RTF 386C: Race, Class, Gender and U.S. Television Cross-listed with AMS 391 and WGS 393 Fall 2020 - Online

Meets Thursdays, 12:30-3pm (with an intermission midway) on Zoom

Professor Mary Beltrán, [email protected] Office hours: 9:30-10:30am Tuesdays and 1-3pm Wednesdays via Zoom. Appointments can be scheduled at https://calendly.com/mary-beltran; please email for other meeting times. Virtual Meeting Space: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94596164570 Email: [email protected]

Course description:

Television is one of the primary popular culture forums through which notions of race, ethnicity, citizenship, class, gender, and sexuality have been presented, validated, and challenged in the United States; this seminar explores the poetics and politics of this evolution. In addition to study of how racial and ethnic groups, and also of how gender, sexual orientation and class have been constructed in U.S. narrative television since its inception and how various groups have participated in the production of television texts throughout these decades, we will survey the seminal scholarship on these topics and areas of theoretical and popular contention. Key areas of focus will include the evolution of popular genres such as sitcoms, debates over equitable representation and over the possibilities for television to serve as a public forum for all, negotiations over self-representation and television authorship, feminist and anti-racist content, and televisual representation in the previous, so-called “post-“ era, and the current “peak TV” era. Although a variety of media studies approaches are taken up in the readings, critical and cultural studies scholarship will be emphasized. Weekly screenings will provide key texts that we will analyze in our discussions.

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Required Texts Christine Acham, Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for Blackness, 2nd edition Victoria Johnson, Heartland TV: Prime Time Television and the Struggle for U.S. Identity Chon Noriega, Shot In America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema

These books are available for purchase from the University Co-op, 2246 Guadalupe, or from other outlets. Electronic copies of the Acham, Johnson, and Noriega books are accessible through the UT libraries. However, I strongly suggest that you get your own copies so that you can mark them up as you read.

All other readings will be posted in PDF format to the Canvas course site. Please print out copies in order to be able to highlight and jot down notes as you read, or use software on your computer that allows you to do so, and always have these copies with you when we meet.

Format: As a synchronous, fully online course, all activity is linked to our course Canvas site. We’ll meet using Zoom; the screenings and readings will be housed in Modules. We will meet Thursday afternoons during our scheduled class time. We will not meet during the screening time.

Assignments: Participation 35% Co-presentation on class readings 15% Research paper proposal 5% Research paper draft 10% Presentation on research paper 5% Revised research paper 30%

Presentation/Discussion facilitation: You will help facilitate our discussions once during the semester. Such presentations should include a concise summary of the author’s main questions and points (think bullet points rather than a full summary, as your summary is not meant to excuse the rest of the class from reading), and discussion questions to help the class engage with the reading. You are encouraged to prepare and share additional materials (e.g., relevant clips from television series being addressed) that might be helpful in illuminating the week’s topic. Please be sure to check in with me in the week prior to determine in collaboration with me which readings you will be covering in class.

Research Project/Paper: This should be a 15-20 page research paper (shorter than a typical seminar paper), including notes and bibliography, that conforms to the standards of publishable academic work. Papers can be written on any topic relevant to race, class, gender and/or sexuality and U.S. television history and should engage with some of the theoretical issues we address in class. Please use MLA, Chicago or APA citation format consistently throughout your paper and in your endnotes and bibliography. Guidelines regarding proposals and bibliographies and regarding research and the writing of the paper itself will be passed out early in the semester. I encourage you to meet with me to talk about your topic and your research as much as will be helpful to you throughout the semester.

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Research project deadlines:

Ø Meet briefly with Mary about paper proposal: Prior to October 8 Ø Paper proposal: October 8 Ø Paper draft: Nov. 12 Ø Presentations: Dec. 3 Ø Final paper: Early in Finals Week, Date TBA

Class Policies

Class participation: Please plan to complete the assigned readings and watch screenings prior to class. As many of the class texts are theoretically sophisticated, you should allow enough time for close reading and analysis. You are encouraged to mark up your readings and develop questions for class discussion. The class is conducted as a seminar, with discussions both in the large group and in smaller break-out sessions with your peers; students are expected to participate actively and regularly by expressing your opinions and raising provocative questions about the course material. In turn, students are expected to be respectful of and open to others’ opinions and questions.

