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Film: The Representation of Women in the French Poetic Realism and Italian Neorealism Movements (Ossessione & La Bete Humaine)

The representation of women in Italian Neorealism and French Poetic Realism film movements contain similar elements in regards to power, sex, marriage, and crime.  Influenced by political, social, and economic ideologies, the representation of women in these movements resist the traditional submissive roles generally portrayed in Italian and French cinema.  In terms of film history, mise-en-scene, and narrative, the films, Ossessione (1943) and La Bete Humaine (1938), portray the female protagonists as femme fatales that shift away from conservative traditions.

The traditional representation of women in Italian cinema was influenced by Catholicism and conservative ideologies established within the Italian social system (Cottino-Jones 3).  In a patriarchal society, the feminization in film includes the portrayal of obedience and submissiveness.  During this time, women were expected to adopt the traditional family roles by being housewives, having monogamous relationships, and practicing abstinence until marriage. Prior to the neorealism movement, Italian cinema represented women as weak and innocent, whereas, some were presented as femme fatales.  For example, the mise-en-scene of Cabiria (1914) portrays young girls and women as hopeless and unimportant by placing them in the corner of the frame (Cottino-Jones 15).  In Cabiria, the young girl is also easily thrown around like a doll. In opposition, Sophonisba is placed directly in front of the camera.  The first shot of Sophonisba includes her caressing a cheetah and seductively looking into the camera, which implies her as a femme fatale.

The origin of femme fatale figures in Italian cinema began in silent films, specifically, divisimo films (Hanson and O’Rawe 62).  According to Dalle Vache, the diva figure became prominent in Italian cinema as a form of change in Italy, which moved away from the past and moved forward into the uncertain future (3).  The traditional role and depiction of women in Italian cinema has remained stagnant through the neorealism film movement. Women in most Italian films are typically represented with a classification as either “good” or “bad”.  According to Cottino-Jones, women are considered to be “good” if they meet the standards set by Catholic and patriarchal ideologies (3).  The standards include refraining from sexual desire, complying with male figures, such as, fathers and husbands, and being restricted to domestic roles within the family. Women are considered “bad” if they do not meet the standards established by the patriarchy.  “Bad” women are considered sexually desirable and dangerous to men (Cottino-Jones 3). In Italian films, “bad” women that resist the ideologies set by fascist regime are punished by death (Cottino-Jones 3).

Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Ossessione, challenges the traditional feminine roles by portraying the main protagonist, Giovanna, as a femme fatale.  It is argued that Ossessione was the first film of the neorealism movement. Although, Giuseppe De Santis, one of the screenwriters, argues that the film was a precursor of the movement.  Since it was filmed prior to the fall of fascism and Italian resistance movement, De Santis claims that the Italian Neorealist movement would not have succeeded without Ossessione (23).

Ossessione begins with a “wanderer,” Gino, who rides on the back of car and ends up at Giovanna and her husband, Bregana’s, restaurant and bar.  The first shot of Giovanna includes her singing and sitting on top of a table, while painting her nails.  As Gino walks into the kitchen, the audience is only able to see Giovanna’s legs swinging from the table, which in terms of mise-en-scene, is a signifier of seduction. Cinematically, conservative ideologies are resisted when Giovanna and Gino “gaze” at each other.  Giovanna’s gaze at Gino portrays her as a femme fatale in which she is in control of her desire (Cottino-Jones 49).  Gino continues to enter the kitchen and asks Giovanna for food.  He tells her that her husband is lucky to have a woman like her that knows how to cook.  She states, “I am not a cook,” which immediately shifts away from the traditional housewife roles presented in most Italian films during this era.  

The traditional role of women is challenged when Gino takes off his shirt. Gino and Giovanna stare at each other and she tells him he is “built like a horse”.  This instance challenges the traditional roles set by the patriarchy by portraying an element of sexual desire.  Her disgust with her husband is also depicted in her reactions towards his presence.  He tries to kiss her, but she quickly refuses. Although she refuses being affectionate with her husband, she still represents the wife figure.  In one scene, Giovanna is rubbing her husband’s back and he tells Gino, “These are the pleasures of being married. There is no other way. You have to get married.” Giovanna interrupts and states “You only think of yourself, as if I didn’t exist.”  While Bregana leaves town to purchase a part for his car, Gino and Giovanna’s love affair begins.  After their sexual encounter, she explains to Gino that she only married Bregana because she was poor, without a job, and living on the streets.  As Giovanna redresses herself, she puts her apron back on, which is symbolic of the traditional housewife role that she cannot escape.   Gino and Giovanna attempt to run away together, but she does not want to risk losing the current stability provided by her husband.  Since Giovanna only married Bregana for economic purposes and resists running away with Gino, she is attached to the “materialistic ideology of fascist bourgeois society” (Cottino-Jones 49).  After Giovanna and Gino part ways, they soon run into each other again and realize that they are still in love.  Her drunk husband offers Gino to come back home with them.  As Bregana drives them home while drunk, Gino and Giovanna plan to kill him.  They fake a car accident in order to kill Bregana.  When the police arrive at the scene of the accident for questioning, Giovanna and Gino make it seem like the accident was caused by Bregana’s drunk driving. They return back to the restaurant, but Gino wants to run away. As Giovanna goes through Bregana’s belongings, Gino asks what she has with her.  She refuses to show him Bregana’s watch, therefore, making Gino wrestle her to see it.  They end up on the bed and their argument turns into a kiss, enabling Giovanna to use her sexuality as a form of distraction. 

Although the murder was intended to give the couple a sense of freedom, their guilt and paranoia confine them to their original state.  There is constant tension between them since Gino wants to go away and not return to the house.  As Gino walks around the town, he meets a prostitute, Anita, who also portrays a representation of a femme fatale, which is suggested by her seductive demeanor.  Anita represents a “bad” woman through her anti-traditional characteristics.  When Gino arrives at Anita’s apartment, she believes he is interested in her services and immediately begins to take her shirt off. This scene presents the conflict with economic stability, in which a woman has to sell herself in order to conform to the materialism of fascist society. 

Giovanna explains to Gino that Bregana had a life insurance policy and that the money would be be shared with Gino.  Immediately after she tells Gino about the life insurance policy, he assumes that Giovanna knew about the policy the entire time and only used him to commit the murder for her. When Giovanna sees Gino with Anita, she tells him to go back home with her or she will tell the police about the murder.  He smacks her across the face and goes back to Anita.  After Gino has sexual encounters with Anita, he believes Giovanna called the police on him and his paranoia causes him to go back to Giovanna.  Giovanna’s power enables her to lure Gino into returning to her. Giovanna tells Gino that she is pregnant with his child and they leave town together.  Shortly after, they get in a car accident and Giovanna dies, along with their unborn baby.  Gino is being accused for murdering her, since he was already being accused for Bregana’s murder.

