Reading Outline #3

Amanda Ganza
Gender and Popular Culture
Reading Outline #3
February 5, 2007

Key Terms

George Lipsitz, “The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early Network Television”
*Consumer consciousness – a reluctance to spend due to the lessons of historical experiences
*Suburban Market – a connection between suburban growth and increased consumer spending; a new market opening up in middle-class and working-class families who could afford to own homes and buy new cars every few years

Diane Raymond, “Popular Culture and Queer Representation: A Critical Perspective”
*Queer theory – a body of knowledge connected to lesbian/gay studies that advocates fluidity
*Queer – someone who rejects binary categories and is politically radical
*Connotative readings – an analytical approach seeking to find credible readings that our homophobic/heterosexist culture normally prevents us from seeing in a text
*Symbolic annihilation – the invisibility of gays and lesbians in mass media, representing the powerlessness of the queer community
*Ideology – constructs how we view positions and identities
*Cumpulsory Heterosexuality – shows heterosexuality as natural and inevitable, establishing it as a practice with its own set of expectations, norms, and principles of conduct
*Heterosexuality – a “parasitic notion” whose existence depends on the existence of its antithesis, homosexuality
*Universalizing Discourse – a reading that suggests the concepts of queerness and sexuality are nonbinary and more amorphous
*Sexual Identity – a complex, incomplete, and unstable organization of one’s preferences in various areas
*“Gay winking/Gay Vague” – a gay sensibility present in some media programs that allows for multiple readings of a character or situation depending on the subject position of the viewer

Readings
George Lipsitz, “The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early Network Television”
1. Description
In the time before and after World War II, home television emerged as a powerful advertising tool. Advertisers incorporated their messages, both through direct (commercials) and indirect (resolving conflicts through the use of a particular product) means into urban, ethnic, working-class comedies.

2. Analysis
Government policies established the dominance of commercial television by shaping home television as an advertising medium, and this was widely accepted by top businesses because they held the same view of the American economy and its needs.
In order to foster more consumer spending, advertising companies had to overcome a consumer consciousness resulting from the lessons of the Great Depression. Therefore, they used television to justify a more hedonistic approach to life, as well as encourage certain spending habits that would foster a more lucrative economy (such as installment plans).
Television itself served as a mediator between the family and the economy.

3. Vision
The author did not articulate a vision (it was a reading based on history).

4. Strategy
The author did not articulate a strategy (he was discussing changes occurring in the past, not a plan to implement change in the future).

Diane Raymond, “Popular Culture and Queer Representation: A Critical Perspective”
1. Description
There has been a shift from simply connotative homosexual meanings to more overt gay and lesbian characters in today’s prime-time television, offering the potential for new sorts of analysis.
While sexual minority characters used to be dichotomized as victim or villain and subjected to demeaning stereotypes, nowadays it is the homophobe that is criticized or ignored, and acceptance of a queer friend or relative has become a test of character on many shows.
The author believes that this shift is not merely due to heightened cultural tolerance, but that there are more suspicious readings of these themes and trends.

2. Analysis
There is a lack of seriousness in the comedic genre where most of the queer imagery is located, which may allow for a sense of play and flexibility in handling gay subject matter. This could account for the wider variety of possible readings.

3. Vision
The author hopes to spread her view that there is “no ‘correct’ queer reading, no one queer reading, and no unchanging queer perspective.”

4. Strategy
The author believes that writing this essay will enrich her readers’ ability to create their own different meanings in any popular cultural texts they read.