'Feminist Television Theories' syllabus (original) (raw)

Feminist academic scholarship of television emerged in the 1970s, and yielded, throughout the following decades, textual, ethnographic, narrative, and ideological research that examines the various interrelations between women and the televisual medium. This course will trace the central issues in feminist television criticism, from "women's genres," such as soap opera, sitcom, and docusoap, via women's representation, reception research, female audiences and viewership, to production contexts and politics. Examples will include Roseanne, I Love Lucy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cagney & Lacey, Dallas, The Real Housewives franchise, Girls, and more, and discussions will revolve around feminist and television theories by scholars such as Lynn Spigel, Charlotte Brunsdon, Julie D’Acci, Joshua Gamson, Janet McCabe, Kim Akass, and Patricia Mellencamp.