final Flashcards
Bodroghozy, “Color TV?”
- Julia
- Violence directed at black bodies-don’t have voices
- Julia doesn’t reflect black people’s condition at the time
- Represented on tv-but doesn’t address to the black audience
- Stark contrast to racist and violent acts on tv
- Lives in integrated world
- No one is directly mean, derogatory to her
- Evidence presented for how viewers responding skewed-letters-strongly opinioned people
- The white negro
- Innoculous apartment
- No markers of a cultural identity
- All very perfect
- On the positive side
- Showing black people like everyone else-but also problematic because not really showing them as black
- Before this-black people on tv-Amos N Andy-stereotyped-this is the first time wasn’t stereotyped representation on tv
- Black people maids-mammy figure
- Only black representation on tv
- Overly perfect
- Documentary-interview with Diahann Carroll-acknowledges the show wasn’t perfect-but doing best they could given what was acceptable, what had access to
- Context of network tv: what system are we in? Classical network system-who is controlling production? Networks-3-no niche marketing-you want ratings
Bodroghozy, “Smothers Brothers”
- old person, uncool network
- tried for a minute to appeal to youth
- appeal to counterculture-but still not completely
- very clean cut
- mustaches-still the same-doesn’t matter if look different-civil rights movement
- ask audience if likes it-they say no-but pretend they said yes-referring to democratic convention in Chicago-total breakdown in American democracy
- Goldie-hippie character
- having hair-had longer hair in third season opening-that’s a political act-like the Beatles
- Carnival song-cut out-too political
- doesn’t seem political out of context
- coded
- show lasted 3 seasons
- 3rd season not full
- each season got more political
- but mostly things were coded-slip through censors-like Goldie drug terms
- fact that viewers are responding to Julia in diff ways, and censors missed a lot in Smothers Bros-people can decode a message in a lot of different ways
- overwhelmingly, the tumult of the moment is not reflected in network tv
- the networks are dealing with ratings
- real bottom line: why do ratings matter-more money can charge for ads
- even though networks ultimately in control in terms of decision making, still sort of beholden to advertisers
- beginning of ads being targeted at more specific markets
- ads not very specific or targeted-because only 3 channels-Smothers Bros would’ve done well on Comedy Central-but no space for them on CBS
- youth culture population very large-couldn’t been a good market-but didn’t have any money
- hegemonic ideology: the reflection of the ideology of those in power/of the power structure
- hegemony: dominant power structure
- in the 60s, the dominant power structure is the normative fare that the networks are mostly producing-not the counterculture
- the counterculture in the 60s is the first time that resistance to the hegemony is something that’s on everyone’s radar
- but there’s always been bohemians resisting the ideology
- but here we can actually talking about the hegemonic ideology because there’s something that’s not that
Lentz, “Quality vs. Relevance”
- semiotics: 1 way that people have tried to understand how things make meaning
- model lentz uses: cesarean model of semiotics-tries to understand how meaning is made in words, images, etc-3 parts: signifier, signified, sign
- signifier: the actual thing-the table
- signified: the word “table”-or photo of a table-references an actual thing-but the word is not the thing
- those 2 things together=the sign
- so hearing the word then thinking about the fact that you know what that word is-that’s the sign
- Lentz ist talking about the politics of the signified vs the politics of the referent-as distinction between tv of quality and tv of relevance
- signifier=referent
- referent=actual thing in the world that exists-and signifier being the thing that represents the thing in the world
- quality linked with signifier-tv of quality is self-referential-reflects on the medium-the way these signifieds are being delivered to us
- relevance linked with referent-actual things in world-issues
- feminization of tv: it’s in the home, linked with domestic culture-women undervalued in world-like tv-doesn’t have any redeeming artistic qualities-just about consumption-women seen in similar way-tv was not really respected-in comparison to film- which is masculine, respected, arts status-better object than tv-reading of MTM cat logo vs. MGM lion-quality and relevance trying to elevate tv as a medium
- quality vs relevance
- quality: MTM-Mary Tyler More
- style, production better-mise en scene reflective of class status of Mary-upper middle class-sleeker-more film quality-shot in film-brightly lit-multiple cameras, diff angles-costumes very put together
- self-referential-distinguishes itself as different from bad tv-quality tv elevates the medium-tv as bad object-MTM is aware of fact tv is not respected medium-employs strategies to make it higher quality-and also taking it in self-reflecxive way-say we are aware tv can be bad, but this is better-we’re all in on joke together about bad tv-the fact you’re watching this show means you have good taste-stupid newscaster, bad news show-to separate Mary Tyler Moore from that
- feminist for the time-works-respected as equals to men in workplace-lives alone-wears pants
- but limitations to that feminism-part of the reality of that moment is that birth control happened-and women could have sex in a diff way that involved less risk for them-liberated women-but show refuses to go there-show won’t get into the details of what its feminism means in certain arenas
- will not be shown dating anyone who is not white on the show-the show is not willing to go there
- while dealing with problematic white middle class feminism in second wave, making space for new representation of women on tv that has severe limitations-super flawed representation but created space for future representations that pushed beyond it-like Julia-and Gray article
- relevance: Tandem (Norman Lear)-All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times
- getting into what college kids, liberal people into at time-because that’s their demographic-so really economic choice but pretended wanted to be relevant-trying to get that demographic
- appealing to social activism in 60s
- deals with issues of race
- finally a time when the hegemonic structures are conceding to the fact that people want to have themselves represented onscreen-very likely people who fall outside hegemonic ideals that’ve been on tv for so long-people who are not white upper middle class heterosexual nuclear families
- reflect everyday struggles of these people
- Archie Bunker-white, middle aged, heterosexual guy-lower class status but still mostly benefited from privilege-now lives in context of people who are not like him having voices-and he’s not happy about it-the whole show is him dealing with the power structure around him shifting
- aesthetic markers that work together with content of these shows to create this overall grittier realism: drab colors-orange and brown-2D-like watching it on a stage-not using sophisticated cinematography-sets and costumes: not dressed up, average, real life-smudges on light switches-not all pristine-it’s all muddy-filmed on video-lower quality-cannot contain all the info film can at that point-compressing things-the 2Dness is because of that and the way camera shoots, and the way sets organized
Gray, “Politics of Representation”
Separate but Equal/Pluralist (1950s/70s): -Amos n Andy -Sanford and Son -The Jeffersons -What’s Happening!! Assimilation/Invisibility (1960s-70s): -Julia -I spy -Mission Impossible -Room 222 Multiculturalism/Diversity (1980s/90s): -The Cosby Show (Transitional Assimilation-Multicultural) -Frank’s Place -A Different World -Roc -South Central
-charting genealogy of representations of blackness on tv
-genealogy: showing how something is related or indebted to the things that came before it
-these changes can be attributed to a pretty small group of african american tv producers who got their voices heard-overwhelmingly white writers in writers room-a few people got through
-Amos N Andy, Julia
-present moment: 90s-3 big categories:
assimilationist (invisibility)
Julia
everyone is the same, living together in harmony
doesn’t reflect reality of the time
race is ignored
put black characters into white worlds, and their blackness is not an issue, because racism is over
ideal fake future world
these shows were geared towards white people-seemed to be appealing mostly to white middle class audience-because that was the audience that was deemed the most valuable by tv producers
black people are just like us, it’s fine!