Elements of neorealism occur throughout the film.  For example, one occurrence is when Giovanna is in the kitchen, eating dinner, with piles of dishes surrounding her.  As she reads the newspaper, she falls asleep.  These neorealistic elements had not been seen in fascist cinema of this time (Liehm 56). Ossessione portrays the inability to escape from the realities of life and the “disintegration of the nuclear family” (Liehm 56).  In comparison to Italian Neorealism, the representation of women that resist the traditional roles set by economic and political ideologies are similar in French Poetic Realism films. The filming of La Bete Humaine began after the collapse of the Popular Front government in 1937, prior to World War II. The representation of women as femme fatales in French cinema is a result of the shifting government and transition into the German Occupation in France. 

The representation of women as femme fatale in French cinema was a result of the socio-economic standing (Walker-Morrison 27).  During the German Occupation in France, women were required to take on more masculine duties (27).  After the Liberation, men returned to work and women continued their original family roles, which were also established by the patriarchy. According to Walker-Morrison, the role of women in film may have been a reaction to France’s shame due to “horizontal collaboration,” the suspicion that French women had sexual relations with the enemy: members of the German military (28). Due to this phenomenon, men used the portrayal of females in cinema as a “scapegoat” to the crisis of masculinity (Walker-Morrison 28).

Jean Renoir’s adaptation of Emile Zola’s novel, La Bete Humaine, contains similar elements that reflect the female protagonist as a femme fatale. The film begins with locomotive engineer, Jacques Lantier, operating a train.  When stopped at the station, a woman tells the stationmaster, Roubard, that a man is violating the train regulations by having his dog with him.  Roubard confronts the man with the dog.  The confrontation results in a resistance of class hierarchies when the man asks Roubard, “Do you know who I am?” and threatens to file a report.  When Roubard arrives at home, his wife, Severine, is introduced in the film.  She is standing by the window sill, while petting her cat. Roubard kisses her as she slightly turns her head and seems slightly uneasy, which immediately signifies her disinterest in him.   Roubard asks her to visit her godfather, Grandmorin, in order to ask him to disregard with the report.  It is intended for the femme fatale, Severine, to use her power and desire to convince Grandmorin to comply with her.  Meanwhile, Jacques visits his godmother and his past of anxieties are confronted.  The scene cuts to his godmother’s daughter at the river.  Two men are watching her and explain to her they are only looking at her because she is beautiful.  She says, “I don’t want people looking at me or thinking I’m pretty.” One of the men grab her and she pushes him into the river.  She reunites with Jacques and they tell each other how much the have changed and grown up.  She tells Jacques, “Now you look at me like the others do.” and runs away.  He chases after her, grabs her, and throws her onto the ground.  They kiss and then he chokes her because his anxieties return.

After Severine meets with Grandmorin, Roubard suspects that she had an affair with him in the past.  He hits her and drags her to the floor until she admits that she was Grandmorin’s mistress.  Motivated by jealousy, Roubard wants to kill Grandmorin and uses Severine as his accomplice.  They plan out his murder and follow through with it.  Grandmorin is murdered on the train with only one witness, Jacques.  Severine must use her sexual power to convince Jacques not to tell the police about the murder.  They have an affair and explains how if Grandmorin was dead then they would be free.  She states, “Only death can break the ties that bond me to him.”  Jacques attempts to murder Grandmorin, but cannot follow through with the crime.  While at her house, Jacques murders Severine, the object of his desire.  Soon after, he commits suicide by jumping off the train, while operating it. Ossessione and La Bete Humaine share common characteristics in regard to the portrayal of the female protagonists.  Femme fatale characteristics in film include seducing men into dangerous situations, being married without children, and “punishment” through death.  The female characters in both films possess these distinctions.  Giovanna and Severine are married to older men and cannot escape their marriage.  They resist traditional ideologies of nuclear families by marrying for the sole purpose of economic security, which is reflected through their lack of children. In La Bete Humaine, Jacques and his friend have a conversation regarding women.  The friend asks Jacques about his date with Severine and states “Women like that are like cats.”  Jacques responds, “What do you know about women like that?”  His friend replies, “I’m suspicious of women who have no children”.  This conversation implies that women that resist the traditional roles of marriage and family values established by patriarchal ideologies and cannot be trusted. 

Giovanna and Severine are both unhappy in with their marriages and have affairs with younger men.   An element of femme fatale includes women seducing their love interest into dangerous situations, which is exemplified in the two films.  Giovanna convinces Gino to kill her husband, while Severine asks Jacques to kill her husband. Their only way to escape their marriages is through the deaths of their husbands.  The main femme fatale characteristic that the two protagonists possess is the danger they cause to themselves and their love interests.  Giovanna and Severine die at the end of the films and leave their love interests in death or danger.  Jacques commits suicide because of his guilt from killing Severine.  Giovanna’s death also results in trouble for Gino when the police believe he intentionally caused the car accident to kill her.  Gino and Jacques meet their tragic fate because of their involvement with femme fatales. 

Due to social systems in Italy and France prior and during World War II, the depiction of women in film shifted from domesticity to fatality. The portrayal of women in Ossessione and La Bete Humaine are emblematic of the changing societal structures caused by anticipation of war and German Occupation.  The female figures in the Italian Neorealism and French Poetic Realism movements present a shift in conservative values created by the patriarchy through the use of sexuality for personal gain and the role of marriage for economic security. The femme fatale figures are not only dangerous to the people involved with them, but to themselves.  

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The Evolution of Crime Drama (TV)

The beginning of the millennium showed a shift in our true desire for a new type of hero: the anti-hero.  The audience wanted to see characters with flaws, real people that they could relate to.  Our hero is the one that seeks fortune or fame, or is looking for love or redemption, and they will do just about anything to get it.  The audience can relate to their selfishness, wrongdoings, betrayals because they too have goals and dreams that sometimes are hard to reach without bending the rules.  Crime dramas, such as, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and How to Get Away With Murder, all are led by characters that we love, but are a far cry from our parent’s traditional idea of a hero.  Television shows prior to this generation, portrayed the hero as a good citizen, a good husband, a good cop, and the flawed characters were offensive and just “bad”.  The anti-hero portrays real human nature and its desires. The anti-hero comes from the real world and not a utopian society.  The audience roots for the anti-hero: a killer, an adulterer, a divorcee, a drug dealer, or a criminal because the audience understands the American culture.  They have witnessed divorce, celebrity breakdowns, government and corporate corruption, and public protests.   They have seen it all and now their desire for the hero to have flaws is what has brought many outstanding television shows since the millennium. In comparison of crime drama shows from the 1980s to present, the representation of police and law enforcement make transitions from important to insignificant.  Crime drama television series’ represent a transition of police procedurals to the concept of anti-heroism. Over the past 50 years, crime drama television series’ have evolved in regards to the confrontation of societal issues, gender representation, and the portrayal of realism.

