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What Promotional and Textual Discourses Are Constructed Over the Production Lifecycle of 'The L Word' and How Do Audiences R

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What Promotional and Textual Discourses Are Constructed Over the Production Lifecycle of 'The L Word' and How Do Audiences R What promotional and textual discourses are constructed over the production lifecycle of ‘The L Word’ and how do audiences respond to producer decisions within such discursive constructions? Faye Patricia Davies A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of Birmingham City University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Birmingham City University Faculty of Art, Design and Media February 2016 2 What promotional and textual discourses are constructed over the production lifecycle of ‘The L Word’ and how do audiences respond to producer decisions within such discursive constructions? Faye Patricia Davies A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of Birmingham City University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Birmingham City University Faculty of Art, Design and Media February 2016 Word Count: 83,420 3 ABSTRACT 4 The following research is concerned with an exploration of the discourses constructed about lesbian culture both within and surrounding the production and lifecycle of The L Word. The originality of the approach to and development of this thesis is anchored in a consideration of the show as a symbolic good (Garnham, 1999) which encapsulates not only the meanings inherent in the television text, as often focused upon in traditional Television Studies perspectives, but also producer focused branding and creative justification through promotional materials, and audiences sense making. This means that the thesis is the result of the intersection of a number of theoretical approaches to the study of television production as industrial practice, television as meaningful text, and also to audiences as readers. This thesis outlines that The L Word’s textual elements, promotional branding, and the audience response to this wide consideration of the television text altered significantly over six seasons. During this time the priorities of the producer altered from a focus on political representation and a communal sense of lesbian identity, to maintaining narratives and that would ensure appeal to a mainstream audience. This change in focus led to the fragmenting of lesbian subjectivities and formed an ideologically hegemonic lesbian culture within the text. This was further asserted through the othering of lesbian characters considered overtly sexualised, alongside identities of gender and sexuality that blurred the queer boundaries. The developing decoding and reactions of the lesbian audience further support the development of these hierarchies of discourse. Within this thesis it is also argued that the pleasures of the lesbian audience became problematic and their readings had to become increasingly negotiated for them to find enjoyment in the narratives and outcomes of The L Word. 5 DEDICATION 6 This work is dedicated to my parents who have always supported my decisions and direction in life, I cannot thank either of you enough for the love, approval, comfort, and encouragement unequivocally offered throughout my life, and especially at times of stress during this process. Thank you for keeping me going with the mantra that, ‘every word is one less’. You have both taught me that the best educators are not always found in classrooms or institutions, and that every instance of life is a learning curve 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 8 My first thanks must go to my PhD supervisory team for their support during the process. Particular thanks go to Professor John Mercer for his belief and help in developing and maintaining my motivation in completing this thesis. Thanks also go to Professor Tim Wall for his attention to detail and suggested development in the closing stages of this work. The suggestions were very much appreciated, as has been all the support given during the development of my academic career. Gratitude is also extended to Professor Philip Thickett and Professor Sue Heseltine for their understanding and efforts in supporting me in the process of completion. Many thanks also go to Siobhan Stevenson for the endless support via BBM, telephone, email, and in person. The encouragement and shared experience cannot be underestimated in terms of both comfort and being cathartic. Further thanks go to Inger-lise Bore, Matt Grimes, Nick Moreton, Caroline Officer and Nick Webber for developmental chats, cups of tea, general encouragement and reassurance about my sanity. Gratitude is also extended to Stephanie Hutton, Nicole Matthews and Sharon Wheeler in assisting with the proofreading of this work. Also, a note of thanks to Rebecca Beirne and Dana Heller who both edited the published versions of elements of the work also contained within this thesis. This work would not have been possible without the support of my parents, who have helped domestically and personally with managing the stress of completing a PhD whilst in full time employment. I will never forget this support. Finally, the completion of this work would have been impossible without the love and support of my partner Davina, and the long walks with Murphy where we could just talk about normality. Thank you so much for always being there and understanding the tiredness and frustration whilst always maintaining a belief I could achieve submission. 