problem with this category: racism is portrayed as an individual problem-1 white racist is a bad egg-can be cured when meet nice black person-ignores historical forces that created systemic inequalities
if you can change your idea, racism can be over!
but ignores idea that racism has historical legacy of economic subjugation and exploitation of blacks over american history
pluralism-separate but (not) equal
middle class black families but with other black people
Family Matters
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
shows that exist in predominantly black worlds where everyone is happy and also significantly black people are depicted as 1 homogenous group-no differences among black people, who come from different backgrounds-families depicted don’t deal with issues of race in larger world depicted-happier universe-also coming from this idea that the white middle class is still the ideal way to be in the world-markers of difference that these black families might have that distinguish them from white families of similar social class are erased-so specificity of culture not there-no cultural heritage
a step above Julia
racism, if addressed at all, is positioned as individual problem-systemic racism not addressed
multiculturalism/diversity
african american life where there are lots of different kinds of black people-african americans can have everyday issues-it’s not all the happy go lucky vibe of the last 2 types
Engage with ways that being a black person is going to impact your life on the daily because of systemic racism-acknowledged if not specifically addressed
Diff way of moving through the world
Not coming from the POV where white middle class nuclear families are the ideal
Most of these shows coming about from rise of cable
Shows are able to focus on smaller sections of the audience
Shows that are made to appeal to black audience-if nonblack people want to watch them, that’s great, but not like trying to bring in those viewers
Modleski, “ Soap Operas”
- narrative structure-never a conclusion-think having a resolution but then all this other drama
- compares narrative structure of soap opera to film-with beginning, middle, end that ties everything together-but soap has ever-expanding middle-can’t end because no way to tie up all loose ends
- soap operas are anti-progressive and liberal
- movies completely based around progress-every single scene forwards plot through action-might get some background info but mostly for forwarding narrative
- all about linear thing that’s gonna have conclusion at end
- that’s what she means about progressive
- in soap opera, learning more about characters, just hanging out-nothing is really progressing-there is nothing to progress-all sort of meandering through these people’s lives and the various ways their intersections will cause drama-that’s not progress because there’s no end in sight
- pleasure idea-we’ll talk about later
- feminist film technique of 60s/70s
- some said pleasure is evil-no way to have pleasure that is feminist-only valid cinema is arts cinema
- pleasure is not feminist
- families are not perfect-comforting
- for woman whose job it is to oversee family,s he has a small scope-nuclear family-and this is a much larger view that she can take on a family-and see everything-this is not a position a woman is in very often-omniscient view of whole situation-because she’s defined in her space
- never ends, always changing-gives comfort knowing their live isn’t done, stuff can still change-mimics lifestyle and pace of these women in lots of ways
- cyclical-up and down-like housework-finish one thing and start next
- villainous acting out subconscious desires
- fun to see the way things could go if they liberated themselves of position of good mother-release valve
- see what it’s like to be bad
- villainess makes these confining structures of femininity work for her
- we love to hate her
- source of drama stemming from the family, from interpersonal relationships in this family
- large, sprawling dysfunctional family
- pregnancy
- villainess
- target audience of women-airing during the day-so women working in the home
Rowe, “Roseanne”
- an unruly woman: opposite of good/ideal woman-doesn’t fit female roles-refuses to play by the rules of womanhood, what it means to be a good woman
- belches, shrill voice, takes up space, says what she feels, can’t be contained, vulgar, large, dresses however she wants
- the unruly woman in soap operas could be the villainess-but in comedy can be protagonist
- but at the same time is a pretty good domestic wife, mother
- not true of all unruly woman-but true of Roseanne
- Roseanne proves can be an unruly woman and still be a good mother
- Roseanne as a sign: setting up argument that when she’s talking about Roseanne, she’s not talking about Roseanne the character or actor-talking about the Roseanne that the real person Roseanne is putting into world-the character and figure in media discourse surrounding her
- unruly woman is very transgressive-rejecting idea of femininity-not everyone is on board with this-microaggressions projected onto her-but on surface-she’s disgusting, eats a lot, can you believe that?
- but show is very highly rated and very successful
- but snubbed for quality awards
- makes a spectacle of herself
- pleasure we can get from an unruly woman is very powerful
- the way we can interact with an unruly woman is very powerful
- as feminist viewers, the unruly woman can help us
- asserting her power
- not apologizing
- she’s visible and present
- makes visible the tropes of femininity by violating them
- puts herself front and center, does things her own way-by doing that she both makes visible and undermines tropes of femininity
- in older sitcoms-whiteness and femininity invisible-taken for granted as the norm-here by rejecting those things, points them out-not invisible anymore
- dismantling those tropes
- the male gaze-most film is constructed so the ideal viewer is a man-middle ages straight white man-that’s why Mulvey said had to get rid of pleasure-because all pleasure constructed to satisfy men-there is no way to provide a pleasure that satisfies women
- but Rowe says Roseanne and her presence as an unruly women is a way for us to work against the idea of male pleasure and find a way of getting female pleasure
- because of Roseanne’s excess, refusal to be a good woman-not offering pleasure to male viewers-offers female viewer chance to find pleasure in ways that are specific to them
- Roseanne’s refusal to fir herself into the good woman who will provide masculine pleasure, she is returning the male gaze
- Roseanne saying “I’m laughing at you, you’re not laughing at me”
- that’s a source of power
Jenkins, “Star Trek”
- One of the first people to think about fan culture-coined term participatory culture-really important contribution
- we take for granted fan culture now
- was embarrassing before-helpful for that ingroup but these people were seen as weird
- changed way people were allowed to engage and interact with stories
- cult stories before-now huge, like Harry Potter
- textual poaching: taking material from a show and making it your own-the “real” story-taking what you want out of it, doing what you will with it
- read to the writers as your show is not good, we want to fix it
- but really was coming from a place of love
- that’s regulated within this moral economy of the fan culture itself-the culture will decide what is and is not too far in this poaching process
- Kirk/Spock fanfiction-test case-too far-presenting what they think is plausible-others rejected it
- gender in fan culture: fan fiction writers usually female
- dealing with romantic subplots and not scientific plot advancing events
- female characters less well developed in show, so they’re fixed and expanded upon in fan fiction-women predisposed to want to fill in those gaps and create something they can identify with more
- also writing about shared cultures is way to connect with other women-just like in victorian times-gossip-about what people may and may not be doing-but this time in a story-so history in the way women are socialized
- women and men engage with narrative really differently
- the majority of stories that exist in popular media are centered on male protagonists-women are used to having to identify with male characters even though they don’t necessarily understand that experience-used to doing that translation in their head-fanfiction becomes a space where they can graft that ability that they already have onto a female characters and expand that female character
- fan fiction centered mostly on relationships-which women enjoy talking about
- men are largely satisfied from identification get from actual stories themselves-because men engage with narrative in much more action based ways-things happening causally
- women are socialized to engage with narrative in terms of the characters and character development and interpersonal relationships-use fan fiction to flesh that out-akin to seriality, soap opera, narrative forms talked about earlier-interconnecting events-not causal-this middle, no resolutions
Sconce, “What Next?”