During the 1970s, there was a vast number of shows that followed the police procedural, including, Charlie’s Angels, CHiPS, The Streets of San Francisco, and Hawaii Five-O.  These television shows represented cops as heroic without any form of “corruption”. It was uncommon for television to portray cops as corrupt and to question the institutions legitimacy.  The shows are structured for the audience to take the side of the cop. White men dominated a majority of police dramas prior to the 1990s, with the exception of very few shows, such as, Charlie’s Angels and Police Woman.  The narrative structures of pre-1980s crime dramas were episodic and typically offered closure by the end of the episode.

In the 1980s, shifting attitudes towards the legal system were portrayed in television. Police dramas “expressed a neoconservative agenda, rife with criminals getting away with murder on legal technicalities based on flawed liberal reasoning” (Feuer 20). Hill Street Blues transformed the traditional crime drama genre by using elements of realism and confronting real-life social issues.  The groundbreaking dramatic series is notable for its elements of realism through narrative, form, and style.  Similar to a documentary, the series includes the use of handheld cameras and off-screen dialogue to enhance the elements of realism (Porter 325).  Hill Street Blues aired on NBC from 1981 to 1987 and won multiple Emmy Awards due to its innovative dramatic structure. Hill Street Blues is considered to be “quality” television because it has a diverse ensemble cast, incorporates elements of naturalism and realism, intertwines serialized storylines with the use of novelistic time, and attracts a “quality” audience (Thompson).  Hill Street Blues was the first television show to interweave multiple overlapping storylines (McGrath). Hill Street Blues continues to influence quality television shows. 

The third episode of the first season, “Politics As Usual,” addresses social and racial issues. The episode features several serialized storylines regarding the Hill Street Station’s officers in regards to their work and personal relationships. The episode begins with two undercover cops, LaRue and Washington, that bust a drug deal. LaRue chases after the drug dealer and Washington chases after the other man.  During the arrest, LaRue discovers that the drug dealer is a sergeant.  The sergeant lies and claims that the drug deal was an undercover operation.  Immediately, the sergeant hands an envelope to LaRue with $50,000 in it and says he can have half of the money if he does not arrest him.  The scene switches to Washington and the other man in the police car.  LaRue lies and says he was unable to catch the drug dealer.  They return to the Hill Street precinct and LaRue makes up an excuse to go to his locker, where he puts the money in his wallet and locks it away. Later, he meets with the sergeant again and returns the money because he does not want to be a part of the scheme.  While LaRue places the wallet full of money on the table, two officers from internal affairs arrest him. Although the show focuses on the idea of heroic cops, this episode transforms the traditional police drama through the portrayal of a corrupt cop, which was typically uncommon in shows prior to the eighties. Racial and gender issues were addressed in “Politics As Usual”.  Although there is a diverse cast, white men tend to have more prominent roles within the show. Officers Hill and Renko face racial tension between their partnership as they file an accident report in a low class neighborhood.  Officer Renko attempts to file the report, but the two black men involved in the accident are shouting.  He leaves and tells Hill, “They don’t pay me enough to deal with animals like this! The first thing they see is a white face and all they wanna do is do ‘em in!” There is more tension between the partners regarding a previous shooting they were involved in in the pilot episode.  Hill says, “It was a white finger that pulled the trigger, not a black one,” implying that white people are prone to murder too. Later, they respond to a domestic abuse report and chase after the abuser, in which Hill corners the armed perpetrator in a dark basement. As Hill holds his gun against the man, Renko enters the basement and turns on the lights, which causes Hill to react aggressively.  Due to the previous shooting they were involved in, Hill feels vulnerable and threatened by the “white” race. 

A majority of the episode did not include any women with speaking roles until the last half of the episode.  Joyce Davenport, Captain Frank Furillo’s girlfriend, had the most prominent role as a female, but was not introduced in the episode until the remaining half. The show focuses on men, which is typical in eighties crime drama. As time progressed, more female characters were introduced in television series’, including Twin Peaks. 

Gender representation in eighties and nineties television are based on the ideologies of the patriarchy, where women are less prominent than men.  The dominance of men in Hill Street Blues is similar to the role of men in Twin Peaks. Although Twin Peaks involves several female characters, they are still represented with respect to patriarchal ideologies, which leaves them prone to threat by male domination. Twin Peaks, is most notably known for its innovative twist to crime drama.  The show offers the “police procedural,” which was popular during the 1980s and 1990s, yet incorporates a variety of genres, including, elements of soap opera, surrealism, and melodrama. Twin Peaks gained popularity for being a “quality” television show, which attracted a “cult”. The representation of women in Twin Peaks shifts away from concepts of feminism by intersecting the portrayal of “violence and sexuality” (Lafky 11). The show presents ideologies established by the patriarchy through the portrayal of women as endangered by the violence of men. The pilot of Twin Peaks, “Northwest Passage,” aired on April 8, 1990 on ABC. In “Northwest Passage,” gendered intersectionality is confronted as the female characters are introduced and immediately exploited. The episode takes place in the small town, Twin Peaks, Washington where homecoming queen, Laura Palmer’s, naked body found wrapped in plastic along the river. The sheriff, Harry S. Truman, deputy, Andy, and Dr. Hayward arrive to the river to take photographs of the body.  Laura’s parents hear the news about their daughter after looking for her.  Her boyfriend, Bobby is questioned by the police, along with other classmates. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper arrives to Twin Peaks to solve the case regarding Laura’s murder.  One of Laura’s classmates, Ronnette, is found appearing beat up as she walks along a bridge.  She enters in a coma as she is taken to the hospital, where it becomes known that she was raped and abused. Agent Cooper believes there is a correlation between Ronnette, Laura’s murder, and a murder from a year prior. Throughout the show, secret relationships and love triangles are confronted.  Laura Palmer was secretly seeing James Hurley, although she had a boyfriend.  Her best friend, Donna, had a discrete relationship with James also and begins to date him after Laura’s death.  Laura’s boyfriend, Bobby, is dating a married woman, Shelly, who gets abused by her husband. The relationships in the episode depict women as promiscuous and endangered by men.

Twin Peaks continues to express the stereotypical gender roles by portraying the male characters as more dominant than the female characters.  Controversial issues, such as, abuse, murder, rape, and incest are confronted in the series, which reassures the intersectionality of gendered inequality.  Throughout the series, women are presented as emotional and prone to threats and abuse by men.  The women in the show include the “log lady,” a crazy woman that carries around a piece of wood with her, a lady with an eyepatch that constantly talks about drape runners, and multiple child-like young adults. Every character in the show is represented as emotional and crazy with the exception of the two heroes: Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman. The show follows the traditional representation of male protagonists as heroic, white, and straight.  

