Jonathan Michael O’Brien

What is the doxa of Irish screenwriting?: A case study of screenwriting in Ireland

Maynooth University, Ireland

While Irish film is widely researched; see (Brereton, 2009) (Barton, 2004) (O’Connell, 2010)
(Macdougall, 2009) (Crosson and Schreiber) (Tracy and Flynn, 2019) (Ging, 2006) (O’Connor,
2012) (McLoone, 1994) (Rockett, 1994). The focus in Irish research has been on the finished
text of the film, while, the practice (doxa) of Irish screenwriting is taken for granted. This paper
explores the doxa of Irish screenwriting based on interviews with those who work in the
context of screenwriting and ‘systematically gathering enough information about [the doxa]
to effectively understand how it operates or functions.’(Berg, 2001, p.225).

The concept of doxa emerges from the work of Pierre Bourdieu. In his 1972 work Outline of a
Theory of Practice he used the concept of doxa to describe a communities’ assumed and
unquestioned rules or paradigms. (Bourdieu, 1977) According to (Macdonald, 2013) in
screenwriting practice, the doxa is the received wisdom from an experienced mentor, the right
and wrong way to do things, the written and unwritten rules, the myths and wise sayings, the
conventions of the craft. This orthodoxy is the conventional way of doing things and can
become doctrine. On an individual level the doxa becomes embodied as disposition or
habitus. That is how it plays out in practice in a particular place and time through particular
people.

Even though screenwriting is widely practiced in Ireland there is little examination on what
conventions and ‘rules’ have been internalised by screenwriters and the industry nor how
these shape what screenplays are produced and eventually made.

I am an educator in Philosophy, Media Analysis, and Scriptwriting since 2006. I am currently
pursuing a part-time Ph.D. in the Department of Media Studies at Maynooth University since 2019. Funded under a John and Pat Hume scholarship at Maynooth University, my research
project centres on the practice (doxa) of screenwriting in Ireland, a topic that emerged from
my personal practice as a screenwriter, educator, and a curiosity to delve deeper into its
application in the Irish context. Currently, as a doctoral student my focus remains on advancing
understanding of screenwriting practices in Ireland, contributing to the broader discourse
within the field of Media Studies.