- media scholars sort of snobs about tv for a long time-tv as bad object-lowbrow thing-major force in contemporary culture so we need to talk about it, but don’t actually want to watch it-if these people were watching the tv, would notice a lot of interesting narrative things going on
- don’t just focus on historical context, etc-pay attention to narrative aspects of tv/series
- explains how people changed from episodic to world building-Dragnet to Sex and the City
- big shift
- cumulative world building-characters and plotline and relationships develop over seasons, while 1-episode plots happen
- sitcoms adopting a cumulative narrative-ex: Friends-diff hijinks every week but also care about the overarching plot
- can see that hybridization in other forms now-like Grey’s Anatomy
- another thing dovetailing off of this: conjectural episodes: episode where plays with what could happen-”what if”-X Files episode-what if Walder and Scully were stuck in a Frankenstein story?-Malcolm in the Middle episode-what if they went with their dad? What if they went with their mom? Oth nathan dream and lucas dream episodes-what if dan had married karen? What if lucas hadn’t tried to help people/been such a good person?
- bottle episodes-can be conjectural-when something is isolated from larger narrative in some way-meat locker episode, evil twin, episode focused on just 1 character
- all of this is in context of postmodernism
- postmodernism: mix of a lot of diff things-overwhelming senses-consumerism-a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality-no single meaning-linked to idea of conjectural episode-like writers saying we get it, we’re not these deities spoon feeding stories to our audience-other ways it could happen-explore things ourselves, acknowledge all these diff things happening within their narrative, other possibilities
- postmodernism affects our lives outside of media-like in 50s, had to consume to be good american-as postmodernism (started around 50s) escalated, by the 90s consumption is not only making you a good american but is how you define your identity-identity is so fractured that increasingly we are constructing images of ourselves through what we consume
Arthurs, “Sex and the City”
- Postmodernism, consumption
- Sex and the City
- glossy women’s magazine
- narrowcasting-this is HBO
- there was a time when it was a brag to not have a tv-for certain social groups-not a thing anymore-in a new golden age of tv-tv of quality everywhere-so many options-but there was a time when the idea of tv was frowned upon
- HBO comes in and says, we know TV sucks, “we’re not tv, we’re HBO”
- targeting urban professional 30s-40s single white women with a good amount of money
- people who didn’t fit into that group knew about it because so revolutionary in some ways (though not in others)-but targeting a very small group of people
- representation of sex as for pleasure, not looking for marriage
- careers part of their life
- explicit sex, language
- that’s the benefit of having a show on HBO
- narrowcasting and pay cable-so content opened up a bit-regulations don’t apply when paying for the service
- commodification-commodities defining us
- shot a cable version of every sex scene so show could be sold for syndication later
- now it comes on TBS and other channels-in syndication
- appealing to this women who are constructing their identities out of a lot of things beyond being in a relationship
- define their self worth over physical things/buying things-like the shoes Carrie loves
- defining themselves by consumption
- so liberation in defining themselves-but still limiting
- consumption makes them feel like they’re doing something in the world-satisfaction, purpose
- context of postmodernism: you can’t achieve a certain level of status/contentment without the ability to consume at a certain level
- these lifestyles they achieve-unattainable fantasy-not possible based on their jobs
- many critiques of the show
- liberating in some ways-but still contained by forces of capitalism and postmodernism, the drive to consume
Raymond, “Queer Representation”
-queer-used to be insult-now reappropriated as a marker for marginalized sexual identities (LGBTQ)
-queer theory: a body of knowledge connected to but not identical to lesbian/gay studies
-term is open-ended, fluid
-the “queer” is politically radical, rejects binary categories, embraces more fluid categories, and tends to be “universalizing” rather than “minoritizing”
-queer theory reads queerness throughout the culture and not simply as a fixed, clearly demarcated category-problematizes certain sorts of questions that have been standard in gay and lesbian theory.
- three recurring patterns or tropes that I have
identified in situation comedies:
1. heterosexualization and binary/innate sexuality (Will & Grace)
2. Gay Pretender (Three’s Company)
3. Straight Mistaken for Gay (Seinfeld)
-All three offer the potential for subverting heterosexist norms and assumptions
-but resolution of tensions enables viewers to distance themselves from the queer and thereby to return to their comfortable positions as part of the dominant culture
-gays and lesbians are not a homogeneous group with a singular, uncomplicated sense of identity
-but no person is completely unaffected, or completely led, by dominant readings and representations in media-somewhat affected by big cultural norms on tv
-society isn’t homoegenous-neither is a social group, or even a person-no correct, unchanging queer identity
-why are there more representations of LGBTQ people in comedies?
1. as traditional family comedies—along with the traditional
family—began to disappear, space opened
up for “alternative” sorts of narratives, including those of “nontraditional” families-shift in roles and viewer expectations
2. situation comedies—however “realistic” they might be—do not claim, like dramas, to be offering us “real life.” That lack of seriousness may allow these programs to play with themes under cover of humor where those themes might be too volatile or even too didactic for another sort of audience. Such play and flexibility may also help to account for what may be a wider variety of possible readings
-if representation is power, gays had none-most minority representations in race/ethnicity-and those rare depictions of glbt people tended both to dichotomize anyone glbt as victim or villain and to reinforce demeaning stereotypes and caricatures (effeminate gay man, woman-hating lesbian)
-out of date-now lots of gay people on tv-ahead of film, where many are murderers or demonized except in indie films
-majority viewers are straight, so these shows often still straight readings of gay men-but this audience is often young, urban, gay-friendly-okay with jokes about it
-Albeit somewhat one-dimensional, these gay or lesbian television characters are attractive and professional
-Such “mainstreaming” seems likely to change popular perceptions and misperceptions about homosexuality
-It is now homophobes, not gays and lesbians, who are vilified or ignored
-queering
-goes beyond gay characters-more gay writers now-“gay winking” or “gay vague”—allows for multiple readings of a character or situation, those readings dependent on the subject position of the viewer
-these subtle gestures serve 2 functions:
1. They avoid alienating gay audiences
2. at the same time that they mask the gay content and retain majority viewers
-also openly gay actors allow for different readings of the situation
–sexuality is one component of that ideology that constructs viewing positions and identities, a component whose regulation occurs both formally and informally
-in a culture grounded in “compulsory heterosexuality” (/heteronormativity), popular culture will tend to portray heterosexuality as if it were natural and inevitable and to position alternative forms of sexuality as “other”-heteronormativity functions to underline the fact that heterosexuality is an institution, a practice, with its own set of expectations, norms, and principles of conduct
-If, however, heterosexuality is not a naturalized, innate state of being, then its existence is more fragile than is obvious at first glance-Given that fragility, heterosexuality cannot be taken as a given or presumed; in a culture framed by homophobia and heterosexism, institutions both formal and informal; police behavior, boundaries, expectations, and values; a dynamic blend of incentives and disincentives function to channel desire in “appropriate” ways and to make invisible those practices falling outside its discursive domain
-Heterosexuality and homophobia organize the structures in which we are immersed, structures so pervasive as to become almost invisible
-habitus: what is constructed can come to seem inevitable and natural
-our culture organizes itself around sexuality
-also notworthy sexuality is defined int terms of the sex of one’s object of desire-many other ways
-the cultural energy involved in disciplining gender and sexuality suggests how fragile those institutions actually are-if gender and sexuality are achievements rather than givens-then sexual identity is complex, incomplete, and unstable
-The mechanisms that serve to construct and regulate sexuality may not be obvious or even intentional
-the mechanisms of power product pleasure-they disguise the way they reinforce norms relating to sexuality and more
-so queer/straight viewers find pleasure in the proliferation of these tv images-how do we read that pleasure-never innocent or neutral-there is a danger in valorizing pleasure w/o looking at its context-the ways desire and meaning are structured
-how do the new representations of gays and lesbians circulate in culture
-the homo/hetero schema is “written into the cultural organization of Western societies”- then the question of the homosexual/heterosexual matrix rather than the question of personal identity becomes primary-but identity is never fixed or stable-the notion of heterosexuality is bad-dependent on what is and is not
-popular television programming seems to belie this theoretical claim, bombarding us with images of gayness and far less threatening homosexuals who suggest the possibility of new normative understandings of sexual difference
-but the appearance of difference per se is not necessarily subversive
-hat heterosexuals now can, like tourists, visit lgbt culture does not in itself guarantee social change
-difference sells-commodify difference
-Difference can also serve to provide one with a sense of uniqueness or individuality.
