Gender, Race and Popular Culture a Dissertation Submitted In
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Feminism Without Feminists: Gender, Race and Popular Culture A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Linda Jin Kim August 2010 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Toby Miller, Co-Chairperson Dr. Ellen Reese, Co-Chairperson Dr. Scott Coltrane Dr. Scott Brooks Copyright by Linda Jin Kim 2010 The Dissertation of Linda Jin Kim is approved: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Committee Co-Chairperson _____________________________________________________ Committee Co-Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This dissertation has truly been a labor of love. I am blessed to have amazing faculty whom I admire and respect on my committee. My mentor, Toby Miller, has been with me since the inception of this project and has never failed in challenging me to expand my intellectual horizons and to sharpen my critical thinking skills. Ellen Reese, Scott Coltrane, and Scott Brooks have equally been significant figures throughout the various phases of my academic career. I would be remiss not to mention Karen Pyke and Jane Ward. Collectively, they have offered me invaluable wisdom, advice, and encouragement. I also wish to express gratitude to my meticulous research assistants, Allie Green, Alan Truong, and Angela Wagner, for transcribing the bulk of my interviews. In addition, I clocked in a lot of hours at my two local coffee shops on Ocean Park Boulevard and on Colorado Avenue (“my virtual mobile offices”). I have probably spent more face time with the baristas there than anyone else while I have been dissertating. I thank all of them, especially Alex, Bastian, and Steven. No matter how stressed I am, they always manage to put a smile on my face---no easy task. Kevin Groark has been an awesome friend and neighbor. I am indebted to the Sex and the City fans that volunteered their time to share their insights with me. They are the heart of this project. Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to all my girlfriends. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Feminism Without Feminists: Gender, Race and Popular Culture by Linda Jin Kim Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Sociology University of California, Riverside, August 2010 Dr. Toby Miller, Chairperson Dr. Ellen Reese, Chairperson This dissertation combines insights from feminist and critical race theory to understand the social significance of Sex and the City (SATC) and its popularity among U.S. fans. I argue that popular consumption of SATC helps to illuminate current discourses and controversies surrounding changing gender roles and feminism in contemporary society. It also explores how responses to the series and film are shaped by fans’ gender, race, and sexual orientation. My research is based on 42 in-depth interviews with fans, Internet film reviews and discussions about the series, and participant observations of film screenings in the Los Angeles area and a SATC bus tour. The data reveals that Internet discourses were often gendered, and themes related to misogyny and homophobia were central to these public discourses. Men were often disgusted or felt threatened by the series’ popularity. On the other hand, the largely female fan base delighted in the representations of female economic and sexual liberation, although they often did not identify as feminists. Based on my interviews with fans, significant racial differences in meaning productions emerged. White women were more likely to relate to all of the characters, but women of color often identified with the relatively sexually conservative characters v because their “values” were more consistent with their upbringing, especially among immigrants. Lastly, although several of my heterosexual viewers found the stereotypes of LGBT characters problematic, the queer fans I interviewed felt it was a fair representation of their community, and certainly more realistic than the way gays are typically portrayed in mainstream media. vi Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Sociology of Sex and the City…………………. 6 Prior Research on SATC…………………………………. 7 Audiences…………………………………………............ 14 Fans…………………………………………..................... 19 Feminist and Critical Race Theories of Popular Culture…. 23 Research Design and Methods………………………….… 28 Chapter 2: Gendered Discourse……………....…………….….. 32 Internet Research………………………………………….. 34 Methods…………………………………………………… 36 Film Reviews……………………………………………… 37 Rants and Raves.………………………………………….. 39 Sex(ism) and the City……………………………………… 53 Concluding Remarks…………………………………….… 65 Chapter 3: Sex Appeal……………………………........................ 