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Wit and Social Critique in the Television Series Boston Legal

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Wit and Social Critique in the Television Series Boston Legal Lock and Load! Wit and Social Critique in the Television Series Boston Legal Diplomarbeit Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Christine BAUER am Institut für Amerikanistik Begutachter: Ao. Univ.- Prof. Mag. Dr. phil. Klaus Rieser Graz, 2014 Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3 2. Theoretical Part ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.1 TV Style ............................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Genre or How to Label Things ............................................................................................ 6 2.2.1 TV Genre...................................................................................................................... 8 3. Form and Authenticity ........................................................................................................... 10 4. Character Realization ............................................................................................................. 13 4.1 Stereotyping ..................................................................................................................... 15 4.2 Dialogue ........................................................................................................................... 17 5. Representation and Identity .................................................................................................. 19 5.1 Satirical Representation ................................................................................................... 20 6. Television and Ideology .......................................................................................................... 21 6.1 Postmodernism ................................................................................................................ 26 6.1.1 The Modern and the Postmodern: Contrasting Tendencies ..................................... 27 6.2 Postmodern Television Drama ......................................................................................... 29 7. Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 31 7.1 At First Sight: The Style of Boston Legal ........................................................................... 31 7.2 In Touch with Reality: True-to-Life Issues in BL ............................................................... 34 7.3 Getting to Know Each Other: Selected Characters .......................................................... 37 7.3.1 Denny Crane .............................................................................................................. 38 7.3.2 Alan Shore ................................................................................................................. 43 7.3.3 Shirley Schmidt .......................................................................................................... 46 7.4 An Unexpected Example of Stereotyping in BL: Brad Chase ........................................... 48 7.5 Challenging Identity Categories ....................................................................................... 51 7.5.1 Soulsister ................................................................................................................... 52 7.5.2 Mighty Dwarf ............................................................................................................ 52 7.6 A Case of Capital Punishment in the Episode “The Court Supreme“ ............................... 53 7.6.1 Alan´s argumentation at the United States Supreme Court ..................................... 55 7.7. Not just a Case of Tax Evasion......................................................................................... 58 7.8 Ideology and Boston Legal ............................................................................................... 60 2 7.8.1 Postmodern Ideas in Boston Legal ............................................................................ 62 7.9 Dialogue ........................................................................................................................... 63 8. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 64 9. Works Cited ............................................................................................................................ 66 9.1 Primary Sources ............................................................................................................... 66 9.2 Secondary Sources ........................................................................................................... 66 9.3 Web Publications .................................................................................................................. 67 1. Introduction Television can be considered a “medium under transition” (11) as Jason Mittell put it in 2008, as “digital media have grown in importance, the role of television is challenged by…the Internet and video games”. This is why television programs must attract attention. Apart from scheduling 1 there is the tradition of “series running in seasons from fall to spring” (27). Additionaly, television series will always sell as a digital medium, either on dvd or via streaming. As a consequence American TV series are part of mass culture and as such are outpoured over the whole globe. American politics are also of concern to the world as its decisions often have global consequences. The following thesis analyzes the television series Boston Legal created by the American screen writer David E. Kelley. It aired in five seasons between 2004 and 2008 and was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC. The courtroom drama offers explicit social and political commentary combined with witty dialogues. Mittell states that ‘most programs are just designed to entertain and distract an audience, and analyzing their meaning as shaping American culture and forging national identity might appear to overstate television´s importance’(288). TV-series must usually follow certain conventions because they aim at distracting the viewers from reality and thus the issues treated are escapist and distorted. Mittell also refers to what some critics consider the ‘cultural forum model’, suggesting that ‘television programs seek to reach the broadest possible audiences...it must grapple with significant social and cultural issues relevant to many viewers’(284). So the cultural forum model opposes the meaning of ideological critics that ’television 1 The term refers to the networks´practices to offer daytime, late-night and prime time programs. 3 presents a consistent and uncontested vision of the world, reproducing the interests of the ruling class and the corporate television industry”(283). Moreover, Mittell explains that ’the forum of television is a place where the ideals and opinions of the viewers are represented in the culture” (284), with representation, in America´s democratic system, meaning to participate in political life (cf.284). Chapter one and two of this thesis deal with film theory and thus will provide some insight into theories about style and genre, form and authenticity. Character realization including some remarks on stereotyping are exposed in chapter four, whereas theories concerning representation and identity follow in chapter five. The theoretical part of this thesis concludes with chapter six dealing with television and ideology. 2. Theoretical Part 2.1 TV Style Everybody likes to talk about style. Especially viewers of new and trendy TV series do not merely adore the screenplay or the actors, in most series from the beginning of the 2000s onwards it’s more than ever a certain distinctive style that shoots a TV series to fame. Interestingly, during this time period, some changes were occurring. A crop of new TV series exhibited certain key stylistic elements. Style became the buzz-word on every discussion about tonight´s TV program. Forensic scientists, housewives and medical doctors entered our living room, but the hype was less about that they entered but how, or as James Monaco put it, referring to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation:” It´s less about logic than the visual ride: constant flashbacks, real or not; heavy pop soundtracks; lots of color washes – green, red, gold; slomo and quick cuts; lots of flash wipes; constant soundtrack wooshes; switch, switch , switch in the plotline”. (Monaco 2010:556) It is necessary to amend the conventional understanding of what style is by adding elements that can be analyzed. Television scholar Jason Mittell talks about five main stylistic techniques- staging, camerawork, editing, sound, and graphics, but focuses on “staging” as the most important facet of television style: Staging conveys information about the show´s setting and tone. Sets, props, and costumes are carefully designed to provide visual markers about the characters and how they live…television series typically design sets that might last throughout a multi-year series…the
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