-the promotion of gayness as a “lifestyle” tends to attach it to commodities rather than practices as an expression of the self.
-visits from “real lesbians” may help to deflect the viewer’s attention from the possibility that ongoing characters may harbor same-sex feelings-reassure viewers that the same-sex groupings are purely platonic
-Cultural unease with lesbianism may be tied to cultural unease with feminism, but it may also emerge from lesbianism’s own murky boundaries
-these characters are good though-exhibit a range of personalities
-Will and Grace-its repetition suggests a certain ambivalence over sexuality, queer sexuality in particular
-opening of show-we never see the 2 gay men together and the only times we see the women together occur when they’re with at least 1 of the men-a number of opposite sex couplings-Will and Grace dance the tango-sexual dance
-Will’s relationships rare
-Will and Grace’s behavior mirrors that of a traditional heterosexual husband and wife
-Do we, like Grace, hope someday that the two will be united, that Will can be converted to the heterosexual partner that Grace desperately wants? Further, Jack’s flamboyance and his stereotypical nature may suggest that Will is somehow less gay and therefore recuperable to heterosexuality.
-The famous “kisses”on shoes between lesbians occur during sweeps weeks and are unabashed strategies to increase the viewing audience- earn viewer warnings is noteworthy in itself-these episodes result in no change in diegesis or character evolution-they are never incorporated into a character’s understanding of his/her identity and sexuality, and the possibility of bisexuality a more fluid sexual identity is not entertained
-fluidity seems to pose such a threat that its possibility is rarely if ever acknowledged
-gayness told as innate-have no choice
-The noteworthy absence of bisexuals in these comedies suggests that the fluidity of a bisexual sexual identity may be too disruptive for such programming
-these deterministic narratives also tend to privilege gay men’s perspectives who, far more than lesbians, tend to recount their sexual histories as inevitable, predetermined, and innate
-possible exception: Susan from Friends-but Ross constantly made fun of fora marrying a lesbian-which suggests she is not bisexual
-moral ideology permeates these shows-usually in the form of 1 character-identify with-Grace-she’s not homophobic-provides model for straight viewer-but she vilifies people who don’t come out-never acknowledges costs to being openly gay-moral message=that all secrets are bad, even staying in the closet
-Questions of power and subordination are thereby erased in the effort to homogenize all lies and secrets
-the gay pretender: staple of situation comedy
-one reading suggests that these examples of gender and sexuality play may be consistent with a progressive queer agenda that suggests either that we’re all queer or that there’s a little queer in each of u-“universalizing discourse”-it views queerness/sexuality as nonbinary and more amorphous than is traditionally believed
-but what makes for the humor in these situations is, at least partly, the fact that the viewers knows that the character ‘s heterosexuality is never in doubt-Such certainty enables these characters to play with gay stereotypes without seeming to be homophobic-Certain mannerisms come to be coded as gay even though the character expressing them is not-The character we “know” is straight is positioned against the character we “know” is gay and the comedy of errors and misreadings ensues
-rarely used with lesbian characters-do they have less identifiable mannerisms?
-there is never any suggestion whatsoever of any temptation or questioning on the part of the “straight” character; that firmness of resolve serves once again not only to reinforce a strict binary of gay/straight but also to suggest that solid and impermeable boundaries frame one’s sexuality
-potentially oppositional discourses are subverted by naturalizing them within terms that make sense in the context of the dominant perspective
-this trope implicitly creates a fantasy world where not only do gays and lesbians not experience cultural ostracism and legal discrimination; they also enjoy more power than hetero-sexuals-This inversion results in humor and unanticipated consequences but it may also serve to mask the ways that power operates and to make the mechanisms of power even more covert
-the “straight-mistaken-for-gay” trope
-This trope represents an almost total inversion of the tendency in earlier television-audiences to ignore telltale signs of gayness if a television character or actor
-today’s situation comedies manipulate signs of gayness to create humor and playfulness
-this trope might serve to undermine essentialist notions of a clear boundary between hetero- and homosexual identity. Indeed, part of the humor in these episodes is that the heterosexual character’s mannerisms come to be recoded as queer. Further, this trope suggests the ways that virtually any behavior can be reread as gay once the viewer’s perspective is framed by that lens
-derives much of its humor from the audience’s knowledge that the character(s) in question is/are not in fact gay. Such an epistemological advantage sets the audience member apart from the mistaken character and provides the audience member not only with a certain degree of distance but also with reinscribed boundaries between the gay and the straight
-both tripes seem to give these programs permission to play with sex and sexuality more explicitly than they might with a heterosexual characters. The use of double entendre in these scenes of misunderstanding is one strategy that opens up and foregrounds the sexual aspects of homosexuality
-Queer theory embraces a kind of intellectual tension: where, on the one hand, the viewer insists that sexuality and the domain of the sexual are cultural inventions and not essential, on the other hand, it deploys sexuality as a (if not the) significant determinant of cultural and individual identity
-queerness should “challenge and confuse our understanding and uses of sexual and gender categories”-so the sorts of examples been describing and analyzing in this article represent failures
-Marginalized identities are not just oppressed by power; they are also, as Foucault points out, constructed by those very same power relations. Thus, there is no doubt that these new representations of glbt characters and of heterosexuality will give birth to new meanings and new signifiers attached to queer sexuality. But we must wait for that next episode.
