This week we will be talking about Lentz's article on quality vs. relevance in 70's television.
Please come prepared to:
- provide at least three characteristics of quality tv and three of relevant tv
- know the differences between MTM and Lear productions
- think of some examples of how discourses of quality and relevance are similar or different today
What a great era for TV!
Josh
Here's some more Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, when cheating and romance and allure abound.
Quality TV:
ReplyDelete-gender issues/feminism presentation - focus on women's
-modern images of women connected to more modern tv - working women, single
-deeper character development (more plot about characters, less about social issues)
-better production values: multiple sets, shot on film, lighting (low key lighting, natural looking)
-self-reflexive/promotive of television - Moore works on a news show, elevating the show above tv more generally - tied to feminist leanings of show - subordinate position of TV, a heavily feminized medium (less quality, more sensual), so this is levelling the playing field for TV by positioning itself as quality, parallel to liberal feminist discourses of valuing women/their expressions which the show evokes
Relevant TV:
-improving racial representation on TV
-much more blatant in its issues - authentic presentation, less distance from issues, blunt realist, gritty - realism is in the content, not the aesthetics - offering up social issues of the time, not necessarily answers - TV is a mirror of the real, no morals on top of it, rather than making a comment
-videotape, high key flat lighting, sets are obviously sets
-whiteness as a racial category (Archie Bunker)
-class issues are also prominent (Archie, Florida)
“The show therefore identifies a political problem with liberal critique of racism. It demonstrates that a strongly held belief in racial “equality” does not automatically place people divided by race and class on “equal” footing But more importantly, the show connects this problem to feminist politics. Maude’s feminism comes undone as her project of promoting womanly pride and self-respect is unraveled by her tendency to dominate and control (racial) others. This tendency is coded as a fundamental and necessary component of feminism. In other words, Maude’s critique of white liberalism locates the problem of racial condescension in a feminist figure, thus attributing the racial tensions between Maude and Florida to a problematic kind of feminist behaviour” (Lentz 74).