Television of the nineties begins to shift away from the correlation of cops and heroism.  NYPD Blue portrays the police detective, Andy Sipowicz, as an aggressive alcoholic who is willing to use violence as a form of power. The portrayal of Andy as an anti-hero may have been a precursor to the concept of cheering for the bad guy.  The concept of having an anti-hero as a protagonist became popular through Tony Soprano.  The Sopranos is considered a “quality” television show due to its use of realism. Since the series was created on HBO, it allowed for uncensored depictions of sex, murder, rape, and abuse, which made the show seem more realistic. The sixth episode of season 3 of The Sopranos, “University,” issues regarding abortion, violence, abuse, and murder are addressed.  Women in the episode are prone to danger from the mafia.  The episode opens with the exploitation of women as they are half-naked at the strip club, Bada Bing! The main story of the episode revolves around Ralph Cifaretto, a member of the Soprano family.  He gets a twenty year old stripper, Tracee, pregnant as she questions whether or not to have an abortion.  She asks Tony for help regarding her pregnancy.  Although Tracee is not in a relationship with Ralph, she still idealizes the traditional ideologies regarding marriage and children.  Ralph begins to convince her that he will buy her house and take care of her and his future child, but quickly transforms his words into a joke.  Ralph and Tracee become violent towards each other until he brutally murders her in the strip club’s parking lot. Ralph creates an excuse for her death, but the members of the mafia are aware that he murdered her, as she is shown dead and bloody on the ground.  Even the members of the Soprano family are disgusted that Ralph murdered a woman.  At the end of the episode, Tony and his wife, Carmela meet with their therapist as Tony discusses how his friend was recently killed and his devastation about it Automatically, his wife knows he is talking about a woman because she has never seen him devastated about a murder, considering he is in a mafia.

The graphic portrayal of murder in the episode caused a debate about why the beating of a woman is challenged, while the usual violence between the men remains unquestioned (Johnson 270). Diana George stated, “What’s new about television exploiting our love affair with the interfaces of sex and death, or our hunger for seeing women dead or maimed or mutilated or suicidal or raped or helpless, especially if they’re sexually active?” (Johnson 270). This claims that women are unequally targeted in crime drama. 

As crime dramas become more serialized, the audience is enticed to watch the entire series in order to understand the diegetic history of the show.  As technology advances, the audience has access to multiple platforms, such as, Netflix and HBO, which allow viewers to binge-watch these serialized shows. The upbringing of binge-watching shaped and defined the way television shows are written and produced. 

The pilot of Breaking Bad begins with the two protagonists driving an RV with gas masks on as two men roll around, presumably dead.  The RV crashes on the side of the road in the desert.  Walter White, the main protagonist of the series, hears sirens approaching and quickly records a video for his family explaining how much he loves them.  He stops recording, pulls his gun out, and points it at the road as he hears sirens approaching.  The scene then cuts to the present time of the episode, which is three weeks prior to the opening scene. Walter is a chemistry teacher at a high school and works at a car wash.  While working at the car wash, Walter passes out and is taken to the hospital where it is discovered that he has terminal lung cancer. Walter takes the opportunity to go on a ride along with his brother-in-law, Hank, who is an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.  As the DEA makes a bust, Walter notices Jesse Pinkman, his former chemistry student, escaping from the window.  The DEA arrests Jesse’s partner, Emilio, while Jesse is able to escape.  

Later, Walter goes to Jesse’s house and presents him with an ultimatum: cook and sell crystal methamphetamine with him or he will turn him in to the DEA. They purchase an RV to use as their meth laboratory. Jesse shows his Emilio’s cousin the new meth they cooked, as the cousin explains how Emilio believes Jesse set him up. Emilio enters the room and joins Jesse and his cousin.  They make Jesse take them to the RV, where Emilio recognizes Walter from the drug raid and believe they are being set up again. They pull their guns out on Walter and Jesse, but agree to Walter’s offer of teaching them how to cook meth.  As he teaches them, the uses a chemical to create a deadly gas that leaves them for dead.  The episode ends when Walter is in a dilemma as the sirens approach.  He attempts to shoot himself, but the gun was not properly loaded.  As he waits for the police to show up, he notices there are only firetrucks that drive past him. 

According to Pierson, in order for men to “restore their authority,” they must adhere to the stereotypical forms of masculinity, including, intimidation, violence, and control (72).  Themes of masculinity play an important role throughout the series.  According to Sociologist Michael Kimmel, the concept of the “self-made” man is the backbone of masculinity, which is established in Breaking Bad.  At first, Walter White is presented as a weak and timid man, bit transforms by the end of the episode. As he is working at the car wash, one of his students mock him for cleaning his car, which makes him feel inferior. Another instance is the episode when Walter’s status as a man is confronted is when a rich, conceited man believes he is superior among others.  Walter sees the mans expensive car at the gas station and sets it on fire as a reaction to his questioning male status. 

In the episode, Walter takes control of his life by making and selling meth in attempt to be the “man of the house” and providing for his family.  He also “restores his authority” by killing Emilio and his cousin.  When Walter is handed a gun by his brother-in-law, it is obvious that he is uncomfortable with it and does not want to hold it.  By the end of the episode, Walter’s status as a man is reaffirmed when he points the gun at the road with composure, ready to fire. His ability to gain composure and use violence as a form of control proves his masculinity, which is questioned during the episode (Pierson 72).  Once again, the audience is able to empathize with the anti-hero, Walter White, after learning of his cancer, financial instability, and increasing medical bills (Bender).  “He feels our pain as he, too, has been pushed too far by a broken health care system that threatens his family’s —let alone his own—survival.” (Bender).  The structure of the anti-hero in Breaking Bad is defined as Walter continues to get away with his crimes, although his brother-in-law is a DEA agent. 

Produced by Shonda Rhimes and created by Peter Norwalk, How to Get Away with Murder premiered in 2014 as a part of Shondaland Production and ABC’s “TGIT”.  How to Get Away with Murder interweaves multiple controversial storylines regarding social and racial issues, including, sexuality, sexual orientation, alcoholism, rape, and murder.  The series is serialized and requires the audience to know the diegetic history in order to understand the storyline. The show offers a diverse ensemble cast consisting of African American, Asian, and Hispanic members, which allows the story to confront present day societal issues and ideologies in order to embrace realism.  Compared to prior crime drama series’, How to Get Away with Murder is progressive in terms of representation of gender and sexual orientation and includes several same-sex or interracial relationships.  In terms of representation, the show is also progressive because its main protagonist is the antithesis of the usual prominent characters portrayed in television.  The main protagonist, Annalise Keating, is a bisexual, black woman, which counters the typical straight, white men that are dominant in television (Cohn).

Annalise Keating is a criminal defense attorney and professor of law at Middleton University.  The series begins with Annalise selecting five of the students to work as interns at her law firm along with her employees, Frank Delfino and Bonnie Winterbottom.  She selects Connor Walsh, Wes Gibbins, Michaela Pratt, Laurel Castillo, and Asher Millstone.  The students work on a case regarding the murder of Lila Stangard, a student of Annalise’s husband, Sam, at Middleton University.  It is revealed that Lila’s killer is Sam, who was having an affair with her.  Eventually, Wes kills Sam in self-defense and the students have to dispose of his body.  The show revolves around a series of murders of Sam and Wes’s girlfriend, Rebecca, committed by the Annalise’s interns and employees.  The finale of season three, “Wes,” begins with Connor running from Annalise’s burning house.  Each episode features the use of analepsis, which are visually signified with cool tones.  The episode shows the events that lead up to Connor running out of the house.  A few hours prior, Wes is shown alone in Annalise’s house leaving her a voicemail, until someone covers his mouth and captures him.  The scene cuts to present day as Annalise meets with Sylvia Mahoney, the wife of Wes’s newly discovered biological father, in order to make a “truce”.  Sylvia explains to Annalise that her husband was not Wes’s biological father, but that his father is actually her son, Charles Mahoney, who had raped Wes’s mother.  Charles is now being questioned as Wes’s killer. 

