Beyond Representation: Television Drama and the Politics and Aesthetics of Identity

221 Pages·2007·1.32 MB·English

by  Geraldine Harris

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Beyond representation
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Beyond representation
Television drama and the politics
and aesthetics of identity
GERALDINE HARRIS
Manchester University Press
Manchester and New York
distributed exclusively in the USAby Palgrave
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Copyright © Geraldine Harris 2006
The right of Geraldine Harris to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published byManchester University Press
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK
andRoom 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Distributed exclusively in the USA by
Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY 10010, USA
Distributed exclusively in Canada by
UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
ISBN 0 7190 7458 4 hardback
EAN 978 0 7190 7458 5
First published 2006
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Servis Filmsetting Limited, Manchester
Printed in Great Britain
by Biddles, King’s Lynn
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For Colin Knapp (who else?)
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: beyond the politics of identity? 1
1 Beyond realism? Modes of reading in Marxist-socialist
and post-Marxist-socialist television drama criticism 9
2 The end(s) of feminism(s)? From Madonnato Ally McBeal 34
3 Divided duties: diasporic subjectivities and ‘race relations’
dramas (Supply and Demand, The Bill, Second Generation) 66
4 The world of enterprise: myths of the global and global
myths (Star Trek) 99
5 Only human nature after all? Romantic attractions and
queer dilemmas (Queer as Folk) 138
Conclusion: beyond (simple) representation? Metrosexuality
and The Murder of Stephen Lawrence 169
References 191
Index 203
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Acknowledgements
This book was completed with the support of the Arts and
Humanities Research Board in the form of a research leave grant.
My gratitude is also due to Manchester University Press for their
patience and support. Similarly to my colleagues and ex-colleagues
in Theatre Studies at Lancaster University, Nigel Stewart, Kate
Newey, Gabriella Giannachi, Karen Juers-Mumby, Chris Roberts.
Special thanks to Dr Alice Booth for her help on the manuscript and
for intellectual crossfertilisation. Very special thanks to Elaine
Aston for Sea World, Dostoevsky’s hat and so much more, and to
Andrew Quick, who would like it to be known that the money he
owed me was a mere pittance and was repaid long ago, unlike my
greater, more abstract, debt to him. Thanks also to Mike Bowen,
Dave Blacow and Andy Sellars in the Lancaster University
Television Unit and to all the students over the years who have taken
the TV drama course. Finally thanks to colleagues in Cultural
Studies and Women’s Studies, and in particular to Sara Ahmed,
whose work so clearly inspires much of this book.