Audience Engagement with Mother-Daughter Relationships In
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Syracuse University SURFACE S.I. Newhouse School of Public Mass Communications - Dissertations Communications 2011 Audience Engagement with Mother-Daughter Relationships in Prime-Time Television of the 21st Century: A Qualitative Analysis of Interpretation, Sensemaking, and Perceived Effects Meghan L. O'Briend Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/com_etd Part of the Mass Communication Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation O'Briend, Meghan L., "Audience Engagement with Mother-Daughter Relationships in Prime-Time Television of the 21st Century: A Qualitative Analysis of Interpretation, Sensemaking, and Perceived Effects" (2011). Mass Communications - Dissertations. 82. https://surface.syr.edu/com_etd/82 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mass Communications - Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This qualitative analysis examines audience engagement with fictional portrayals of mother-daughter relationships in prime-time television of the 21st century. I used in- depth interviews with women of different backgrounds to explore how real mothers and daughters interpret portrayals of mother-daughter relationships on television; how they make sense of their own mother-daughter relationships through their engagement with these portrayals; and how and to what extent their engagement with these portrayals influences their own lives and mother-daughter relationships. The results of this study uncovered a process of audience engagement with mother-daughter relationships on television that involved the viewing experience, interpretation, sensemaking, and perceived effects on the participants' real lives and relationships. Throughout this process, female viewers of various backgrounds tended to evaluate the mother-daughter relationships on television using their own relationships as a standard; evaluate their own relationships using the TV relationships as a standard; and ultimately validate the value of their own mother-daughter relationships. As a fourth step in the process, those viewers who were most involved with and identified most strongly with the TV characters also acknowledged effects that their engagement with the shows has had on their lives and relationships. This study demonstrates the importance of studying women's engagement with mother-daughter relationships in media texts and further develops the literature on mother-daughter relationships in fields such as psychology, sociology, women's studies and family studies by bringing popular culture into the discussion. AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT WITH MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS IN PRIME-TIME TELEVISION OF THE 21ST CENTURY: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERPRETATION, SENSEMAKING, AND PERCEIVED EFFECTS By Meghan L. O‘Brien B.A., University of Scranton, 2003 M.A., Syracuse University, 2006 Ph.D. Candidate, Syracuse University, 2011 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mass Communications in the Graduate School of Syracuse University May 2011 Copyright 2011 Meghan O‘Brien All rights reserved. Mother-Daughter Relationships on Television, iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………….……………….1 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE…………………………………………….9 Cultural Studies, Gender/Motherhood, and Television..………………………....9 Constructing Race and Class on Television…………….……………………….20 Constructing Race…………………………………………….................21 Constructing Class……………………………………………................26 Television and the Family……………………………………………………….29 CHAPTER 3: MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS.………………….............34 Feminist versus Gender Studies Approaches to Studying Mother-Daughter Relationships…………………………………………………………….40 CHAPTER 4: METHOD AND PROCEDURES..……………………………………...44 Method………..………………………………………………………................44 Theoretical Frameworks: Cultural Studies and Feminism……………....45 Interviews……………………………………………………………….48 Procedures……………………………………………………………………....50 Sampling…………………………………………………………...........50 Data Collection and Analysis…………………………………...............52 Methodological Considerations………………………………................54 CHAPTER 5: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS.