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