Connor is being held hostage by D.A. Denver, whose goal is to arrest Annalise and her students for the murder of Sam.  In exchange for blanket immunity, Denver demands Connor to provide him with information regarding Annalise and the murder of Sam.  Later, Denver meets with a man who provides him with an envelope containing Wes’s phone, which would be used to frame Connor for the murder of Wes if he does not comply and testify.  By the end of the day, as Connor is being arrested for the murder of Wes, he decides to provide Denver with information regarding the murder of Sam.  The scene cuts to the police at Connor’s boyfriend, Oliver’s, house with a search warrant.  They find a copy of Annalise’s phone, which includes a voicemail left by Wes on the night of his murder.  The voicemail includes Wes explaining to Annalise that the police believe she killed Sam and Rebecca, Wes’s former girlfriend.  He explains that she cannot get arrested for the crime he committed: the murder of her husband. Annalise meets the group to discuss the situation and wants to convince the police that Wes is the killer of Sam and Rebecca, although he did not murder Rebecca.  Even though this plan involves leaving a bad reputation on Wes, she explains this would be the only way for charges to be dropped against her and the students. Annalise’s former boyfriend, Detective Nate Lahey, discretely works with her, while finding information for her benefit from within the police office.  Analepsis are used again to reveal Wes’s true murderer.  The man who met with Denver to provide him with Wes’s phone is discovered to be the murderer.  

Laurel, Wes’s girlfriend who is pregnant with his child, is unable to cope with his murder.  She plans a scheme with Michaela and Asher to go to Charles’s favorite bar in New York City and confront him.  Michaela flirts with him until he asks her to go home with him, but she does not want to follow through with the plan given his past of rape.  Laurel has a gun and follows Charles outside.  As she is about to pull the gun out, she runs into a family friend, Dominick, the same man that met with Denver.  The following scene includes the use of analepsis to show that Laurel’s father is the one that set up Wes’s murder with Dominick. Before the finale comes to a close, Annalise is at her AA meeting and breaks down as she explains how she lost Wes.  She says, “He felt…like my son. Because he was. He was my son. And he’s gone.” Social stratification is addressed in the series as the Mahoney’s commit multiple crimes and are able to get away with them because they are white, rich, and powerful.  The audience learns how Annalise’s unborn child was killed by Frank in an intentional car accident set up by the Mahoney’s and that Charles Mahoney raped Wes’s mother.  

In comparison to Hill Street Blues and Twin Peaks, How to Get Away with Murder focuses on the corruption within law enforcement and does not present any form of “good” cops.  The audience is set to be on the side of the anti-heroic protagonists.  Every character introduced in the series tends to have anti-heroic characteristics.  In regards to “corrupt” cops and law enforcement, the show represents every single cop and lawyer as corrupt, completely shifting from the eighties representation of “good” cops.  In the finale, “Wes,” D.A. Denver holds Connor hostage and sets him up for a murder he did not commit, Annalise threatens to expose Denver’s corruption, and Detective Lahey works against the police in order to help Annalise. The audience is literally able to watch the characters get away with murder and question the legitimacy of these institutions. 

The rise of the anti-hero and fall of the traditional police officer in television may have been influenced by live video footage of violent crimes and police brutality, such as, the Rodney King beating and O.J. Simpson trial.  The Rodney King beating was the first video to go viral (Sanfiorenzo).  Live footage and news coverage promote the correlation between drama and realism in television. Broadcasted court trials may have also influenced the crime drama genre with the idea of cop corruption.  The O.J. Simpson trial may have prompted the idea of anti-heroism. This real-life drama made the public crave a new form of television known as the golden age.  The public’s interest in anti-heroism within crime drama television shows is due to the depiction of realism.  The audience is able to watch these dramatic shows as a form of escapism without having to go against the protagonist because they are fictitious. “At the end of the night, we can usually hit the pillow knowing that none of the crimes and murderers we just witnessed actually happened, that these crimes were not committed by real human beings” (Stupak).

Bibliography

Johnson, Merri Lisa. “Gangster Feminism: The Feminist Cultural Work of HBO's ‘The Sopranos.’” Feminist Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2007, pp. 269–296., www.jstor.org/stable/20459136.

LAFKY, SUE. “GENDER, POWER, AND CULTURE IN THE TELEVISUAL WORLD OF TWIN PEAKS: A FEMINIST CRITIQUE.” Journal of Film and Video, vol. 51, no. 3/4, 1999, pp. 5–19., www.jstor.org/stable/20688217.

Breaking Bad: Critical Essays on the Contexts, Politics, Style, and Reception of the Television Series. Lanham : Ã2014: Lexington Books, 2013.

Porter, Michael J. "A Comparative Analysis of Directing Styles Inhill Street Blues." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 31.3 (1987): 323-34. Web.

John, Mariah St. "How to Get Away with Murder Is Defying Hollywood." TVOvermind. TVOvermind, 11 May 2016. Web. 10 May 2017.

Bradley, William. "Breaking Bad, Sherlock, and Television's Golden Age of Anti-Heroes." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 May 2017.

Cohn, Michelle. ""How To Get Away With Murder" Normalizes Diversity." Odyssey. N.p., 23 May 2016. Web. 12 May 2017.

Bender, Dr. "Rise of the Antihero." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 May 2017.

Mcgrath, Charles. "THE TRIUMPH OF THE PRIME-TIME NOVEL." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Oct. 1995. Web. 14 May 2017.

Fuchs, Erin. "How a Tape of a Police Beating Went Viral Years before Anybody Used the Internet." Business Insider. Business Insider, 11 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 May 2017.

Okayplayer. "How the Rodney King Beating Became the First Viral Video + Changed America Forever." Okayplayer. N.p., 06 May 2017. Web. 14 May 2017.

Robert J. Thompson, “Preface.”

Jane Feuer, “The Made-for-TV ‘Trauma Drama’: Neoconservative Nightmare or Radical Critique?”

