Television culture and women's lives : thirtysomething and the contradictions of gender

Bibliographic Information

Television culture and women's lives : thirtysomething and the contradictions of gender

Margaret J. Heide

(Feminist cultural studies, the media, and political culture)

University of Pennsylvania Press, c1995

  • : pbk

Available at  / 34 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. [159]-168

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780812215342

Description

Contemporary cultural theory, feminist criticism, and ethnography converge in this provocative study of the construction of meaning in mass culture. Television Culture and Women's Lives explores the complex relationship between the gender conflicts played out in the scripts of the popular television show thirtysomething and the real-life conflicts experienced by "baby-boomer" women viewers. Women viewers often reinterpreted the program's conservative view on gender roles, seeing it instead as a protest against real dilemmas women face as they try to integrate career and family priorities. Heide's study confirms women viewers' close identifications with thirtysomething characters and positions audience responses against the backdrop of changes in the lives of women in the 1980s and 1990s. Television Culture and Women's Lives accessibly treats fascinating issues related to cultural criticism, the relationship between mass media, and audiences, and the struggles faced by women in late twentieth-century America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 1. Gender and Generation: The Case of thirtysomething 2. The Socio-Historical Context of thirtysomething 3. The Stories of thirtysomething 4. Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't: Women's Responses to Gender Conflicts on thirtysomething 5. Married with Children and Single White Females: thirtysomething Women Tell Their Stories 6. Conclusion: Life After thirtysomething Bibliography Index
Volume

ISBN 9780812232530

Description

Contemporary cultural theory, feminist criticism, and ethnography converge in this provocative study of the construction of meaning in mass culture. Television Culture and Women's Lives explores the complex relationship between the gender conflicts played out in the scripts of the popular television show thirtysomething and the real-life conflicts experienced by "baby-boomer" women viewers. Women viewers often reinterpreted the program's conservative view on gender roles, seeing it instead as a protest against real dilemmas women face as they try to integrate career and family priorities. Heide's study confirms women viewers' close identifications with thirtysomething characters and positions audience responses against the backdrop of changes in the lives of women in the 1980s and 1990s. Television Culture and Women's Lives accessibly treats fascinating issues related to cultural criticism, the relationship between mass media, and audiences, and the struggles faced by women in late twentieth-century America.

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