Collins, “TV and Postmodernism”
postmodernism used to describe:
a distinctive style
a movement that emerged in the 60s, 70s, or 80s, depending on the medium in question
a condition or milieu that typifies an entire set of socioeconomic factors
a specific mode of philosophical inquiry that throws into question the givens of philosophical discourse
a very particular type of “politics”
an amergent form of cultural analysis shaped by all of the above
-the term can’t really be defined in a neutral way-always evaluated-whether agree or disagree with it-debate
-modernism: a heroic period of revolutionary experimentation that sought to transform whole cultures, in which case postmodernism is seen as neoconservative backlash-or, as a period of profound elitism, in which case postmodernism signals a move away from the self-enclosed world of the avant-garde back into the realm of day-to-day life
-stylistic features of postmodern design: the move away from abstraction and geometrics to the overly familiar and mass-produced; the replacement of purity with eclecticism, internationalism with cultural specificity, and invention with rearticulation
-cultural significance and ideological ramifications of these changes up for debate
-hard to match up with tv, which never had modernist phase
-a semiotics of excess: “The Bombardment of Signs”-generated by the technological developments associated with the info explosion (cable tv, VCRs, comptuers, etc)-produced a surplus of texts=tv central in this-many claim tv devaluates meaning, ends learning, reality disappears
-problems with this: all signs encoded and decoded according to the same logic-it’s just happening faster-rate of absorption increasing-when it was new, had novelty, but now this new tech is accepted, already familiar, just as all signs become-it’s just quicker with tv-this process of becoming manageable and accepted through different strategies of absorption is called secondarization-this absorbtion/secondarization process involves the manipulation of the array of texts operating within it-tv programs that demonstrate an increasingly sophisticated knowledge of the conditions of their production, circulation, and eventual reception-tv is self aware
-articulation of the “already said”-distinguishing feature of postmodern communication-we can no longer make statements like “I love you madly” because would be funny, cliche-but okay if say “As Barbara Cartland would put it, I love you madly”-must acknowledge it’s already been said-irony-rearticulation-past is hijacked and given a different cultural significance than its antecedent-the already said is being constantly recirculated in many diff forms
-already said big in tv-depends on recycling of Hollywood films and syndicated programs-many newer networks showed old sitcoms juxtaposed with new-model for who the family used to be and more irony and postmodernism in the recent show
-intertextual references has become marker of “quality tv”-developed in MTM style-now explicit referencing has played a vital role in situation a given program in relation to other forms of quality and non-quality programs (shows reference watching each other)-now this isn’t restricted to quality TV
-hyperconsciousness of the postmodern popular culture: hyperawareness on the part of the text itself of its cultural status, function, and history, as well as of the conditions of its circulation and reception-involves a diff sort of self-reflexivity from that commonly associated with modernist texts-a hyperconscious rearticulation of media culture by media culture
-this self-reflexivity focuses on antecedent and competing programs, on the ways tv programs circulate and are given meaning by viewers, and on the nature of tv popularity-bart watching balloon of himself in thanksgiving parade
-what are the effects of this hyperconscious irony on tv viewers? it opens identity to diversity, and escapes the notion of cultural identity as fixed volume-tv viewers are individual subjects neither completely programmed by what they’re watching not free to choose as self-determining individuals
-hypodermic model of media effects (in which mass media allegedly injects values directly into passive viewers) has been challenged by those who have a cultural studies perspective
-poaching: audience’s skillful abduction of tv texts, focusing on the ways in which audiences make the meanings they want or need out of TV programs-subject operates as a technologically sophisticated bricoleur, appropriating and recombining according to personal need
-bricolage: the way primitive tribespeople piece together a way of operating out of random elements they encounter in their everyday lives-recently been applied to the behavior of individuals in contemporary media cultures
-the culturalist and postmodernist positions differ, however, in regards to mass culture-culturalist presupposes that mass culture may still be pernicious and homogenous, but that it may be transformed into something resembling a genuine folk culture at the moment of reception because viewers tend to disregard the intended effects of tv and take from it what best fits into their lives-allows for the continued demonization of capitalism and mass culture while it celebrates the resourcefulness of ordinary people-but fails to recognize the eclecticism of postmodern culture production
-many manifestations of pop culture are already the result of bricolage, conscious of the multiple ways they might be understood
-this eclecticism, bricolage, is also a feature of the ethnic and racial subcultures that are so prominent in American popular culture
-eclecticism seen in style, technological/institutional level because it’s been institutionalized by cable tv and the VCR, which together produce infinite programming variations
-tv must be conceived as a site-an intersection of multiple, conflicting cultural messages
-interdependency of bricolage and eclecticism-reception and production entwined, each becomes the other through rearticulation
-impact of consumerism on social life-postmodernism is the end result of capitalism’s relentless commodification of all phases of everyday existence
=blurring of distinction between programs and commercials has become even greater with the development of infomercials, shopping channels, product lines for shows, etc-all pervasive appeals to consumerism
-postmodern culture is a symptom of more fundamental economic and political trends-contentious with late capitalsim-btu issues and limitations with this view
-value not abandoned-value and evaluation are radically contingent-depends on the culture, variable nature of TV signs-value cannot be explained in reference to 1 logic
-Twin Peaks-epitomizes the multiple dimensions of TV postmodernism-the circumstances that allowed for its development and the ways in which it circulated are emblematic of postmodern culture and represent the confluence of a number of factors that give postmodern tv its historical specificity-the appearance of Twin Peaks on prime-time network TV was due in large part to the impact of cable and VCR technology, which led to a big decline in the networks’ share of the total viewing audience-audience no longer regarded as homogenous mass but an amalgamation of micro cultural groups stratified by age, gender, race, and geographic location-so appealing to a mass audience now involves putting together a series of interlocking appeals to a number of discrete but potentially interconnected audiences
-the original development of Twin Peaks involved this appeal to a number of distinct audiences
-media blitz around it textbook example of the skillful manipulation of the discourses of cultural legitimation
-many reviews bestowed automatic status on the program because it was the product of an auteur