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1990s Sex Scandals and Exposure

With the increase of individualism and acceptance of homosexuality, the 1990s marked the decade of scandal and infamy through television. Television shows began to discuss sexuality and sexual orientation more openly.  After viewing Ellen’s interview with Oprah Winfrey and Monica Lewinsky’s interview with Barbara Walters, it was interesting to see the contrast of tone between the two interviews.  Ellen’s interview was presented in a more light-hearted manner with humorous scenes, which showed the audience that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay.  In Ellen’s interview, she stated that she “didn’t think it was anybody’s business so why do people need to know?”.  She also explained how if she kept her sexual orientation a secret, then it would seem like there was something wrong with it.  This brought her private information to the public sphere, which challenged the beliefs of many people. Monica Lewinsky’s interview had a serious tone, although Monica would laugh and smile during each of her answers.  I believe that if it weren’t for television and the news, no one would know who Monica Lewinsky is and would not care about the scandal.  She became famous for her scandal with President Clinton, which was promoted in the media.  These interviews promoted individualism and brought private information to the public sphere. In Designing Women, issues regarding feminism and sexual harassment were confronted in regards to the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas case.  The intersection of reality and fiction provided a more realistic discussion and debate about these issues. Even though the different female characters in the show gave their opinion about the case, it seemed more biased towards the feminist stance.

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Reaganism in 1980s Television

Reaganism is reflected in 1980s television by promoting individualism, consumerism, and materialism.  During the Reagan Era, cultural ideologies shifted back towards conservatism and away from the values of the 1970s counterculture movement.  The 1980s marked the beginning of neoliberal governmentality, which was reflected in television by teaching the audience family values, life lessons, and promoting self-responsibility.  

During this time, television programs retaliated against Ronald Reagan’s child-care stance and provided the audience with privatized solutions rather than relying on social institutions (Leppert). In Full House and Mr. Belvedere, issues regarding child-care are confronted and resolved through assistance from extended family members and live-in child-care providers (Leppert). As the diegetic family solves their issues regarding child-care, the audience is able to learn how to find private solutions without the help of the government.  Television also reflects individualism by promoting anti-institutionalism.  The form of trauma dramas promote individualism by showing the audience that seeking help from a social institution is not beneficial and the character must take matters into their own hands.  Although, the made-for-television ‘trauma drama,’ The Burning Bed, and family sitcoms, Full House and Mr. Belvedere, portray a contrast of family values, they all contain the same message of self-responsibility and individualism.

During Ronald Reagan's presidency, the effects of the Vietnam War, recession, and inflation in America were recovered and the economy was stabilized. Reagonomics influenced Americans through the portrayal of materialism in television.  During the 1980s, the desire for money was increasing, which led to materialism and consumerism. Deregulation and neoliberalism during Reagan’s presidency benefited the television industry by allowing for expansion, including in cable television. As cable television became more accessible and advances in technology were being made, such as the VCR, television networks had to compete with each other in order to reach broader audiences (Caldwell).   The competitive networks led to cultural narrowcasting and stylistic excess.  The portrayal of excessive style and aesthetics in television coincided with the rise of materialism and consumerism.  For example, the visual and stylistic excess of fashion and luxury shown in Miami Vice reflects the excess of materialism in America.   According to Caldwell, the excessive style in television may have been a result of the economic crisis. Primetime melodramas were also excessive in terms of narrative, style, and acting.  

During the 1980s, television focused primarily on style rather than narrative, although, shows began to take on a serialized form.  Television reflected Reaganism as a cultural ideology in regards to the corporate class.  Dallas and Dynasty were increasingly popular melodramas in the 1980s, which portrayed wealthy, oil-owning families. Although television reflected Reaganism, there were contradictions against the conservative ideologies.  For example, a number of MTV music videos were resistant towards the conservative political ideologies and represented an anti-consumerist stance, including Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle” and Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing”. Conservative and liberal ideologies were equally represented in 1980s television.

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Local Television (KCBS) in the Reagan Era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ1flG5a6vs

KCBS-TV is a Southern California television station owned by CBS Corporation.  In 1931, the television station first aired as W6XAO, under Don Lee Broadcasting. Within six years, the station was on the air six nights per week, which included broadcasts of live talent and movies.  W6XAO obtained a commercial license in 1948, but changed its call letters to KTSL.  Following the death of Thomas S. Lee, son of Don Lee, the company’s assets were sold to General Tire and Rubber, who decided to sell KTSL to CBS.  By 1951, all of CBS’s programs were broadcasted through KTSL. Since CBS wanted its television station to correlate with its radio station, KTSL’s call letters were changed to KNXT.  Years later, KNXT became known for its news programs, which earned it the highest ratings for newscasts in Los Angeles.  On April 2, 1984, the station changed its call letters to KCBS-TV.  

During the 1980s and 1990s, KCBS produced various local television programs and newscasts, including, CBS Evening News, The Howie Mandel Show, and Woman 2 Woman. The station also broadcasted The Young and the Restless, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune during the 1980s. In 1982, KCBS produced the series, 2 on the Town, a local news and entertainment program.  According to an article published on LA Times, KCBS received 56 nominations with 16 nominations for 2 on the Town in 1988.  The article stated that the show was out of production and would not be on the air past the summer (of 1988).  2 on the Town received more Los Angeles Emmy Award nominations than any other series (Weinstein, 1988). The series was hosted by Melody Rogers and Bob Chandler. Melody Rogers was a part of 2 on the Town for eight years and won four Emmy Award’s for the show.  Bob Chandler hosted the show for three years.  Prior to his KCBS career, he worked as a color analyst for NFL on NBC. In 1987, an episode of 2 on the Town included a Swimwear Illustrated Magazine special titled, “Bikini II: The Saga Continues,” which features women modeling swimwear and a bikini contest hosted by Bob Chandler.

Influenced by the ideologies of the Reagan Era, the episode reflects postmodernism and American consumerism during the 1980s. The style and form of “Bikini II: The Saga Continues” resemble a long advertisement for Swimwear Illustrated Magazine, while the excessive editing and music resemble a variation of music video forms. The episode lacks a narrative, which suggests that style is more important than a narrative.  The schizophrenic images, fast editing, and commercialization presented in the episode correlate with the theories of postmodernism and consumerism of the Reagan Era. The opening title sequence of 2 on the Town was specifically changed to adapt to the episode, “Bikini II: The Saga Continues”.  The altered opening title sequence features a model wearing a bikini, laying down in front of a fire place and says to “press record now”.  Immediately after, the shot is cut to an automated voice saying “I got a brand new tape.”  The opening title sequence consists of half-naked models running in slow motion and the two hosts, Bob and Melody, individually shot in between two models.  At the end of the sequence, the television breaks because it could not handle all of the fast changing images of the models. According to Jameson, postmodernism transforms reality into images by communicating through a schizophrenic form.  Past, present, and future are incoherent through the postmodern schizophrenia of images (Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, 72). The episode relates to Jameson’s theories because throughout the episode, the audience is unable to unify the relationship of time and space. According to John Caldwell, televisuality was related to America’s economy in the 1980s (Televisuality, 10).  The excessive style was due to competitiveness as more networks were entering the market.  At this time, networks had to compete with MTV, one of the highest rated networks.  KCBS may have changed its image in order to increase market share.  KCBS’s logo for the episode was also altered and consisted of flashy, neon-colored letters, which was similar to MTV’s logo.