…………............58 Mother-Daughter Relationships on Television, v TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) CHAPTER 6: HOW MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS INTERPRET PORTRAYALS OF MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS ON TELEVISION………………………………………………………73 Criticizing the Televised Relationships………………………………………….74 ―Emily Gilmore is a perfect example of a bad mother‖…………………74 ―A mother should not try to be her daughter‘s best friend‖……………..77 ―Mothers should not be too controlling or restrictive‖…………………..82 ―Mothers should care enough to be present in their daughters‘ lives‖…..85 ―I don‘t want a mother-daughter relationship like theirs‖……………….86 ―Television focuses too much on the negative aspects of mother-daughter relationships‖………………………………….88 Admiring/Idolizing the Televised Relationships………………………………...90 Lorelai and Rory Gilmore exemplify a strong mother-daughter relationship……………………………………………………....90 Praise for the ―Villains‖: Ellis Grey, Emily Gilmore, and Janine Payne……………………………………………………..93 Mothers sympathizing with mothers………………………………….....95 Praise for the television shows and the construction of mother-daughter relationships…………………………………..96 Identifying Relationships and Storylines in the Shows as Realistic or Unrealistic………………………………………………….97 Mother-Daughter Relationships on Television, vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) CHAPTER 7: HOW WOMEN MAKE SENSE OF THEIR OWN MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH THEIR ENGAGEMENT WITH TELEVISION SHOWS…………..................104 Defining Connections…………………………………………………………..104 Characterizing Positive Connections…………………………………...105 Characterizing Negative Connections……………………………….....109 Deeper Connections: Relating Directly to Characters……………….....111 Defining Distinctions…………………………………………………………...116 Class Differences……………………………………………………….117 Racial & Cultural Differences………………………………………….122 Differences in Family Structure………………………………………..128 Mothers‘ and Daughters‘ Roles in Each Others‘ Lives………………...129 Mother-Daughter Communication and Affection……………………...135 CHAPTER 8: FICTIONAL PORTRAYALS SHAPING REAL RELATIONSHIPS…140 Cultivating Communication…………………………………………………….141 Mother-Daughter Television Shows as Integrated and Shared Life Experiences………………………………………………………..144 Modeling TV Characters and Relationships…………………………................145 Appreciating Real Mother-Daughter Relationships……………………………149 Seeking Something Different…………………………………………………..151 ―No Influence on Me‖…………………………………………………………..155 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...158 Mother-Daughter Relationships on Television, vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION………………………………………………..............159 Filling Gaps in the Literature…………………………………………………..166 Theoretical Implications………………………………………………………..167 Model of Audience Engagement with TV Relationships……………………....169 Strengths, Limitations, and Suggestions for Future Research………………….176 APPENDIX A………………………………………………………………………….182 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………....183 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………199 Mother-Daughter Relationships on Television, 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In a 2006 episode of Grey‟s Anatomy, Meredith Grey, a white, upper-middle class, twenty-something surgical intern, stares apprehensively at her friend Cristina Yang, a Korean-American surgical intern also from an upper middle class background, and asks with fear in her eyes: ―Do you think we‘re like them? Our mothers?‖ Cristina says nothing, but stares back at Meredith with a look of disgust. Meredith and Cristina, two lead characters in this ABC show about the professional and personal struggles of a group of surgical interns at Seattle Grace Hospital, come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, but their mothers could not be more different from one another—one a prominent surgeon and workaholic and the other a wealthy homemaker who identifies herself as the wife of a well-known oral surgeon. What Meredith and Cristina share in common, however, is a constant fear of becoming their mothers and a determination to avoid doing so. Research has shown that mother-daughter relationships play a significant role in shaping the lives of both mothers and daughters (Flynn & Fitzgibbon, 1996; Joseph, 1981; Lesch & Kruger, 2005). Studies in the fields of sociology, psychology, and women‘s studies in particular have demonstrated that mothers influence their daughters‘ gender identities (Arcana, 1979; Dias & Lopes, 2003; Fischer, 1981); understandings of sexuality (Lesch & Kruger; Remez, 2003); body image (Flynn & Fitzgibbon, 1996), self- esteem (Turnage, 2004); and career aspirations (Lerner, 1994). Adult daughters and their mothers also mutually shape one another‘s understandings of romantic relationships (Fischer, 1986), motherhood (Dias & Lopes, 2003); careers (Foster, 2004); academic Mother-Daughter Relationships on Television, 2 achievement (Foster, 2004); and gender identity (Fischer, 1981; Suitor & Pillemer, 2006). Studies have also shown that race and social class play an important role in shaping mother-daughter relationships (Gottfried, 1991; Joseph, 1981; Pluhar & Kuriloff, 2004; Rastogi & Wampler, 1999). The role of this relationship in women‘s