Please be professional and refrain from using your computer for anything else during class.

Academic Integrity. Each student is expected to abide by the University of Texas Honor Code: “As a student of The University of Texas at Austin, I shall abide by the core values of the University and uphold academic integrity.” Plagiarism is taken very seriously at UT. Therefore, if you use words or ideas that are not your own (or that you have used in previous class), you must cite your sources. Otherwise you will be guilty of plagiarism and subject to academic disciplinary action, including failure of the course. You are responsible for understanding UT’s Academic Honesty and the University Honor Code: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php.

Access and Accommodations: Your experience in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Texas at Austin to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. Please let me know early in the semester and provide a copy of your SSD accommodation letter if you have a learning difference and need accommodation to engage with the online components of this class. For more information, contact the Division for Diversity and Community Engagement, Students for Services with Disabilities, 512-471-6259, www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd.

Inclusion: Consideration for each other is very important in this classroom. This includes being respectful of diversity of all kinds: race, ethnicity, sex and gender, sexual orientation, ability/disability, among others. The diversities that each of us bring to the classroom allow us to be exposed to other points of view. Please show consideration for each other, and be open to listening to new perspectives and ideas. If you have any concerns about any of these issues within this class, please let me know as soon as possible. Conversations will remain confidential unless you request otherwise. Alternatively, students seeking support around these issues can find more information and resources at https://www.utexas.edu/about/diversity.

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Personal Pronoun Preference. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender, gender variance, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to me with your legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by a name that is different from what appears on the official roster, and by the gender pronouns you use (she/he/they/ze, etc). Please advise me of this preference early in the semester.

RESOURCES

Please contact me if you ever have questions or concerns about any of the following: • Stable access to a computer and wifi • Food or housing insecurity • Any other complication that is impeding your participation in the class that you feel comfortable sharing.

Counseling Support:

Taking care of your general well-being is an important step in being a successful student. If life circumstances, stress, feeling unmotivated or anything else is getting in your way, there are options available for support.

For immediate mental health support: • Visit/Call the Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) M-F 8-5p | SSB, 5th floor | 512-471-3515 |cmhc.utexas.edu • CMHC Crisis Line: 24/7 | 512.471.2255 |cmhc.utexas.edu/24hourcounseling.html • CARE Counselor in the Moody College of Communication is: Abby Simpson, LCSW M-F 8-5p | CMA 4.134 | 512-471-7642 (Please *leave a message* if she is unavailable)

FREE Services at CMHC: • Brief assessments and referral services • Mental health & wellness articles -cmhc.utexas.edu/commonconcerns.html • MindBody Lab - cmhc.utexas.edu/mindbodylab.html • Classes, workshops, & groups -cmhc.utexas.edu/groups.html

Title IX Reporting. Title IX is a federal law that protects against sex and gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual misconduct, dating/domestic violence and stalking at federally funded educational institutions. UT Austin is committed to fostering a learning and working environment free from discrimination in all its forms. When sexual misconduct occurs in our community, the university can:

1. Intervene to prevent harmful behavior from continuing or escalating. 2. Provide support and remedies to students and employees who have experienced harm or have become involved in a Title IX investigation. 3. Investigate and discipline violations of the university’s relevant policies.

Faculty members and certain staff members are considered “Responsible Employees” or “Mandatory Reporters,” which means that they are required to report violations of Title IX to the Title IX Coordinator. I am a Responsible Employee and must report any Title IX related incidents 5 that are disclosed in writing, discussion, or one-on-one. Before talking with me, or with any faculty or staff member about a Title IX related incident, be sure to ask whether they are a responsible employee. If you want to speak with someone for support or remedies without making an official report to the university, email [email protected]. For more information about reporting options and resources, visit the Title IX Office website or contact them by email at [email protected].