9 CONTENTS 10 Abstract: 4 Introduction: 13 Chapter One: Understanding Discourse and Power 37 Understanding discourse as a construction and communicative event 40 Power and impact on society 44 Applying ideas of discourse and ideological power to lesbian television 47 The L Word, Heteronormative discourse and the lesbian gaze 50 Chapter Two: Television Discourses – history, context and practice 56 Studying Institutionalised Television Production and Distribution 60 Challenges to US Network Television, the Birth of Narrowcasting and the Implications for Representations of Lesbian Life 63 New Television, Pluralism and Cultural Identity 70 Chapter Three: The development of gay, lesbian and queer politics 77 The Visibility and Representation of Gay and Lesbian Culture 81 Ideological Positioning, the Representation of Lesbians and the Rise of the ‘Queer’ 85 Problematising Lesbian Identity and Representation 92 Chapter Four: The Development of LGBT TV in the US and UK 96 Historical Contexts – Homosexuals on US TV 98 Television Representations of Lesbian Identity in late 20th Century US TV 102 Lesbian Depictions – the challenging nature of lesbian subjectivity 107 Chapter Five: Analysing the Pantextual Meaning of sexual identity in The L Word 114 Discourse as Method 116 Analysing Media Texts 120 Analysing the TV text 126 Analysing interviews, magazine articles and audience forums 131 Why the audience? 134 Considering the audience online 137 Chapter Six: By lesbians, for lesbians – seasons one and two of The L Word 144 Promotional discourses – visibility above all else 146 Chaiken and cast as part of the lesbian community 154 The imagined lesbian community 158 Early audience pleasures: textual uniqueness 162 Early audience pleasure: cultural citizenship 168 Early audience pleasures: personalisation 172 Textual discourse and lesbian subjectivity for lesbian audiences: liberation and community 174 Textual discourse and lesbian subjectivity for lesbian audiences: liberation and sexual practice 181 Chapter Seven: Heteronormativity and lesbian subjectivity 184 Sexual practice and performing gender 186 Symbolically feminine 188 The supremacy of gender 193 Unstable discourses – bisexuality 196 Accepting homosexuality 208 Transgenderism: humiliation, confusions and the construction of the ‘strange’ 211 Gendered identity 220 11 Chapter Eight: Mainstreaming, Commercialism and ‘The End’–seasons five and six 229 Narrative Fragmentation, identity and community 231 Infidelity, relationship breakdown and celibacy 233 Dystopia 237 The lesbian community as problematic 241 The End of The L Word: Fan Pleasure or Fan Pain? 245 Narrative closure and lesbian screen death 246 ‘Meaningful discourse’ and the ‘frameworks of knowledge’ 251 No longer one of us 257 Changing lesbian subjectivity: Mainstreaming and commercialism – Producer and Industry discourses 263 Appealing to both straight mainstream, and gay and lesbian audiences 269 Conclusion: 275 References: 291 Appendices: 309 Related Articles published during the development of this thesis: Davies, F. (2008) Paradigmatically Oppositional Representations: Gender and 310 Sexual Identity in The L Word In: Beirne, R. (ed.) Televising Queer Women. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Davies, F (2013) The end of 'The L Word': Fan pleasure or Fan pain?, In: Heller, D. 321 Loving The L Word, London: I.B. Tauris. 12 INTRODUCTION 13 The L Word was first broadcast in 2004 on the US based Showtime network and continued until 2009. Considered to be the first mainstream US drama that focused on the everyday lives of Los Angeles lesbians, Ilene Chaiken created the series and is a US based television writer and producer. After securing a pilot for the show, Chaiken recruited a writing team, a number of these writers were previously associated with New Queer Cinema and politicised film productions. This interesting confluence of screen production traditions makes a convincing argument for the analysis of such a show. Prior to The L Word most representation of lesbian life and culture had been limited to either art house based or politicised production cultures, the change in production direction engaging a mainstream audience in a narrowcast environment transformed the context of production and thus the potential discourses which are formed from such a text. The L Word is a significant aspect
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