67 Big Fans!…………………………………………………… 68 Girl-Bonding.......................................................................... 70 The Reunion………………………………………………… 72 Men and the Movie…………………………………………. 75 vii Friendship, Queering the Family…………………………… 76 Sex and Subjectivity………………………………………… 78 Feminist Archetypes………………………………………… 83 Masculinities…………………………………….………….. 89 Queer Representations…………………………….………… 94 Consumerist Fantasies………………………………………. 96 Concluding Remarks………………………………………… 98 Chapter 4: “Seeing” Race.……………………….………….……. 101 Sample………………………………………………………. 102 Racial Identification and Feminist Archetypes.………….…. 104 Recalling Race…………………………………………..….. 107 Dreamgirls to Girl Friday…………………………………… 113 “The Hot Black Boyfriend”………………………………… 115 “The Obnoxious Black Woman”………………..………….. 119 Concluding Remarks…………………………..…………… 122 Conclusion…………………………………………………………. 125 References………………………………………………...… 138 Appendix A………………………………………………………… 151 Appendix B………………………………………………………… 152 viii Introduction Sex and the City (SATC) evolved from modest roots as a small lifestyle column in the New York Observer chronicling the personal lives of freelance writer, Candace Bushnell, and her friends in Manhattan. A collection of Bushnell’s newspaper columns was published into an anthology before making its appearance as the raw material in the first season of SATC on Home Box Office (HBO). The creator, Darren Star, envisioned a true adult comedy (with film-like features) where the sex would not be reduced to the innuendo-like adolescent sexuality epitomized in broadcast television, but without showing a lot of nudity. Sexual discourse, not intercourse, would characterize this show. Star remarked, “You can look at the Playboy Channel anytime and see all the sex you want” (Sohn 2004:36). Ninety-four episodes aired over a period of six years (June 6, 1998-February 22, 2004). The show averaged 6.1 million viewers, and attracted 10.6 million viewers for their series finale (Broadcasting and Cable 2004). Time named it one of the “100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME” (Poniewozik 2007). Perhaps, the ultimate stamp of approval was its three-year Golden Globe wins and an Emmy award for Best Comedy Series (2000-2002); it was the first time a cable series beat the broadcast networks in that category. The New York Times called the show “a sociological event” (Smith 2004). Since the series finale, the show has garnered further popularity in syndication, on stations such as TBS and WGN, as well as other local channels and internationally. The reported asking price for each episode was $3 million for broadcast and $750,000 for basic cable (Albiniak 2003; Broadcasting & Cable 2001). For TBS, the series has helped reduce the median age of their viewers. Each episode has averaged 1.7 1 million viewers, 1.2 million of them between the ages of 18-49 (Hibberd 2006). These versions, however, did not air in its original commercial-free form and have been edited for sexual content and language. In 2008, SATC became a blockbuster hit in theaters worldwide, and the film sequel came out in 2010. Bus tours in Manhattan have capitalized on the success of the series offering tours to over 40 locations visited by these fictional characters; these 3-1/2 hour tours are offered in English and in German. When I took the tour in 2009, I noticed most of the tourists were groups of women (mostly white), although a few men accompanied women on the tour. One young New Yorker informed me that she takes all her out-of-town female guests on this bus tour because they all seem to enjoy it. I spoke to one couple outside of Magnolia Bakery, one of the stops, in Sarah Jessica Parker’s West Village neighborhood. This newlywed couple from Ireland was in New York City that week enjoying their honeymoon. Whether a person watches (or likes) the show or not, its socio-cultural impact is hard to deny. Star knew that the series became relevant when he overheard people discussing the “Rabbit” episode while walking his dog up Runyon Canyon in Los Angeles (Sohn 2004:36). Woven into American popular culture, as evidenced by its global ubiquity and widespread appeal, an intellectual examination of SATC is warranted to better understand its popularity and engagement with feminist ideology and practice. Feminist Sitcoms SATC is not the first American sitcom to engage with feminist narratives. The 1970s served as a critical juncture in television history as a larger proportion of women joined the workforce (D’Acci 1994; Dow 1996; Rabinovitz 1999). The commercially- 2 conscious representation of the feminist-inspired woman, or the “new woman,” in U.S. television occurred at the height of the feminist movement. Positive images of