Glossary of Terms

Biopic
A film that documents or fictionalises the life of a real person. The Queen is a biopic of Queen Elizabeth II. Other examples of recent biopics are Walk the Line (about the life of musician Johnny Cash), Invictus (about political icon Nelson Mandela) and The Informant! (about infamous businessman Mark Whitacre).

Canonised/Canon
Canonisation is a term that refers to the official recognition of a new saint in the Catholic Church. When a new saint is added to the 'canon' it refers to the officially accepted list of saints. By extension, the use of the word 'canon' in literature or any other area refers to a collection of works that tend to be universally recognised by experts as the most truly important texts. The literature 'canon' refers to classic works like those by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, etc. A royal 'canon' might refer to official and accepted individuals recognised as monarchs.

Clandestinely
In a clandestine way... meaning secretive in order to conceal one's purposes from certain parties.

Establishment
In this case the word 'establishment' refers to the authoritative institution that is the royal family. It connotates an elite group that dominates or controls other sections of society.

Metafictive/Metafiction
A kind of text that addresses the devices of its own construction and (usually) draws attention its own artificiality. For instance, The Queen contains a subtext regarding the way we remember historical figures based on how they are presented to us (either by themselves or by the media, or by other forces). The film itself is actually doing this as well, representing real historical events to us via actors and a script, and hence it is commentating on its own purposes. This is a metafictive aspect of The Queen, though the film itself is probably subtle enough about this to avoid being classified as a true piece of metafiction.

Blatant and obvious examples of metafiction usually involve the author or narrator acknowledging that they are a character in a text. In the case of novels, Slaughterhouse Five and other works by Kurt Vonnegut are prime examples. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy features a metafictive device in the way that a lot of its action centres around a book within the text also called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

An obvious film example would be Adaptation, where the central character is a direct representation of the film's actual scriptwriter. In the case of television shows, The Simpsons is often metafictive in the way that characters within it often make reference to the fact that it is an animated piece of entertainment. Seinfeld featured an extended storyline about the characters making a Seinfeld-like sitcom called 'Jerry'.

Modus Operandi
A Latin phrase that approximately means 'method of operating'. It describes the way in which someone or something usually functions, IE. Their way of working.

Prestigious
Something containing prestige, in this case meaning a text to be placed in high esteem. 'Prestige' connotates a high quality reputation, and traditionally ties into notions of high culture.

Tory and Labor Parties
In 1997 (and for much of the 20th century), British politics was dominated by a two-party system much like Australia. The Labor party (Tony Blair's party) is basically the British equivalent of our Labor party, whereas the Tories are the conservative side (much like the Liberal party in our own country).