Masculinity in American Television from Carter to Clinton Bridget Kies University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2018 Masculinity in American Television from Carter to Clinton Bridget Kies University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Kies, Bridget, "Masculinity in American Television from Carter to Clinton" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 1844. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1844 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MASCULINITY IN AMERICAN TELEVISION FROM CARTER TO CLINTON by Bridget Kies A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee May 2018 ABSTRACT MASCULINITY IN AMERICAN TELEVISION FROM CARTER TO CLINTON by Bridget Kies The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, 2018 Under the Supervision of Professor Tasha Oren This dissertation examines American television during a period I call the long 1980s. I argue that during this period, television became invested in new and provocative images of masculinity on screen and in networks’ attempts to court audiences of men. I have demarcated the beginning and ending of the long 1980s with the declaration of Jimmy Carter as Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1977 and Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. This also correlates with important shifts in the television industry, such as the formation of ESP-TV (later ESPN) in 1979 and the end of Johnny Carson’s tenure as host of The Tonight Show on NBC in 1992. During this period, seemingly dichotomous images of masculinity were present in American politics and culture: the “new man” embodied by Jimmy Carter, who is sympathetic and supportive of the women’s movement, and the cowboy ethos embodied by Ronald Reagan, which favors a more traditionally patriarchal social order. On television, these dueling masculinities were depicted in sitcoms, dramas, late-night comedy shows, and sports programming. Although much of 1980s television scholarship has unearthed network and programming strategies that favored women as audiences, I demonstrate how the formation of niche cable networks and changes to traditional television genres like the action series ii aggressively targeted male audiences. Masculinity on television in the long 1980s was therefore not limited to changes in representations on screen but extended to technological and industrial concerns as well. By the end of the long 1980s, these developments had the effect of increasing possibilities for queer viewing practices. As television is an intrinsically domestic medium, this also meant a challenge to expectations for American masculinities. The connection between domesticity and masculinity encouraged more flexible identities at time when gender roles in American culture were swiftly changing. Through industrial practices, representations of “new men” on screen, genre shifts, and home viewing technologies, television in the 1980s became masculinized, but that masculinization was a move away from an aggressive patriarchy and toward a queer domesticity. iii © Copyright by Bridget Kies, 2018 All Rights Reserved iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. Introduction: Television and Icons of Masculinity in the Long 1980s .............................. 1 Technological, Industrial, and Audience Changes ................................................... 5 The American President as a Symbol of Masculinity ............................................... 8 The New Man and the Cowboy in Popular Culture ................................................ 17 Changing Masculinities on Television.................................................................... 22 II. Pitying Fools: Gender and Genre in 1980s Drama Series ............................................... 29 Serialized Storytelling on Primetime ...................................................................... 32 Combining Melodrama and Masculinity: Parodies in the Long 1980s .................. 38 Primetime Serials: Women’s Stories in Men’s Worlds .......................................... 44 Action, Adventure, and Emotions: Men’s Genres .................................................. 49 Heroes with Hearts and Brains: Casting and Character Development ................... 50 The “Cumulative Narrative” and Men’s Evolution ................................................ 60 Men’s Bodies: Subverting the Jiggle Era on Primetime ......................................... 69 Cooperation, Not Competition: Positioning the New Hero .................................... 75 Money, Class, and Masculinity ............................................................................... 80 Conclusion: New Directions for Gender and Genre ............................................... 85 III. Television’s “Mr. Moms”: Idealizing the New Man in 1980s Domestic Sitcoms .......... 95 Sitcoms and Evolving Images of Family 100 Participant Fathers: At the Center of the Family Circle ....................................... 110 Domestic Dads: Masculinizing Domestic Labor or Feminizing Men? ................ 120 Lead Dads and Helper Dads: Manning the Alternative Family ............................ 134 “A New Boy in the Neighborhood Lives Downstairs”: Sitcom Sets and Physical Proximity as Indications of Familial Intimacy...................................................... 145 Conclusion: The New Family Values ................................................................... 148 IV. “Girlie Men”: Late-Night Comedy, Gender, and Humor Across Ideological Lines ..... 158 Competing with Carson ........................................................................................ 162 Cautionary Tales of Women in Comedy .............................................................. 171 “If I get drafted, who’s going to be the token black on Saturday Night Live?”.... 178 “Girlie Man”: Challenging Masculinities through Virtuosic Performances ......... 189 Cross-Media Strategies: Growing the Late-Night Audience ............................... 200 Conclusion: Late-Night Clashes with Politics ...................................................... 206 V. “For Men Only”: Sports, Video, and Private Viewing .................................................. 218 The VCR and VHS: Television When You Want It ............................................. 222 v From “Porno Chic” in Public to Private Home Video .......................................... 230 Sports, Liveness, and Access ................................................................................ 238 Conclusion: Sports and Video as the Embodiment of Americanism .................... 249 VI. Conclusion: The End of the Long 1980s?...................................................................... 264 Trump TV: The Performativity and Fragility of Masculinity ............................... 269 Reviving and Rebooting the Long 1980s.............................................................. 272 Fuller House: A Case Study in Nostalgia for the Long 1980s ............................. 274 Conclusion: The Legacy of the Long 1980s ......................................................... 277 VII. References ...................................................................................................................... 281 VIII. Appendix: List of Films and Television Series.............................................................. 305 IX. Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................... 312 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Reagan’s 1984 “Morning in America” campaign ad ............................................................ 3 1.2 Jimmy Carter as Time’s 1977 Man of the Year .................................................................. 10 1.3 Burt Reynolds in Cosmopolitan, 1972 ................................................................................ 20 1.4 Arnold Schwarznegger in Cosmopolitan, 1977 .................................................................. 21 2.1 Peter Campbell (Robert Urich) is seen in a post-coital nap. ............................................... 42 2.2 Cover of Soap Opera Digest, February 1978 ..................................................................... 52 2.3 Opening credits to Mr. T, the animated series .................................................................... 59 3.1 Jack (Michael Keaton) and his son are terrorized by the vacuum in Mr. Mom .................. 96 3.2 Opening credits to Who’s the Boss ..................................................................................... 99 3.3 Fall 1987 primetime schedule ..........................................................................................