Gladiators in Suits (eBook)

Race, Gender, and the Politics of Representation in Scandal

Simone Adams, Kimberly R. Moffitt, Ronald L. Jackson (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
Syracuse University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8156-5468-1 (ISBN)

Infos

One of the most popular shows to come out of Shondaland, Shonda Rhimes’s production company, is ABC’s political drama Scandal (2012–18)—a series whose tremendous success and marketing savvy led LA Times critic Mary McNamara to hail it as "the show that Twitter built" and Time magazine to name its protagonist as one of the most influential fictional characters of 2013. The series portrays a fictional Washington, DC, and features a diverse group of characters, racially and otherwise, who gather around the show’s antiheroine, Olivia Pope, a powerful crisis manager who happens to have an extramarital affair with the president of the United States. For seven seasons, audiences learned a great deal about Olivia and those interwoven in her complex world of politics and drama, including her team of "gladiators in suits," with whom she manages the crises of Washington’s political elite.

This volume, named for both Olivia’s team and the show’s fans, analyzes the communication, politics, stereotypes, and genre techniques featured in the television series while raising key questions about the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and viewing audiences. The essays range from critical looks at various members of Scandal’s ensemble, to in-depth analyses of the show’s central themes, to audience reception studies via interviews and social media analysis. Additionally, the volume contributes to research on femininity, masculinity, and representations of black womanhood on television. Ultimately, this collection offers original and timely perspectives on what was one of America’s most "scandalous" prime-time network television series.

Autor

Simone Adams works at the Center for Digital Teaching and Learning and teaches American studies at the University of Graz, Austria.

Kimberly R. Moffitt is associate professor and chair of the Language, Literacy, and Culture PhD program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Ronald L. Jackson II is professor of communication at the University of Cincinnati and past president of the National Communication Association.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.8.2019
• Reihe/Serie: Television and Popular Culture
• Reihe/Serie: Television and Popular Culture
• Verlagsort: Syracuse
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Makrosoziologie
• Schlagworte: ABC • African American Studies • barack obama • Black lives matter • blackness on television • black womanhood • Crisis Management • Fandom • female gaze • femininity • Fitzgerald Grant III • found family • Genre • Grey's Anatomy • Hashtags • Henry Ian Cusick • How to get away with murder • infidelity • Kerry Washington • Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope • Masculinity • Melodrama • network television • Olivia Pope • police protests • police violence • political TV • president on television • Private Practice • Race • Representation • respectability politics • scandal • sex and sexuality on television • shondaland • shonda rhimes • Soap opera • Social Media • State Violence • streaming television • televised torture • television and popular culture • television violence • The West Wing • Tony Goldwyn • TV Drama • TV show about the White House • TV shows • TV shows with leading black actresses • Twitter • Washington DC • Women's and Gender Studies
• ISBN-10: 0-8156-5468-5 / 0815654685
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8156-5468-1 / 9780815654681