-after a few episodes, as becomes more serialized, returns to being just TV
-cultural literacy-involves this shift in evaluative criteria-how do you enjoy it? quality, or enjoy it ironically? both-postmodern cultural literacy recognizes exactly this kind of variability-diff magazines and people frame it differently
-style of Twin Peaks very eclectic-so is genre-and the treatment each genre receives in particular scene-sometimes the convention of the genre taken seriously, sometimes parodied-within and across scenes
-this operates to surprise viewers, catch them between sets of expectations- producing the shock of the newly juxtaposed
-what distinguishes Twin Peaks from soaps is not the oscillation in viewing positions but that it explicitly acknowledges it-recognizes that one of the great pleasures of the televisual texts is that very suspension in the nature of viewer involvement in tv and exploits it for its own ends
-postmodernism as theory and tv are both responses to the contingent, conflicted set of circumstances that constitute cultural life at the end of the 20th entury
Mod Squad
-another representation of counterculture
-3 hippie cop undercover
-ABC courting youth audience
slang, topical issues/refs, counterculture figures
-priest-Sammy Davis Junior-in the Rat Pack
-cross-generational alignment there-this cameo is politically, unlike he is in real life
-more diverse than Dragnet-less monotone-more into personal relationships
-cool detectives
-apartment with love beads where they solve crimes and wear paisley
-the networks desperately trying to stay relevant while not offending anyone
-working within genres already familiar with
-it’s a procedural, crime show
-takes that structure and putting the current vibe du jour on top of this
-like Veronica Mars
sitcoms:
low contrast 3 cameras everything well lit can see whole bodies pauses for jokes, entry and exits laugh track sexualization of women-skimpy outfits (modern) resolution of plot
Scrubs
-nostalgic for older form, but also distinguishing themselves-aware of tv as a medium-and of their show as a show-and pointing out what’s different about their show-quality show cuz not like that-of the past
other shows do this-mark their quality by separating/ situating themselves to other shows of the past
Representations of Race: Julia (CBS, 1968-71)
- controversial reception provides a window into turmoil of times
- critiques:
- not representative of black experience
- binary stereotypes
- “white negro”-we see this now and it’s fine, but this being only show with black people starring, becomes responsible for a lot-in this case doesn’t address issues that face people at this time-if there were 20 other shows with black characters this might be different-here it’s the only person seeing, and erasing cultural differences, and differences in experience between black and white-visually can see diversity but not otherwise-blend in cuz in world of the main culture
- lack of male figure in family-stereotype of african american families
- race displaced-> sex discrimination-that’s a safe topic still, okay, funny-less controversial than race
Representations of Politics: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS, 1967-9)
- Network Logic:
- counter programming (Bonanza)
- bridge generation gap
- politics cut with humor
- increasingly controversial, battles over censorship
- Nixon ad instead of DNC
- Cancelled in season 3
- both singers, had counterculture background, but also very clean cut-wholesome, all american
Classical Network Control in the Late-1960s
- height of vertically integrated 3-network oligopoly
- VHF band full, UHF vacant
- split band of affiliates
Classical network Profits: nets profit from
- sale of national ads
- sale of net-owned programs (90%) to syndication
- O&O sale of local and national ads (highly profitable)
Classical network Profits: affiliates profit from
- local ad time on network shows
- all ad time on syndicated/local programs
- station compensation from network
Classical network Profits: Artists (actors, writers, directors) profit from
- some combo of salary and residuals (reuse royalty)
- salary/initial sale covers first-run
- reruns, sale of DVDs gives residuals
why do artists get paid for show reruns?
-you should pay people for reruns of show because repeating show-otherwise could make new show and hire a bunch of people-but not-so should have to pay original artists for continuing to air the show
Classical Network Style: CBS
- First Place Network
- Young, urban, socially relevant image
- “quality” programming:
- All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- before doing a lot of the hayseed comedies for rural crowd
Classical Network Style: NBC
- Second Place Network
- ethnic and racial diversity
- Julia, Sanford and Son, I Spy, Flip Wilson, Chico and the Man
- comedy shows for youth market
- Laugh-In and The Monkees
Classical Network Style: ABC
- Third Place Network
- Youth-Oriented, comedy focus
- trendier, more controversial programming
- Mod-Squad, Rookies, Brady Bunch, Room 222
Producers in Classical Network System
- too much competition for too few slots
- deficit financing
- risk of making show and having no buyer/being cancelled before profitability
- no control over marketing show
- profits gouged by network/studio participation-sometimes had partial ownership-will take half their money, even from syndication, from indie producers
- Result: bland, formulaic network programs
- put all money out for show, no networks want, or cancelled, or never syndicated-so doesn’t last until when it’ll be lucrative
- showrunners-producers-don’t have any input on how will be advertised, where belongs on schedule
Early 70s Changes
- Reforms:
- Fin/Syn
- PTAR
- New Outlets:
- Cable
- Independent Stations
- PBS
- Limit ownership, new outlets for programming
Nixon’s FCC
- Responsible for most 70s regulation
- anti-counterculture
- “silent majority”
- media elites/liberal bias
- instill paranoia about news/left
- puts pressure on FCC to regulate tv
PTAR-Prime Time Access Rule (1970)
- Top 50 markets stop running network shows during the first hour of prime-time (7-8pm)
- to give 1 more hour to syndicated/local programming-of most popular times on tv-to loosen network control
- Instead, syndicated/locally produced programming
- 7:00 news
- Game shows/syndication
Fin/Syn-Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (1971)
- to increase diversity, limit control of nets
- nets surrender syndication rights for shows they don’t produce wholly
- only allowed to produce 15 hours of non-news/week
- Prohibited networks from owning:
- financial interest in most shows they aired
- could not profit from shows beyond ad revenue
- in-house syndication arms (distribution)
- could only buy productions for 1 or 2 airings
- financial interest in most shows they aired
- if networks make own show-can profit more-big factor in renewal is does network own all of it? more likely to renew it-because looking toward syndication in future
- if limit number of shows can wholly own, more likely to give changes to indie producers, keep those shows on air too because can’t always favor their own-need other programming
Fairness Doctrine
- 1930s-Progressive Compromise concept—> editorial control to ensure diverse views
- 1941-Mayflower Decision:
- broadcaster cannot be advocate
- interests/opinions of community
- 1949-Fairness Doctrine becomes official policy
- 1960s-Controversial programming encouraged
- broadcaster must actively ascertain/address important issues
- 1969-Red Lion Decision
- affirms active ascertainment and balanced inclusion
- 1974-Fairness Doctrine key factor in license renewal
- 1965-Fairness Doctrine repealed (Reagan, Fowler)
Early Cable (late-1940s)
- Community.Access.Antennae TV (CATV)
- In areas where signal could not reach
