Female Identity and the British Female Ensemble Drama 1995-1998
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A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Ball, V. 2007. Female identity and the British female ensemble drama 1995-1998. PhD thesis. Queen Margaret University. Accessed from: http://etheses.qmu.ac.uk/92/ Repository Use Policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes providing that: • The full-text is not changed in any way • A full bibliographic reference is made • A hyperlink is given to the original metadata page in eResearch eResearch policies on access and re-use can be viewed on our Policies page: http://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/policies.html http://etheses.qmu.ac.uk FEMALE IDENTITY AND THE BRITISH FEMALE ENSEMBLE DRAMA 1995-1998 VICTORIA BALL A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy QUEEN MARGARET UNIVERSITY 2007 Abstract This thesis focuses upon a distinctive form of ‘feminine-gendered’ fiction, that of the British female ensemble drama, that has proliferated across televisual schedules since the late 1970s and which has received little academic attention. Although not a discrete genre, the female ensemble drama is nevertheless identifiable as a distinctive form of ‘feminine-gendered’ fiction that is largely written and/or produced by women, which diegetically focuses on particular communities of female characters and which is predominantly aimed at female audiences. The purpose of this text-based analysis of the female ensemble drama is to engage with a central concern of feminist television criticism, that of the gendered identity of this particular media form and the constructions of gender within it given its association with women at these three sites of production, text and audience. While I provide a historical overview of the development of this form of drama in relation to its textual precedents I isolate a particular moment in the history of this form of drama, that of the late 1990s, for closer analysis. Firstly I isolate the late 1990s to provide knowledge and understanding of the way in which the ‘feminine’ identity of this form of drama has contributed to its academic neglect within this socio-cultural period. Secondly I provide a close textual analysis of the constructions of ‘women’ within three female ensemble dramas in order to engage with and explore the textual negotiations they embody surrounding discourses of feminism and post feminism, de- and re-traditionalization in this particular period. While these themes have begun to be addressed in feminist television criticism they have largely been explored in relation to constructions of femininity in American dramas. This analysis then, allows for an exploration of these discourses in relation to a regional form of British drama. It is through investigating the academic neglect of this form of drama; providing a historical, thematic and aesthetic overview of the female ensemble drama as well as a detailed analysis of three of the female ensemble dramas of the 1990s that I contribute knowledge and understanding of this particular regional form of ‘feminine-gendered’ fiction to the field of Feminist Television Studies. Keywords: Television studies, television drama, ‘feminine-gendered fiction’, discourse, feminism, postfeminism. ii Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have helped me during the process of writing this thesis. My sincere thanks to my supervisory team; my Director of Studies Dr Jill Marshall and Supervisors Dr Michael Stewart and Dr Christine Cnossen for the encouragement, support and enthusiasm they have shown towards me and my research project over the past four years. Thanks also to the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications, Sheila Adamson and Linda Welsch, the library and print room staff at Queen Margaret University for their assistance throughout this research project. Special thanks to my own female ensemble Nana, Mam, Dorell, Fiona and Vanessa for sustaining me over the years; to my big brother Steve, to Dad and Jim, to Phil, Donny, Alan, Anne and Brian, Bryan and Lynne, Kathy and Darren for their understanding at many a missed family event. Thanks also to Gareth, Majella, Camille, Viv, Dan and Christine for their encouraging texts and reassuring words. Thanks also Mel and Frank for being good friends and for helping with the images. Last but not least I would like to thank Craig for his continual support, selflessness and good humour through the highs and