Semester Schedule

Week 1 / Aug. 27: Introduction to the Course

Read before our first meeting: Kate L. Flach, “Television is already moving to address racism: But will the effort last?” Jessica Wolf, “2020 Hollywood Diversity Report: A Different Story Behind the Scenes” Tracy E. Gilchrist and Daniel Reynolds, “The 20 Most Important LGBTQ TV Shows of the Decade” Aama Mohdin, “TV demonizes the working class. Two new shows finally celebrate them”

Week 2 / Sept. 3: Studying Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality and Television: Foundations

No screening this week

Reading: Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “The Theory of Racial Formation” Mary Beltrán, “Representation” Sasha Torres, “Television and Race” Lynn Spigel, “Theorizing the Bachelorette: Waves of Feminist Media Studies” Julia Himberg, “Introduction: The New Gay for Pay”

Week 3 / Sept. 10: Television’s Inheritance of “American” Ideals

Watch: Texaco Star Theater (NBC, 3/22/49 – first 30 min.), Jack Benny Show “How Jack Found Mary” (CBS, 1952), Amos ‘n’ Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy (1983, d. Stanley Sheff, sc/p Bob Greenberg)

Readings: Richard Dyer, Chapter 1, White Michele Hilmes, “Who We Are, Who We Are Not: The Emergence of National Narratives” Michele Hilmes, “Desired and Feared: Women’s Voices in Radio History” Lynn Spigel, Ch. 2 “Television in the Family Circle,” Make Room for TV Susan Murray, “Ethnic Masculinity and Early Television’s Vaudeo Star”

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Week 4 / Sept. 17: Ethnicity, Suburbanization, and 50s-60s TV Families

Watch: The Goldbergs, “Family Photograph” (CBS, 9/26/49) and “The In-Laws” (NBC, Ep. 55, 1956); Leave it to Beaver, “The Grass is Always Greener” (S2 Ep.54, 1958); Julia, episode TBD (NBC, 1969)

Readings: George Lipsitz. “The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early Network Television Programs” Mary Beth Haralovich, “Sitcoms and Suburbs: Positioning the 1950s Homemaker” Mary Desjardins, “Lucy and Desi: Sexuality, Ethnicity, and TV’s First Family” Richard Butsch, “Five Decades and Three Hundred Sitcoms about Class and Gender” L.S. Kim, “’Serving’ American Orientalism: Negotiating Identities in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” Aniko Bodroghkozy, “’Is This What You Mean By Color TV?’ Race, Gender, and Contested Meanings on NBC’s Julia”

Week 5 / Sept. 24: Civil Rights Activism and Television

Watch: Chicano! “Taking Back the Schools” (1996, Susan Racho et al.) 57 min. East Side /West Side “No Hiding Place” (CBS, 1963)

Readings: Chon Noriega, Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema (through Chapter 6) Aniko Bodroghozy, “Negotiating Civil Rights in Prime Time: A Production and Reception History of CBS’s East Side/West Side”

Week 6 / Oct. 1: Representation in the Era of “Relevance”

Watch: Good Times, “Michael Gets Suspended” (CBS, S1 Ep.5, 1974); Chico and the Man, pilot (NBC, S1 Ep.1, 1974); Maude, “Maude Meets Florida” (CBS, S1 Ep.3, 1973); Sanford and Son “Fred Sanford, Legal Eagle” (S3, Ep. 15, 1974)

Readings: Christine Acham, Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power. Intro and Chapters 3-5 Kirsten Marthe Lentz, “Quality versus Relevance: Feminism, Race, and the Politics of the Sign…” Mary Beltrán, “The Burden of Playing Chico: Freddie Prinze and Chico and the Man”

Week 7 / Oct. 8: Class, Whiteness, and the “Heartland” on TV

Watch: Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Love is All Around” (CBS S1 Ep.1, 1970) and “Some of My Best Friends are Rhoda” (CBS S2, Ep. 23, 1972); The Ellen Show, pilot (CBS, S1 Ep. 1, 2001) 7

Reading: Victoria E. Johnson, Heartland TV book. Introduction and Chapters 1-5 & 7 Paper proposal due