- large community antennas
- cables to private homes
- Monthly fee for service
- Free extra channel for local events
Cable Growth (1950s)
- Customers get:
- own local affiliates
- signals from nearby cities (different local/syndicated programming)
- independent stations
Dev. of Satellite Technology (1960s)
- 1963-First Geostationary satellite
- 1964-Early Bird Satellite-COMSAT live TV link between US and Europe
- 1970s: transponders available for commercial lease
FCC Control Over Cable (1960s)
- 1968-Supreme court upholds FCC authority
- FCC lobbied by reformers (Carnegie commission, policy groups) to open cable as alternative to big 3 nets
Cable Consolidation (mid-1970s)
- Cable in 1/6 of homes
- 3500 cable companies
- most can send 10+ channels
- Multiple Systems Operators (MSOs)
- Consolidate local systems
- Satellites—> national service
FCC Control over Cable
- 1972 FCC rules:
- cable can expand in top 100 TV markets
- at least one public/edu/govt. channel (PEG)
- “must-carry” rules for local stations with significant audiences
Home Box Office
- 1971: Pay channel for movies and sports events
- “The Green Channel”
- 1972: Time-Warner backs as “Home Box Office”
- 1975: Ali-Frazier fight, (also pay per view on other channels)
- 1st national network via satellite
Later Cable Growth
- 1976: Ted Turner distributes local Atlanta superstation by satellite (WTBS)
- 1979: C-SPAN debuts
- 1980-1: CNN, MTV
- 1980-30% penetration
- 1984: Cable Act deregulates industry
- 1985: 50% penetration
- mid-1980s: Nicheing (BET, Univision, Lifetime)
- late-1980s: Fiber Optic expansion
Types of Cable Channels: Pay Cable
- Premium subscriber services like HBO
- Line item on cable bill-$5-20 on top of basic package
- More $ to spend on programming new movies
Types of Cable Channels: Basic Cable
- Channels customers receive as part of basic package, includes:
- Over-the-air stations (ABC, CBS, NBC)
- Ad-supported, cable-only channels (ESPN, MTV)
- cable service provider pays monthly to carry (e.g.) 5-10 cents per subscriber
Types of Cable Channels: Superstations
- local, independent stations distributed nationally via satellite (WGN in Chicago)
- Free over-the-air (Chicago area), but cable operator charges per subscriber to carry
Types of Cable Channels: PEG
- Public Access, Educational and Government Channels
- Cable only
- Carried for free/at CSP expense
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
-like a soap opera-mixing in some humor and irony-syndicated-on daily, weekdays-only 1 season-325 episodes-example of interesting or experimental, innovative production of a show-possible because of changes discussed last time
Cable Beneficiaries: Film Studios
-Movies sold to pay cable, then broadcast networks, then to basic cable
Cable Beneficiaries: Independent Stations
- strengthen existing signals-independent stations
- UHF as clear as VHF
Early Public TV
- 1948-52-FCC Freeze privileges VHF over UHF
- 1954-58: Ford funded National Educational TV
- 1960s: TV manufacturers required to include UHF for edu. Stations
- 1964: Congress grants federal support
1960s Public TV
- 1967: Carnegie Commission rport
- 1967: Public Broadcasting Act-Corpt for Public Broadcast (CPB)—> PBS
- Insulated Funding rejected (biannual appropriations)-insulated=money every year from gov
- Corporate Underwriters
- some public funding for PBS-continues to be subject to debate-also from “viewers like you”
- PBS Management: No central programming structure
- Different stations propose programs and share with network
- 1969: Children’s Television Workshop’s Sesame Street
1970-80s Public TV
- Masterpiece Theatre (BBC)-then becomes shown by PBS as major part of programming
- More in-depth news, documentaries, avant-garde cultural programming
- International programming of more general interest
- politics, documentaries, science, dramatic anthology, history
Criticisms of Public Television
- Bias, lack of women and minorities
- Populist vs. Elitist Tendencies
- upper middle class white people interests
- left vs. right politics
- PBS is biased toward the left
Early Reality TV: An American Family (WNET, PBS, 1972-73)
- 12-part miniseries follows family for a year
- Craig Gilbert (dir.); Alan and Susan Raymond, camera and sound
- parents separate during show’s run-becomes about that
- 2 parents, 5 children
- California family-Santa Barbara
- one of the older children moves to NY and comes out to mother on show-Lance Loud
- first time someone’s openly gay on american tv
- looks very raw to us
- first reality TV
- seeking realism, not story-unlike today
- clear shift from 50s family image-”no such thing as a typical american family-this is simply an american family”
Reality TV Continued
- 1977: The Police Tapes (directed by the Raymonds-did camera and sound for An American Family)
- 1983: An American Family Revisited (HBO-revisited Loud Family)
- 1988: Cops (Fox)
- 1992: The Real World (MTV)
- 1999: An American Love Story (PBS-interracial marriage-family with children-follows family for several years)
- 2000: Survivor debut (US)
- 2003: A Death in the Family (Lance Loud’s death)
Early/Mid-70s Shifts (Results of Reform)
- Audience Targeting: Shift from LCD/LOP (skewing older/rural)–> “Quality” demographic (skewing young/urban)
- More focus on identity politics (also due to media monitoring groups)-a lot of groups advocating for more diverse representations of american on TV
70s Programming
- Sitcom Type: “Relevant”
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-77)
- All in the Family (CBS, 1971-79)
- MAS*H (CBS, 1972-83)
- all trying to be relevant, quality, in own way
- Spinoffs:
- Maude
- Good Times
- Rhoda (CBS, 1974-78, MTM)
- Ethnic Sitcom Revival:
- Sanford & Son
- What’s Happening!!
- Chico and the Man
- Social Problem Drama Revival (short-lived: 1970-71)
- Young Rebels
- The Interns
- Storefront Lawyers
- “Jiggle” TV (ABC, Aaron Spelling, Fred Silverman)
- Charlie’s Angels
- Wonder Woman
- Three’s Company
- Feminism/Anti-feminism
- capable, effective, liberated women within show
- objectified by show
Quality/Relevant TV
- Mary Tyler Moore
- All in the Family
- Causes:
- Rise of independent studios
- End of network hegemony
- New attention to demographics
MTM: Quality TV- New Workplace Family Shows of the late-70s/early-80s:
- Barney Miller
- Taxi
- WKRP in Cincinnati
diffs btw. Mary Tyler Moore and All in the Family:
- quality vs relevance
- higher quality images in Mary Tyler Moore, workplace drama, doesn’t deal so much with race
- less overt political project than AITF-less concerned with race
Mary Tyler Moore (Quality)
- Political focus: gender
- TV improvements: aesthetic
- whiteness invisible
All in the Family (Relevance)
- Political focus: Race
- TV improvements: Social
- whiteness visible
MTM: Quality TV
- Creative freedom
- Grant Tinker: hands-off management
- James L Brooks/Allan Burns-showrunners
MTM: Quality TV-Narrative characteristics:
- Workplace settling
- middle/upper-middle class focus
- character-based comedy
- ensemble of likable characters
- develop over time
MTM: Quality TV-Humor:
- Warm moments alternate with funny moments=“Warmedy”
- Laughing with/empathy
- Distance/irony
MTM: Quality TV-Signature Style:
- High production value (actors, sets, filming)
- Filmic/3D
- Cool/Crisp/Clean look
- Single camera
MTM: Quality TV-Aesthetic: Artifice/Stylistic Complexity
- Reflexivity
- intertextuality
intertextuality and distance/irony:
-refers to itself from a tv show-distinguishes itself as quality tv-not bad tv-look at us-we’re aware of tv’s history-pointing out flaws of tv-sets us apart as more critically aware, quality programming
MTM: Quality TV-Intertextuality/Reflexivity in Mary Tyler Moore
- set in media institution
- Critiques tv image
- shots of tv set
- creates distance
What comment is Mary Tyler Moore making?
