Friends, Lovers, Co-Workers, and Community

Everything I Know about Relationships I Learned from Television

Edited by Kathleen M. Ryan; Noah J. Springer; Deborah A. Macey and Mary Erickson - Contributions by Lauren Bratslavsky; Elizabeth L. Cohen; Mary Erickson; Teri Del Rosso; Erika Engstrom; William David Hart; Fran Hassencahl; Alexander L. Lancaster; Kathryn L. Lookadoo; Jane Marcellus; Sabrina K. Pasztor; Kathleen M. Ryan; Siobhan E. Smith; John Shrader; Noah J. Springer; David Staton; Jan Whitt and Norman C.H. Wong

Friends, Lovers, Co-Workers, and Community analyzes how television narratives form the first decade of the twenty-first century are powerful socializing agents which both define and limit the types of acceptable interpersonal relationships between co-workers, friends, romantic partners, family members, communities, and nations. This book is written by a diverse group of scholars who used a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches to interrogate the ways through which television molds our vision of ourselves as individuals, ourselves as in relationships with others, and ourselves as a part of the world. This book will appeal to scholars of communication studies, cultural studies, media studies, and popular culture studies.

Lexington Books

Pages: 262 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-1295-4 • Hardback • May 2016 • $123.00 • (£95.00)

978-1-4985-1296-1 • eBook • May 2016 • $116.50 • (£90.00)

Series: Lexington Studies in Communication and Storytelling

Subjects: Social Science / Media Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family

Friends, Lovers, Co-Workers, and Community

Everything I Know about Relationships I Learned from Television

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Friends, Lovers, Co-Workers, and Community analyzes how television narratives form the first decade of the twenty-first century are powerful socializing agents which both define and limit the types of acceptable interpersonal relationships between co-workers, friends, romantic partners, family members, communities, and nations. This book is written by a diverse group of scholars who used a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches to interrogate the ways through which television molds our vision of ourselves as individuals, ourselves as in relationships with others, and ourselves as a part of the world. This book will appeal to scholars of communication studies, cultural studies, media studies, and popular culture studies.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 262 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-1295-4 • Hardback • May 2016 • $123.00 • (£95.00)

978-1-4985-1296-1 • eBook • May 2016 • $116.50 • (£90.00)

Series: Lexington Studies in Communication and Storytelling

Subjects: Social Science / Media Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family

Author

Mary Erickson is visiting assistant professor of communication studies at Western Washington University.

Deborah A. Macey is lecturer at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Kathleen M. Ryan is associate professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Noah J. Springer is independent scholar.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Mary Erickson

Chapter 1: All I Want for Christmas is You: ’Tis the Season for Holiday Romance
David Staton and Kathleen M. Ryan

Chapter 2: “HBIC”: I Love New York, Dominant Ideology, and African American Women’s Relationships
Siobhan E. Smith

Chapter 3: “There’s an app for that”: Teens Using Technology to Control Gender Behavior in the Disney Channel Original Movies Zapped and How to Build a Better Boy
Sabrina K. Pasztor

Chapter 4: “The Man Inside Me”: A Freudian Analysis of Familial Relationships in Arrested Development
Noah J. Springer

Chapter 5: Fatherhood, Fidelity, and Friendship: Owen Thoreau Jr. and Men of a Certain Age
Jan Whitt

Chapter 6: “The Suitcase” and “The Strategy”: The Pro-Family Feminist Bond Between Mad Men Protagonists Don Draper and Peggy Olson
Jane Marcellus and Erika Engstrom

Chapter 7: The Primetime Drama and the Centrality of Hegemonic Masculinity in Rape Narratives
Teri Del Rosso and Lauren Bratslavsky

Chapter 8: A Rhetorical Vision of Tolerance: Teaching Tolerance through Post-9/11 TV Dramas
William Hart and Fran Hassencahl

Chapter 9: Television, Sports and Twitter: Building Soccer Communities Around the World
John Shrader

Chapter 10: Something To Look Forward To: Understanding the Appeal of Ritualistic Television Coviewing Events
Elizabeth L. Cohen & Alexander L. Lancaster

Chapter 11: Kickstarting Veronica Mars: Rekindling a Parasocial Relationship
Kathryn L. Lookadoo and Norman C. H. Wong

Reviews

Bringing together a diverse group of scholars, Friends, Lovers, Co-Workers, and Community explores the various ways that television shapes our many relationships in life. Taking seriously the role that television (and television-like content) plays in our life, the authors make nuanced and careful arguments about love and romance, family and friends, identity and culture, and fandom and community. From Christmas television movies to Veronica Mars, from Arrested Development to Mad Men, the range of topics are as diverse as the television content analyzed. For those with even a passing interest in the development of contemporary television content, this is must-read scholarship!
— Paul Booth, DePaul University