for the show’s audience.

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Appendix

Appendix 1.: Silhouette of United Kingdom

Appendix 2.: Silhouette of Queen Elizabeth

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Bibliography

Anderson, B. (2006) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalities.

London: Verso.

Berger, A.A. (1997) Narratives in Popular Culture, Media and Everyday Life, Sage, Thousand Oaks.

Branston, G., Stafford, R. (2006) The Media Student’s Book. London: Routledge.

Curran, J., Morley, D. (Eds.) (2006) Media and Cultural Theory. London: Routledge.

Dillon, R. (2010) History on British Television: Constructing Nation, Nationality and Collective

Memory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Edensor, T. (2002) National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg.

Lacey, N. (1998) Image and Representation – Key Concepts in Media Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Hall, S. (Ed.) (1997) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London:

Sage/ The Open University.

Miller, D. (1995) On Nationality, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Sennet, R. (2003) A Nation’s Narrative, Index of Censorship. www.eurozine.com

Woodward, K. (Ed.) (1997) Identity and Difference. London: Sage/The Open University.

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Filmography

Britain's Got Talent: Live Final, [television programme, online], 19:30 8/6/2013, ITV, 160mins.

http://bobnational.net/record/152783, (Accessed 23/05/2014).