THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA an Analysis of the Portrayal of Catholicism on Prime-Time Network Entertainment Television, 1
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA An Analysis of the Portrayal of Catholicism on Prime-Time Network Entertainment Television, 1950-1980 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of History School of Arts & Sciences Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Christopher Gildemeister Washington, D.C. 2014 An Analysis of the Portrayal of Catholicism on Prime-Time Network Entertainment Television, 1950-1980 Christopher Gildemeister, Ph.D. Director: Leslie W. Tentler, Ph.D. Representations in popular culture entertainment both reflect popular thought about various subjects, and simultaneously influence perceptions of those same subjects. This dissertation proposes a twofold thesis: firstly, that the representation of the Catholic priest in American popular culture – particularly film and prime-time broadcast network entertainment television – was shaped by various real-life individual priests; and secondly, that such representations fell into a number of identifiable and frequently repeated tropes, which themselves served to influence later representations. With the rise of mass popular culture in the 1920s (largely originated by the increasing influence of film and the rapid and widespread adoption of radio broadcasting), the image of the Catholic priest in America shifted from that of the effeminate, licentious, and sexually depraved predator which was widespread during the nation’s era of domination by traditionally anti- Catholic Protestants to that of the “heroic priest”: a tough, dynamic, manly individual dedicated to social reform, particularly involving battles against entrenched civic corruption and crime. The major model for the “heroic priest” was the famed “radio priest,” Father Charles Coughlin, who in the early years of his fame was a far more populist and reform-minded individual than he was to become subsequently.
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