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In less than a century, the flickering blue-gray light of the television screen has become a cultural icon. What do the images transmitted by that screen tell us about power, authority, gender stereotypes, and ideology in the United States? Television, History, and American Culture addresses this question by illuminating how television both reflects and influences American culture and identity.
The essays collected here focus on women in front of, behind, and on the TV screen, as producers, viewers, and characters. Using feminist and historical criticism, the contributors investigate how television has shaped our understanding of gender, power, race, ethnicity, and sexuality from the 1950s to the present. The topics range from the role that women broadcasters played in radio and early television to the attempts of Desilu Productions to present acceptable images of Hispanic identity, from the impact of TV talk shows on public discourse and the politics of offering viewers positive images of fat women to the negotiation of civil rights, feminism, and abortion rights on news programs and shows such as I Spy and Peyton Place.
Innovative and accessible, this book will appeal to those interested in women’s studies, American studies, and popular culture and the critical study of television. Contributors. Julie D’Acci, Mary Desjardins, Jane Feuer, Mary Beth Haralovich, Michele Hilmes, Moya Luckett, Lauren Rabinovitz, Jane M. Shattuc, Mark Williams
Sommario
Introduction / Mary Beth Haralovich and Lauren Rabinovitz 1
Desired and Feared: Women's Voices in Radio History / Michele Hilmes 17
Considering Monty Margetts's
Cook's Corner: Oral History and Television History / Mark Williams 36
Lucy and Desi: Sexuality, Ethnicity, and TV's First Family / Mary Desjardins 56
A Moral Crisis in Prime Time:
Peyton Place and the Rise of the Single Girl / Moya Luckett 75
I Spy's "Living Postcards": The Geo-Politics of Civil Rights / Mary Beth Haralovich 98
Leading Up to
Roe v. Wade: Television Documentaries in the Abortion Debate / Julie D'Acci 120
Ms.-Representation: The Politics of Feminist Sitcoms / Lauren Rabinovitz 144
The Oprahfication of America: Talk Shows and the Public Sphere / Jane M. Shattuc 168
Averting the Male Gaze: Visual Pleasure and the Images of Fat Women / Jane Feuer 181
Selected Bibliography 201
Contributors 211
Index 213
Info autore
Mary Beth Haralovich is Associate Professor of Media Arts at the University of Arizona.
Lauren Rabinovitz is Professor of American Studies and Film Studies at the University of Iowa.
Riassunto
What do the images transmitted by that screen tell us about power, authority, gender stereotypes, and ideology in the United States? This book addresses this question by illuminating how television both reflects and influences American culture and identity. It is suitable for those interested in women's studies and American studies.
