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.