The hosts claim that they are hiding away in a cabin until the press in Los Angeles calm down from the bikini show that Bob hosted.  In the scenes with the hosts, Bob and Melody are watching the special as the viewers are watching the episode. Bob whines, “You give them what they want and they turn around and they call you a skin-monger, a sexist, you know one of those S words.” Bob is worried that people will be upset at him for hosting a bikini contest, but it is implied in a light-hearted matter, attempting to justify his intentions and guilt.  When the hosts receive a phone call, Bob fears criticism and tells Melody to tell whoever is on the phone that he is busy making a “children’s show”.  This dialogue implies that Bob Chandler is apprehensive to pushing away from the conservative ideologies of the 1980s. The show continues to cut back and forth between scenes of the hosts, the models, and people being interviewed. 

During the 1980s, political and cultural changes influenced ideologies communicated through television.  Multiple instances within the episode reflect and contradict Reaganism.  The American consumer culture influenced by Reagan is reflected within the episode.  Swimwear Illustrated Magazine differs from other swimwear magazines because people can purchase the swimsuits advertised in the issues.  The overall purpose of the episode is to promote consumerism by advertising the magazine and swimsuits to the viewers. The episode promotes the magazine, swimwear, and the female image. By promoting the magazine and swimwear, Swimsuit Illustrated Magazine is able to increase its sales, while boosting the networks ratings.  The format of the episode is similar to MTV’s format, which incorporates various images and music to attract a younger audience.  

The hosts receive a phone call from the head of CBS and explains how CBS’s stocks are rising due to the popularity of the swimsuit episode.  The scene then changes and shows men who are eager to purchase stock.  Another example that reflects consumerism is the 2 on the Town pictorial calendar that features models in swimsuits.  The sequence in the episode shows a clip for each month, which consists of models wearing bikinis with props and at locations that are consistent with the month. The host narrating the episode states that calendars like these turn into one thing: money.  Half way through the episode, Bob starts to contemplate if he should go back to Los Angeles and start a new, “clean” family show or a travel show in Nebraska.  Immediately, the devil appears on his shoulder and states “girls like that spell big ratings” as he points to two bikini models. Then an angel appears on his other shoulder and says “You know you’ll burn for this. Cheap thrills are the easiest road to your demographics hearts.”

The episode contradicts Reaganism by advocating women’s sexual liberation.  Throughout the episode, the female host, Melody Rogers, justifies why Bob Chandler hosted a swimsuit competition. For example, after close-up shots of the women, a 15 second background on the company, and a quick interview with a model, the scene cuts back to the hosts.  Melody Rogers tells Bob Chandler, “Now who’s gonna hate you for that?”.  The dialogue between the hosts encourages women to support the episode and magazine through female empowerment.  Even the narrator of the episode has to justify why he is one of the 250,000 magazine subscribers.  His explanation is that he is an investigative journalist and it is his “job”.

“Bikini II: The Saga Continues” was aired prior to the third-wave of feminism. The third-wave of feminism in the early 1990s confronted issues regarding sexuality.  Reaganism shifted back from social changes that were established during the 1960s and 1970s.  This ideology shifts away from conservatism during the Reagan Era when straight-males were “hostile” towards women’s liberation.  The episode also pushes away from conservatism by not presenting family values, which is usually seen in American television during this time. Although 2 on the Town is a news and entertainment program that is targeted to a broad demographic, the swimwear special is targeted more towards a hyper-masculine audience.  Swimwear Illustrated Magazine is a magazine intended for women, although, it is promoted towards men.  The episode and magazine are contradicting because they both are targeted towards men, but encourage women to buy the products.  In the episode, a man who works for Swimwear Illustrated Magazine is being interviewed and states that women are interested in the magazine because it “gives them inspiration to get in shape, be attractive, and offers them ideas of sexy suits”.  

By the end of the episode, Bob and Melody leave the cabin to go back to Los Angeles.  Bob sarcastically says he feels “ashamed” for hosting a bikini contest and he will never let Melody talk him into a show like that ever again.  The overall purpose of this special was to attract a larger audience and promote Swimwear Illustrated Magazine.  Although the content within the episode leans more towards liberalism, Bob Chandler still has to justify the episode, which suggests the networks concern of how viewers may interpret the text. The criteria of the episode meets the theories of postmodernism.  The relationship between cultural and political ideologies and the episode highly reflect postmodernism and consumerism of the 1980s.  

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-22/entertainment/ca-1865_1_lead-emmy-derby Weinstein, Steve. "KCBS, '2 on the Town' Lead Emmy Derby." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 1988. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bob_Chandler "Bob Chandler." Wikiwand. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

http://www.nourmand.com/agents/15706-Melody-Rogers-Kelley "Melody Rogers-Kelley." Nourmand & Associates. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCBS-TV "KCBS-TV." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Mar. 2017. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Caldwell, James Thornton. Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in American Television . N.p.: n.p., 1995. Print.

Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. N.p.: n.p., 1991. Print.

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Multiculturalism in 90s Television

Due to the increase of networks during the 1990s, programs were narrowcasted towards younger, urban audiences (“Nike and Dorito” audiences). This expansion allowed for the creation of multicultural programs that were targeted towards audiences who had more access to network television.  With the increase of multiculturalism in television, stereotypes and racial issues were addressed through the medium.  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and In Living Color changed the way that multiculturalism is presented through television. In both of the episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and In Living Color, black authenticity is presented and questioned in different ways.  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has more of a dramatic approach to multiculturalism, while In Living Color presents the issue in the form of parodies.  

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Carlton is rejected from joining the fraternity because he does not represent what Top Dog believes to be ‘black’.  Carlton’s authenticity is defined by income, class, music taste, and fashion. At the end of the episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the family is gathered, while Uncle Phil gives a dramatic speech about discrimination. The show closes with the question, “When are we going to stop doing this to each other?” Since sitcoms end on a lighter note, it is unusual to see the dramatic ending of this episode.  I believe the episode does not offer any closure because there will always be a sense of discrimination within minority communities and the issues cannot be resolved in a 22 minute long episode.  

In the episode of In Living Color, black authenticity is defined through the variety of sketches.  The use of parodies allow the show to present the way American’s perceive and stereotype the black community.  I believe the show embraces black authenticity through satire. With the increasing popularity of MTV and the rise of hip-hop, there may also be a correlation between the way music, dance, and urban fashion is represented throughout the show as a form of authenticity.