Week 8 / Oct. 15: Expanding Frontiers of Feminism & Sexual Orientation in ‘80s-90s TV

Watch: Murphy Brown, “You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato – Part 1” (S5, Ep.1, 1992); Roseanne, “Aliens” (S4 Ep.24, 1992); Ellen, “The Puppy Episode, Part 1” (S4 Ep.22, 1997) Watch online: Cagney and Lacey, “You Call This Plainclothes?” (S1 Ep.1, 1981)

Readings: Lauren Rabinovitz, “Ms. Representations: The Politics of Feminist Sitcoms” Julie D’Acci, “Women Characters and ‘Real World’ Femininity” Kathleen K. Rowe, “Roseanne: Unruly Woman as Domestic Goddess” Joe Wlodarz, “We’re Not All So Obvious: Masculinity and Queer (In)visibility in American Network Television of the 1970s” José Esteban Muñoz, “Pedro Zamora’s Real World of Counterpublicity” Bonnie Dow, “Ellen, Television, and the Politics of Gay and Lesbian Visibility”

Week 9 / Oct. 22: The 1980s, Cosby Show, and Racial Politics

Watch: The Cosby Show “Vanessa’s Bad Grade” (NBC, S2 Ep.14, 1986); Frank’s Place, “The Bum Out Front” (CBS, S1 Ep.14, 1988); A Different World “Ms. Understanding” (NBC, S4 Ep.17, 1991)

Readings: Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for Blackness (Chapters 1-7) Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis, “White Responses: The Emergence of ‘Enlightened’ Racism”

Week 10 / Oct. 29: Shifts in 1990s Television

Watch: Living Single, “Five-Card Stud” (Fox, S1 Ep.23, 1993); All-American Girl “Take My Family, Please” (ABC, S1 Ep.8, 1994); Excerpt, Northern Exposure, “Rosebud” (CBS, S5 Ep.7, 1993)

Reading: Kristal Brent Zook, Introduction and “Living Single and ‘the Fight for Mr. Right’” L.S. Kim, “Be the One That You Want: Asian Americans in Television Culture, Onscreen and Beyond” Amanda Lotz, “Segregated Sitcoms” Annette M. Taylor, “Cultural Heritage in Northern Exposure” Jon Krazcewski, “Country Hicks and Urban Cliques: Mediating Race, Reality and Liberalism on MTV’s The Real World” Justin Lewis and Sut Jhally, “Television and the Politics of Representation”

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Week 11 / Nov. 5: U.S. Latina/os and Television

Watch: a.k.a. Pablo, First Time Out, George Lopez, Cristela, Vida

Reading: Mary Beltrán, chapter drafts: ”Latina/o Television and Cultural Citizenship,” “Always the Chico,” “What Works on TV,” and “By Us, For Everybody,” and “The Latina Wave” Hector Amaya, “Eva Luna: Latino/a Audiences”

Week 12 / Nov. 12: Progressive Representation and Its Limits in the Late ‘90s & ‘00s

Watch: Buffy “The Prom” (S3, Ep.20, 1999)

Reading: Elana Levine, “Buffy and the New Girl Order” Susan J. Wolfe and Lee Ann Roripaugh, “The (In)visible Lesbian: Anxieties of Representation in The L Word” Alexander Doty, “Modern Family, Glee, and the Limits of Television Liberalism” (Optional:) Jennifer Reed, “The Three Phases of Ellen” Evelyn Alsultany, “Representations of Arabs and Muslims in Post-9/11 Television Dramas” Research Paper Draft due

Week 13 / Nov. 19: Complexities of Late 2010s Television

Watch: TBD

Reading: Kristen J. Warner, “In the Time of Plastic Representation” Isabel Molina-Guzmán, “Introduction: Latina/os, Hipster Racism, and Post-racial TV” + TBD Peer Reviews of Paper Drafts

Thanksgiving holiday, November 25-27

Week 14 / Dec. 3 Presentations

Brief Presentations on your research so far and class wrap-up

Final, revised papers due: Finals Week, date TBD