Feminist Television Criticism: A Reader »

Charlotte Brunsdon is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. Her books include Screen Tastes: Soap Opera to Satellite Dishes and The Feminist (1997), the Housewife and the Soap Opera (2000).

Lynn Spigel is a professor and the Frances E Willard Chair of Screen Cultures at Northwestern University, Illinois, USA. She is author of Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America (1992) and co-editor of Television after TV: Essays on a Medium In Transition (2004).

This book is the first volume in a major new series, Oxford Television Studies and provides a comprehensive anthology on all the major issues relating to feminism and the production and reception of television. The feminist critical engagement with television has transformed the understanding of the medium. The initial focus on the domestic and explorations of the feminine has had to keep pace with an increasingly complex relationship between television programming, society, and women as producers and audience, contemporary theory, and the late twentieth-century society. Feminist Television Criticism explores that complexity. Most of the pieces selected deal with genres and topics that have been the dominant subjects of feminist television analysis-soaps mini-series, serials, sitcoms, housewives, "new women" heterosexual and lesbian romances, female audiences, and domesticity. Throughout, the focus is on feminist genres and how feminist critical understanding has developed in a historical perspective. Feminist Television Criticism will be an important teaching and study resource for all students and scholars working in the field of television studies, media studies, gender studies, and cultural studies.

Pt. 1 Programmes and Heroines 21

1 The Search for Tomorrow in Today's Soap Operas: Notes on a feminine narrative form Tania Modleski Modleski, Tania 29

2 Sex and the City and Consumer Culture: Remediating postfeminist drama Jane Arthurs Arthurs, Jane 41

3 Women with a Mission: Lynda La Plante, DCI Jane Tennison and the reconfiguration of TV crime drama Deborah Jermyn Jermyn, Deborah 57

4 Divas, Evil Black Bitches, and Bitter Black Women: African-American women in postfeminist and post-civil rights popular culture Kimberly Springer Springer, Kimberly 72

5 Ellen, Television and the Politics of Gay and Lesbian Visibility Bonnie J. Dow Dow, Bonnie J. 93

6 You'd Better Recognize: Oprah the iconic and television talk Beretta E. Smith-Shomade Smith-Shomade, Beretta E. 111

7 "Take Responsibility for Yourself": Judge Judy and the neoliberal citizen Laurie Ouellette Ouellette, Laurie 139

8 Feeling Like a Domestic Goddess: Postfeminism and cooking Joanne Hollows Hollows, Joanne 154

9 Feminism Without Men: feminist media studies in a post-feminist age Karen Boyle Boyle, Karen 174

10 Girls Rule! Gender, feminism, and Nickelodeon Sarah Banet-Weiser Banet-Weiser, Sarah 191

11 The (In)visible Lesbian: Anxieties of representation in The L Word Susan J. Wolfe Wolfe, Susan J. Lee Ann Roripaugh Roripaugh, Lee Ann 211

Pt. 2 Audiences, Reception Contexts and Spectatorship 219

12 Women's Genres: Melodrama, soap opera, and theory Annette Kuhn Kuhn, Annette 225

13 Melodromatic Identifications: Television fiction and women's fantasy Ien Ang Ang, Ien 235

14 National Texts and Gendered Lives: An ethnography of television viewers in a NorthIndian City Purnima Mankekar Mankekar, Purnima 247

15 Defining Asian Femininity: Chinese viewers of Japanese TV dramas in Singapore Elizabeth MacLachlan MacLachlan, Elizabeth Geok-lian Chua Chua, Geok-lian 273

16 The Globalization of Gender: Ally McBeal in post-socialist Slovenia Ksenija Vidmar-Horvat Vidmar-Horvat, Ksenija 288

17 The Performance and Reception of Televisual "Ugliness" in Yo soy Betty la fea Yeidy M. Rivero Rivero, Yeidy M. 302

18 Sob Stories, Merriment, and Surprises: The 1950s audience participation show on network television and women's daytime reception Marsha F. Cassidy Cassidy, Marsha F. 320

Select Bibliography 341

Index 363