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Quality Television

With multiple characters, strong narratives, and auteurship, both Hill Street Blues and Twin Peaks represent quality television.  Hill Street Blues and Twin Peaks are quality television series because they are aimed at a narrowcasted, “quality” audience. The two dramas differ from primetime melodramas because they are not target towards a mass audience, therefore, had lower ratings.  A majority of quality TV shows are now considered “cult” shows, such as, Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks, and The X-Files because they are targeted to a specific audience.  Hill Street Blues seems more realistic and natural in regards to narrative and style compared to Dallas and Dynasty.  The show has more natural acting than the melodramas over-the-top acting, while having a more realistic storyline.  The audience is more focused on the content and narrative of the shows, rather than the style and aesthetics. Twin Peaks contains melodramatic elements, which grasps the audiences attention.  The various characters allow the series to have multiple storylines. Dramas during the 1980s became more serialized and allowed characters to be more dynamic.  The cliffhanger of the pilot persuades the viewers to continue watching the series to find out who killed Laura Palmer.  Twin Peaks is also considered to be quality television because of the director/writer, David Lynch. His artistic and cinematic approach to the series brought something different to television during this time.  The series was able to transform the genre and push away from traditional television forms. The lighting, camera movements (panning shots), and colors are very distinct and have a cinematic approach.  The cinematic elements of the show are also attractive to the ‘quality’ audience.

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Excessive Style: Melodrama

After watching the episodes of Dallas and Dynasty, I could understand why these shows were so popular and required viewers to invest a lot of time into.  Melodramas attracted a broader demographic because many people may have viewed the serials as a form of escapism in correlation to the economic crisis in America during the time. The audience was able to relate to the characters and storylines, which gave them a “sense of identity”.  Melodramatic serials require the audience to invest a lot of time into watching the episodes each night in order to keep up with what was going on in the story.  A sense of false reality within the shows were interpreted by the audience.  In order for the shows to be considered as a form of escapism, the viewers may have wanted to believe the shows were realistic, even if they were not (realistic illusion). If the audience believed the shows were unrealistic, then they would not have been able to relate to the characters and plots. I believe the show was very popular because people were able to talk about it with each other, which provided the audience with a form of connection. Just like the question, “Who shot JR?” became a widespread conversation to the point where it was all over the media and merchandise. It is interesting to compare and contrast Dallas and Dynasty with Miami Vice and Max Headroom.  All of these shows are excessive, but in different ways.  The two melodramatic soap operas are more excessive in narrative, emotion, and acting during a majority of the episode lengths.  The excessiveness of these aspects are what make the shows coherent.  Since we are watching melodramas, we expect over-the-top acting, plot twists, and cliffhangers.  Whereas, when we are viewing Miami Vice and Max Headroom, we rely more on the style and videographic aspects of the shows.

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Excessive Style

After watching the episode of Miami Vice, it was interesting to see how the videographic and cinematic parts of the show were more innovative than the narrative and form of the show itself. The show had “visual excess” in terms of color, costume, and luxury. The opening credits sequence of the show exposes the audience to fancy cars, half-naked women, and the luxurious lifestyle of living in Miami. It is obvious that production budgets were increasing for narrative television shows during this time.  The show presents cultural ideologic views and stereotypes regarding race, gender, and sexual orientation. In regards to gender, the show presents white men as prominent figures, while the couple of women that were on the show as unimportant characters.  Even in the beginning of the episode, the way the mannequins were treated may have been reflective of society’s views towards women during this time. Race was also shown in a stereotypical manner.  The story centers around the white male, while the black male is more inquisitive and looks to the white male for the answers, even though the two men are partners.  The episode provides the audience with the ideology of social norms regarding sexual orientation.  In the episode, we learn that the two men worked with a homosexual man.  When they learned of his sexual orientation, they reacted in a way that showed they were unaccepting and unsupportive of his sexual orientation, which leads to his “suicide”. The episode shows the suffering and guilt the cops have gone through, and still go through based on the outcome of the former partner. As Abalos pointed out in the text, the materialism and fancy lifestyles of the cops balances out the suffering and guilt they undergo from their personal lives.  The stylistic aspects of the television series are related to consumerism of the 1980s.  For example, the pastel colored outfits worn by the men in Miami Vice influenced men’s fashion during this time.

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I Want My MTV

MTV was one of the first cable television networks to combine televisual and aural forms. As MTV’s 24 hour music video cycle transformed into a 24 hour flow, it reached a broader audience that was able to access the network at any time. The scheduled structure allowed MTV to reach a greater audience by airing music and non-music programs, including game shows, documentaries, news, and comedy specials.  The variety of genres of music and programs that aired on MTV attracted more viewers.  Although a large audience was targeted, the variety of content was directed towards individuals, which still separated the individual from the mass audience.  

MTV’s music videos during the postmodern era had a relationship with the social and cultural values of the 1980s.  As stated in the text, “Fatal Distractions: MTV Meets Postmodern Theory,” MTV’s lack of involvement in political values suggested that postmodernism is presented in a “form of political resistance” (Goodwin, 38).  In the various music videos that I viewed, I noticed a combination of forms that would be considered postmodern, while others rebelled against the theory.  In Madonna’s “Material Girl,” the song and visuals consider the decade of consumerism and materialism (postmodernism).  Other videos suggested the resistance against political values.  For example, Guns N’ Roses’s “Welcome to the Jungle” presented an anti-consumerism stance.  The music video showed a man being forced to view footage of war and other forms of violence, which makes a statement against political values of the time. In the music video, “Money for Nothing,” by Dire Straits, the song mocks the value of the dollar as well as the increasing popularity of consumerism.  “Money for Nothing” exaggerates the ability to get rich by being on MTV.  

“Money For Nothing”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD6Obi7Cag

“Welcome to the Jungle”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg

“Material Girl”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3wYIjI8WcI

[thediegeticworld]

Reaganism & 1980s Sitcoms

During the 1980s, social and economic changes in America influenced the values presented in television. Sitcoms from this era showed viewers the “ideal” American family, where obstacles are overcome by the end of the episode.  In Family Ties, the family is presented in a way that correlates with the values and standards of America during that time.  In regards to political ideologies, there is a role reversal between Alex Keaton and his parents beliefs.  Alex is a conservative yuppie who is a part of the “Reagan Generation,” while his parents are liberals.  This was at a time when American standards were shifting back towards conservatism and away from the counterculture values of the 1970s. In the episode, concerns about gender norms and equal rights were also confronted.  It is clear that Alex is not a feminist and does not support the ERA.  When his parents make fun of him for being a “woman,” the social issues are addressed lightly and the concern is more towards Alex lying.

Atypical family structures were becoming “normal” in sitcom television during this time because of the higher divorce rates, shifting gender norms, and the government being unwilling to fund child-care (Leppert, 68). In the episodes of Full House and Mr. Belvedere, the use of unconventional family structures are directly teaching the audience how to manage work and family.  In Full House, the extended family shows the challenges of having to manage time based on the children’s schedules.  It is also portrayed as beneficial to have an extended family by showing that there are many people in the household who are able to take care of the children either by making sacrifices or working from home.  By the end of the episode of Full House, DJ is willing to miss her first sleepover in order to help her family.  In the episode of Mr. Belvedere, Mr. Belvedere is the glue that holds the family together by being there for them and giving them advice.  Full House and Mr. Belvedere are similar by resolving issues by the end of the twenty-something minute long episodes.  When the characters are learning lessons, they are also teaching the viewers.  For example, as Mr. Belvedere writes in his journal, the narrative form is directed towards the audience.