Difference between pages "Cultural Studies, Ethnography (Discussion)" and "Douglas Sirk as Auteur (Discussion)"

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==Basic principles==
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==Equivalent characters in the 1934 and 1959 versions of ''Imitation of Life''==
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#'''Group 4:''' Explain the original concept of '''ideology''' and how Marx connected it to social classes.
 
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#'''Group 1:''' Explain Antonio Gramsci's (pronounced "GRAM-chee") concept of '''hegemony'''. Provide an example of hegemony in action.
 
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#'''Group 2:''' Explain what the '''television apparatus''' is and Stuart Hall's theory of media '''encoding'''.
 
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#'''Group 3:''' Explain Stuart Hall's theory of media '''decoding'''.
 
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#'''All Groups:''' Explain John Fiske's idea of '''discourse'''. Using ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' episode we viewed for specifics: How would you describe the "hillbilly" discourse and how it conflicts with the "Beverly Hills" discourse?
 
  
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==Decoding (or reading) a text==
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<table width="200" border="0">
 +
  <tr>
 +
    <td><strong>1934</strong></td>
 +
    <td><strong>1959</strong></td>
 +
  </tr>
 +
  <tr>
 +
    <td>Bea</td>
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    <td>Lora</td>
 +
  </tr>
 +
  <tr>
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    <td>Delilah</td>
 +
    <td>Annie</td>
 +
  </tr>
 +
  <tr>
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    <td>Jessie</td>
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    <td>Susie</td>
 +
  </tr>
 +
  <tr>
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    <td>Peola</td>
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    <td>Sarah Jane</td>
 +
  </tr>
 +
  <tr>
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    <td>Steve</td>
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    <td>Steve</td>
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  </tr>
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</table>
  
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'''Group 4 '''
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==Readings==
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==="Three-Way Mirror: Imitation of Life"===
 +
Lucy Fischer sums the previous approaches to ''Imitation of Life'' and then addresses her own concerns about the film:
 +
# "The question of women and work"
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# "The issue of race"
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# "The matter of star biography"
  
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#Perform a ''dominant-hegemonic'' decoding of ''My So-Called Life''. What would be the result of your reading in terms of representations of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, and youth (vs. middle age)?
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Discuss these "concerns":
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#How could your reading be restated using Morley's notion of discourses encountering one another?
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#'''Group 2:''' According to Fischer, what "cliché" is there about women's employment in the decade 1948-58? Why is it untrue?
 +
#'''Group 3:''' Often, films place women in the position of choosing between work outside the home and staying at home and nurturing children. How does ''Imitation of Life'' deal with this conflict—both in terms of Lora ''and'' Annie? Does Annie fit a "mammy" stereotype? According to Fischer what factors present domestic labor in a negative manner?
 +
#*And how does the presentation of work vs. motherhood differ in the 1934 and 1959 versions?
 +
#'''Group 4:''' It's not just work and motherhood that are inflected with issues surrounding race. Fischer also sees a connection between race and "performance," between race and imitations (plural) of life. What different forms of performance, of playing a role, are evident in ''Imitation of Life''? Who performs and why?
 +
#*How does changing the white mother from the "Pancake Queen" to a performer change the story's meaning?
 +
#'''All Groups:''' We'll discuss Turner as a star more fully next week, but what themes (or polysemy) does Fischer say were associated both with Turner (embodied in the Johnny Stompanato scandal) and Turner's ''character'' in ''Imitation of Life''?
  
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'''Group 2'''
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==="Distanciation and Douglas Sirk"===
  
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#Perform a ''oppositional'' decoding of ''My So-Called Life''. What would be the result of your reading in terms of representations of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, and youth (vs. middle age)?
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#'''Group 1:''' How does Sirk "intensify" elements of the melodrama genre?
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#How could your reading be restated using Morley's notion of discourses encountering one another?
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#Willemen concludes that the "distanciation effect" can be "used to parody the stylistic procedures which traditionally convey an extremely smug, self-righteous and ''petit bourgeois'' world view paramount in the American melodrama."
 +
#*''Petit bourgeois'' (pronounced "petty boor-jwah") is a French word meaning, literally, the "small middle-class", but more generally referring to a conservative social class of shop keepers and professionals. Thus, a ''petit bourgeois'' worldview is one that is politically and morally conservative.
 +
#*'''All Groups:''' How might ''Imitation of Life'' be seen to be an attack on conservative values of the 1950s? Do you think it succeeds at that?
  
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'''Group 1'''
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==Thinking further about remakes==
  
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#Perform a ''negotiated'' decoding of ''My So-Called Life''. What would be the result of your reading in terms of representations of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, and youth (vs. middle age)?
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#'''All Groups:''' There are many differences between the two versions of ''Imitation of Life''. One subtle change is the endings. How does each film end? (Refer to [http://www.tcf.ua.edu/jbutler/Diss/AppC/index.htm frame grabs here].) How do the endings signify different resolutions of the black daughter plotline and the white mother-boyfriend-daughter plotline?
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#How could your reading be restated using Morley's notion of discourses encountering one another?
 
