soaps and sitcoms: gender. theoretical contexts feminism film studies cultural studies
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Soaps and Sitcoms: Gender
Theoretical contexts
Theoretical contexts
feminism
film studies
cultural studies
Theoretical contexts
- genre
- representation and identification
- everyday viewing practices
Genre
example: soaps
Genre
example: soaps
... a “feminine” genre?
Genre
example: soaps
... a “feminine” genre?
• openness: a feminine aesthetic?
Genre
example: soaps
... a “feminine” genre?
• openness: a feminine aesthetic?
• “tragic structure of feeling,” melodramatic imagination as feminine?
Everyday viewing practices
David Morley, “The framework of family viewing in Great Britain”
Everyday viewing practices
David Morley, “The framework of family viewing in Great Britain”
• power and control over program choice
Everyday viewing practices
David Morley, “The framework of family viewing in Great Britain”
• power and control over program choice• styles of viewing
Everyday viewing practices
David Morley, “The framework of family viewing in Great Britain”
• power and control over program choice• styles of viewing• ‘solo’ viewing and guilty pleasures
Representation and identification
Representation and identification
representation: • mimesis vs. constructivism
Representation and identification
representation: • mimesis vs. constructivism• authenticity, ideology
Representation and identification
representation: • mimesis vs. constructivism• authenticity, ideology
identity and identification:
Representation and identification
representation: • mimesis vs. constructivism• authenticity, ideology
identity and identification:• identity and difference(s)• psychoanalysis
Representation and identification
representation: • mimesis vs. constructivism• authenticity, ideology
identity and identification:• identity and difference(s)• psychoanalysis
power:
Representation and identification
representation: • mimesis vs. constructivism• authenticity, ideology
identity and identification:• identity and difference(s)• psychoanalysis
power:• hegemony, (dis)empowerment
Representation and identification
representation:
women’s movements!... struggles for representation
Representation and identification
CS brings these two strands--theoretical and historical--together:
“representation” = multi-dimensional political term/concept
Example: Female “types”
in U.S. sitcoms:
the goodwifethe witchthe liberated womanthe harpy
I Love Lucy (1951)
Father Knows Best (1954)
Bewitched (1964)
Mary Tyler Moore (1970)
Female “types”
Roy Stafford:
matron/working battleaxe sexy assistant business matriarch woman in a man’s world the vamp (1980s) woman in power women who fight other women woman who who watches her ‘biological clock’
Female “types”
Jordan (in Dyer 1981) several broad types in Coronation Street:Grandmother figuresmarriageable characters: mature, sexy, women; spinsterly types;
young women; mature, sexy, men; fearful, withdrawn men; conventional young men
married couples
rogues (including 'ne'er-do-wells' and confidence tricksters)
Female “types”
Buckingham adds the stereotypes:
'the gossip’
'the bastard'
'the tart’
and more:
'the good girl' 'the decent husband’'the good woman’'the villain' 'the career woman''the bitch' (Geraghty 1991)
Roseanne (1988)
Gender: Men, too?!
contexts:
Gender: Men, too?!
contexts:•masculinity studies• gender studies
Male “types”
Stafford:
‘little man against the system’ self-important man the would-be lothariothe man who won’t grow up the man who is afraid of women
Home Improvement (1991)
“Other Sexes”: 1990s and onwards
representation?heteronormativity?
Ellen (1994)
Queer as Folk (2000)
The L-Word (2004)
The L-Word (2004)
The L-Word (2004)
The L-Word (2004)
The L-Word (2004)
The L-Word (2004)
IMDB audience review:„I've read a lot of comments in different forums about how
these women don't look like "lesbians". I'm not sure what "lesbians" they've been looking at but the ones that I know look a lot like these women. Progressive, professional, feminine, sexy and proud of it. Keep up the good work Chaiken and crew!“
Representation and authenticity?
The O.C. (2003)
Gender
cultural studies: contextualization!
The “Circuit of Culture”
Paul Du Gay, Stuart Hall, Linda Janes, Hugh Mackay, und Keith Negus. Doing Cultural Studies. The Story of the Sony Walkman. London: Sage/The Open University, 1997.
representation
identity
production
consumption
regulation