In the ep we watched-liberal feminist view of world-her independent life as professional woman-critical of 3 men-fantasizing about her-has entirely to do with them, projecting onto her
Tandem: Relevant Programming
- Indie Producers, Showrunner Auteurism:
- Writer/Producer Norman Lear
- TV Director Bud Yorkin
Tandem: Relevant Programming-Narrative
- social commentary
- stock characters (no change)
- problem of the week
- family/domestic-centered
- usually families/children a little older in these shows
- lower-middle class focus
Tandem: Relevant Programming-Humor
- Insult-based comedy
- ”Boomerang” effect re Archie Bunker humor-say insult that’ll come back to him-the joke’s on him at end-less empathetic-everyone gets insulted-it’s a little sharper
- Inspires Larry David’s “no hugging/no learning” approach in Seinfeld
Tandem: Relevant Programming-Signature Style
“Zero-Degree” style-no real style-like watching theatrical production-watch something unfold in real space-2D image
- 3 camera/live audience/low-contrast
- Video/2D
- Warm/muddly/orange
- lends itself to realism of the show-feels more immediate, more real
Tandem: Relevant Programming-Aesthetic
- Realism
- Grounded
- Authentic
- Two-Dimensional
- Liveness/Theatrical
Roots and Mini-series production
- Alex Haley novel
- African American experience as American immigrant experience
- Soapy/Serial
- 12 hours over 8 nights (Fred Silberman)
- Ratings records
- 51.5% rating, 71% share
- After Roots:
- Holocaust
- The Blue and the Gray
- The Thorn Birds
- The Winds of War
Intro to Soaps
- modelski article
- soaps designed with women in mind-women’s genre
- completely diff kind of storytelling that in film
- soaps: serial structure and melodramatic elements
- men socialized to challenge each other-hierarchy-individualism
- women socialized for relationships-talk about their relationships, emotions, with other women
- women isolated, raising family-then goes away-then what do you have left? soap opera is way to engage
- women-centered fantasies
- soaps take this form to sell people products
Women’s Genres: Melodrama
- What is Melodrama?
- drama that exaggerates to appeal to emotion
- not thinking, feeling (“weepies”)
- fantasies and fears writ large
- visuals/music tell how to feel
- plot: simplistic (hero, heroine, love story, villain)
- structure: closed, traditional (3 acts, resolved at end)
- in contemporary film/tv, focusing on suffering, typically women’s suffering
Film Hybrid: Melodrama-Thrller/Horror (serial-esque)
-Twilight
Melodrama on TV?
- soaps
- TV movies
- Mini-series
- serial dramas
- new dramas
- beyond?
Serial v. Episodic
- episodic: self-contained stories with beginning, middle, end
- action tied up in each episode
- characters/situations static
- Serial: ongoing plotting/character arcs from episode to episode
- cliffhangers
- changing world/characters
- cheap/fast shooting
Melodrama, Soaps and Serials: Soaps (1950s on)
- CBS debuts As the World Turns (1956-2010)
- tremendous success
- owned and produced by Proctor and Gamble (sells products)
- Vehicles for selling products to women in daytime
Melodrama, Soaps and Serials: Prime-time Serials (1960s on)
- first prime-time serial:
- Peyton Place (ABC, 1964-69)
- soap genre remains associated with daytime tv
- melodramatic subjects, seriality
- looks more like a film-a bit more closure-a little less infinitely extendable middle
- but still uses melodramatic subject and seriality
Melodrama, Soaps and Serials: Miniseries (1970s on)
- Miniseries:
- The National Dream (CBS, 1974)
- Rich Man/Poor Man (ABC, 1976)
- Roots (ABC, 1977)
- Prior to this, anything with ongoing plot was a serial
- appeal: seriality
- often adapted from books
Melodrama, Soaps and Serials: MOWs (1960s on)
- Movies of the Week/Made for TV Movies
- See How They Run (1964, NBC)
- Alternative to buying movies
- sort of way to replace anthologies-also way to give people a movie but less expensive
- more melodrama/women-centric
- 90 min—> 2 hr slot
- 200+ by nets in 90s
- Now cable TV (lifetime)
- melodramatic subjects/storytelling
Soap Structure: Constant Interruptions
- commercials, end of hour, cliffhangers, raising of new questions
- illustrate difficulty of desire—> fulfillment
- mirrors household work
- consoles about missed opportunities
Dateline Mysteries
Melodrama
Soap Opera POVs: Ideal Mother
- subject/spectator
- knows about all children
- loves all equally
- no demands
- little control
- reinforced by image of messy nuclear family
Soap Opera POVs: Villainess
- antagonist/shadow of ideal mother
- Tries to make things happen/control others
- Makes pregnancy work for her
- Always Thwarted
Soap Opera Pleasures
- Good Mother
- play off villainess
- not reflection of perfect functional family
- Villainess
- viewers love to hate her
- does things the good mother can’t (but might want to)
- fantasy of acting out aggression
- unanswered questions, cliffhangers
- excess
- extreme situations-exaggerated versions of real ones
- role play, fantasy
Soap Operas’ Expendable Middle
- denial of closure/ending
- each episode extends the narrative, adds more questions
- not reunion/return to order
- (familial) disorder (family will never break up)
- invests pleasure in waiting (condition of women’s lives)
Soap vs. Traditional Narrative
Soaps -serial -expandable middle -multiple plotlessness of same important -multiple, shifting, often female POVs Traditional -episodic (Seinfeld, Law & Order) -3 act structure (beg—> end) -Linear, 1 main plot with clear subplots -single protagonist, clear POV -competing egos, divested of power -??s not answered by narrative, when answered, more raised -unresolved by end of one episode or season
Traditional Film
- all-powerful ego makes things happen
- ??s answered by narrative
- resolved by end (e.g. a 90 min film)
Soapiness Beyond Soap Opera
- Soap pleasures/structure
- Pro Wrestling )1970s)
- Soap Format
- Nighttime Soaps (1970s)
- Seriality/Narrative Complexity
- New Dramas (1980s)
Melodramas, Soaps and Serials: 1980s
- Prime time Soaps:
- Dallas (1978-91)
- Knots Landing (1979-93)-Dallas spin-off
- Dynasty (1981-89)-(Denver)
- Falcon Crest (1981-90)-(Napa Valley)
- Flamingo Road (1981-82)-(Florida)
- this first wave of them typically focuses on a family dynasty-inheritance, who runs the family, the family business
- seeped in emotions-emotional confrontations but not really plot advancements, only at certain points-not plot based
Miami Vice
- a lot of locations-real locations
- very hollywood
- white linen suits, chest hair
- music-a lot of it-interesting theme songs-source music (pop music) as theme
- used to be someone would write original song for their theme song
- source music costs more money
- location shooting, shooting on film costs more money
- action movie chase scene-speedboat and sports car together
- Hollywood TV/Cinematized TV-tv looks and acts like a film-to show this is a quality tv production
Hill Street Blues
- all the characters are providing a texture to the story-can tell will see stories about diff characters as show goes on
- docurealist look
- very serious drama
- story of the week unfolding in pilot
- soapiness-female defense attorney maybe have romance-dimensional character that’s not just a love interest
- in 80s-a lot of attempts of some kind go brand of quality-done in diff ways
US History Late 1970s/Early 1980s
- decline of american empire:
- american self confidence wanes
- US History: Cultural Malaise
- Breakdown of Traditional Values
- Reagan
- less sense of shared values in US
decline of american empire
- Vietnam
- Watergate
- Oil embargo
- Stagflation
- Iranian hostage crisis
US History: Cultural Malaise
- “Cultural Malaise””-Jimmy Carter (1979)
- “Diminished Expectations”-Jerry Brown (1979)
- The “Me” Generation