  
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'''Group 3'''
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[[Image:ImitationOfLife1934qq01 47 59qq.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Final scene, 1934 version.]]
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[[Image:ImitationOfLife1934qq01 49 48qq.jpg|none|thumb|200px|Final shot, 1934 version.]]
 +
<br style="clear:both;"/>
 +
[[Image:ImitationOfLife1959qq02 02 53qq.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Final scene, 1959 version.]]
 +
[[Image:ImitationOfLife1959qq02 03 35qq.jpg|none|thumb|200px|Final shot, 1959 version.]]
 +
<br style="clear:both;"/>
  
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#What do you feel is the ''preferred reading'' of this episode? What is the preferred reading in terms of representations of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, and youth (vs. middle age)? ("Hall and others often presume that the preferred reading encoded on the text by the television apparatus will be from the dominant position," but in this case it probably is not.)
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==Bibliography==
 +
# Lucy Fischer, "Three-Way Mirror: Imitation of Life," ''Imitation of Life: Douglas Sirk, Director'' ed. Lucy Fischer (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press) 3-28.
 +
# Paul Willemen, "Distanciation and Douglas Sirk," ''Imitation of Life: Douglas Sirk, Director'', 268-272.
  
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==John Caldwell and production studies==
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[[Category:TCF440-540]]
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To understand how the society and culture of the television industry, Caldwell looks both at "texts" associated with the industry and at the interaction of actual television-producing humans. Explain what he means by each of the following "critical industrial practices" and provide at least two examples of such practices and the meanings associated with them:
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[[Category:TCF440/540 Discussion]]
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*'''All groups:''' Define '''production culture'''. How is what Caldwell is advocating different from earlier television ethnographers like the CCCS group.
 
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*'''Group 4:''' Deep texts
 
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*'''Group 1:''' Emic interpretations
 
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*'''Group 2:''' Critical industrial geographies
 
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*'''Group 3:''' Liminal industrial rituals
 
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== Bibliography ==
 
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#Butler, Jeremy G. ''Television: Critical Methods and Applications''. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007.
 
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# Robert C. Allen, ''Channels of Discourse, Reassembled'', second edition (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992).
 
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==External links==
 
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*[http://www.tcf.ua.edu/tvcritgallery/main.php/v/chapter13/ Chapter 13 illustrations]
 
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[[Category:TCF311]]
 
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[[Category:TCF311 Discussion]]
 

Revision as of 14:31, 20 April 2009

Equivalent characters in the 1934 and 1959 versions of Imitation of Life

1934 1959
Bea Lora
Delilah Annie
Jessie Susie
Peola Sarah Jane
Steve Steve

Readings

"Three-Way Mirror: Imitation of Life"

Lucy Fischer sums the previous approaches to Imitation of Life and then addresses her own concerns about the film:

  1. "The question of women and work"
  2. "The issue of race"
  3. "The matter of star biography"

Discuss these "concerns":

  1. Group 2: According to Fischer, what "cliché" is there about women's employment in the decade 1948-58? Why is it untrue?
  2. Group 3: Often, films place women in the position of choosing between work outside the home and staying at home and nurturing children. How does Imitation of Life deal with this conflict—both in terms of Lora and Annie? Does Annie fit a "mammy" stereotype? According to Fischer what factors present domestic labor in a negative manner?
    • And how does the presentation of work vs. motherhood differ in the 1934 and 1959 versions?
  3. Group 4: It's not just work and motherhood that are inflected with issues surrounding race. Fischer also sees a connection between race and "performance," between race and imitations (plural) of life. What different forms of performance, of playing a role, are evident in Imitation of Life? Who performs and why?
    • How does changing the white mother from the "Pancake Queen" to a performer change the story's meaning?
  4. All Groups: We'll discuss Turner as a star more fully next week, but what themes (or polysemy) does Fischer say were associated both with Turner (embodied in the Johnny Stompanato scandal) and Turner's character in Imitation of Life?

"Distanciation and Douglas Sirk"

  1. Group 1: How does Sirk "intensify" elements of the melodrama genre?
  2. Willemen concludes that the "distanciation effect" can be "used to parody the stylistic procedures which traditionally convey an extremely smug, self-righteous and petit bourgeois world view paramount in the American melodrama."
    • Petit bourgeois (pronounced "petty boor-jwah") is a French word meaning, literally, the "small middle-class", but more generally referring to a conservative social class of shop keepers and professionals. Thus, a petit bourgeois worldview is one that is politically and morally conservative.
    • All Groups: How might Imitation of Life be seen to be an attack on conservative values of the 1950s? Do you think it succeeds at that?

Thinking further about remakes

  1. All Groups: There are many differences between the two versions of Imitation of Life. One subtle change is the endings. How does each film end? (Refer to frame grabs here.) How do the endings signify different resolutions of the black daughter plotline and the white mother-boyfriend-daughter plotline?
Final scene, 1934 version.
Final shot, 1934 version.


Final scene, 1959 version.
Final shot, 1959 version.


Bibliography

  1. Lucy Fischer, "Three-Way Mirror: Imitation of Life," Imitation of Life: Douglas Sirk, Director ed. Lucy Fischer (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press) 3-28.
  2. Paul Willemen, "Distanciation and Douglas Sirk," Imitation of Life: Douglas Sirk, Director, 268-272.
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