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Irony and Sincerity in Contemporary Television: Playing Nice in Aesthetics and Politics argues that the 21st-century political landscape has shaped modern manifestations and interpretations of the New Sincerity aesthetic in televisual media. In the wake of the Golden Age of Television, and the emergence of the first Trump administration, television shows turned to the comfortable, the familiar, and the nice. This collection argues that the tension between sincerity and irony in these programs is essential to understanding what they are doing aesthetically-and politically. With a wide range of shows represented by a mix of established and emerging voices in various fields of scholarship, readers will come away from the book with an understanding of our modern television landscape and how creators are responding to their audience''s overwhelming demands for sincerity. Some works discussed in this collection include Schitt''s Creek, Ted Lasso, Jury Duty, and The Bear ; genres such as Indian soap operas and Hallmark TV films; and comedians such as Joe Pera and Nathan Fielder. Ultimately, each of these shows has a unique and important goal, and the edited collection analyzes niceness in relation to queerness, class, unlikability and character growth, traditional gender norms, and the comfort of sincerity.
About the author
Owen Cantrell is Associate Professor of English at Perimeter College, Georgia State University, USA.