lows of this research project. iii Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Contents iv List of illustrations vii INTRODUCTION 1 Identity and representation 1 Shifts in feminist approaches to forms of fiction addressed to ‘women’ 8 Shifts in cultural constructions of ‘women’ and ‘femininity’ 9 Structure of this thesis 16 CONTEXTS Chapter One: Broadcasting and Critical Contexts 19 Aims and objectives of chapter one 19 Part One: Broadcasting Contexts 21 The feminization of British television in the 1990s 21 Problematising Brunsdon’s account of the feminization of television 24 ‘Women’s’ positioning in the television industries 27 - Racial inequality in the televison industries 28 - Gender inequality in the television industries 29 Essentialism 32 - De-essentialising programme-making 35 - The de-gendering of soap opera and the rise of the ‘flexi-narrative’ 39 Cultural value 42 Conclusions to part one: broadcasting contexts 46 Part Two: Critical Contexts 47 Issues of ‘quality’, value and taste 47 ‘Serious drama’ as ‘quality’ drama 48 The heritage television drama 51 The ‘progressive’ television drama 52 Problematising ‘progressive’ drama as ‘quality’ drama 54 - The institutional marginalisation of the female dramatist 55 - The critical marginalisation of female-authored drama 56 ‘Progressive’ television drama as ‘quality’ drama in post-1990 57 academic criticism Robin Nelson’s account of ‘quality’ television drama 63 ‘Must See TV’ 69 iv Glen Creeber’s account of ‘quality’ flexi-narrative drama 71 ‘Quality’ drama as exportable drama 74 Feminist television criticism 79 Conclusions to part two: critical contexts 85 The value of the FED as ‘feminine-gendered’ fiction 86 Aesthetic evaluation 90 Conclusions to chapter one 92 Chapter Two: Textual and Social Contexts 94 Aims and objectives of chapter two 94 Part One: Thematic Overview of the FED 95 Precedents of the FED 96 ‘Heroine television’ and the ‘new’ ‘woman’s film’ 98 - Locating the FED as female friendship text 100 ‘Must See’ and ‘Must-She TV’ 107 - Gender roles 109 - Utopian communities 112 Conclusions to the precedents of the FED 116 Textual Politics 117 From explicit to ambiguous feminism 118 ‘Life politics’ 123 Conclusions to textual politics 124 Discourses of postfeminism 125 The ‘new’, ‘new woman’ 126 Post-1970s feminism 129 - The reinstatement of normative ‘feminine’ destinies 131 - The reinstatement of normative sexuality and bodily control 134 Discourses of postfeminism in the FED of the 1990s 136 The ‘everywoman’ 136 Post 1970s feminism 139 - Discourses of normative femininity 140 - Discourses of sexuality and bodily control 141 Conclusions to part one: thematic overview of the FED 143 Part Two: Aesthetic Overview of the FED 145 Realism 147 ‘Real’ women 148 Social realism 150 - Public and private 151 - Female working-class identity 152 - Community 154 - Postmodernism 155 Realism and Verisimilitude 159 Conclusions to realism 160 Melodrama 161 v Excess and emotion 161 Melodramatic imagination 164 Melodrama and realism 165 Conclusions to melodrama 166 Comedy and the carnivalesque 167 Cultural inversions 167 Woman on top 170 - Female grotesques 171 - The unruly woman 172 The FED and unruly women 173 The FED and the British women’s comic tradition 174 Conclusions to comedy/carnivalesque 176 Aesthetic interplay 177 Aesthetic complexity 177 Mode of address 178 Conclusions to part two: aesthetic overview of the FED 180 Conclusions to chapter two 181 CASE STUDIES Chapter Three: Band of Gold 185 Aims and objectives of chapter three 185 Feminising the crime drama 186 Role reversal narratives and ‘equal opportunities’ 187 Heterosocial dynamic 190 - Female identity 190 - ‘Women’s discourse’: female authorship and female voices 192 - The structure of anxiety 194 Heterosocial bonds: constructing prostitutes as ‘women first’ 197 Parallel lives: bands of gold and the bonds between women 204 - Women’s work: constructing ‘femininity’ 206 - Women’s work: performing sexuality 209 Women’s experience of prostitution 212 Heterosocial alliance 221 Conclusions 225 Chapter Four: Real Women 227 Aims and objectives of chapter four 227 The ‘life-choices’ narrative 228 ‘Quality’ postfeminist ‘soap’ drama 229 - Women on top 231 - Sexual discourse 232 The de-traditionalization of gender: from class to lifestyle 236 Not ‘having it all’: female experience 240 Not ‘having it all’: sexual experience 242 The re-traditionalization of gender 248 vi Class: the reinstatement of respectable classifications 255 Conclusions 259 Chapter Five: Playing the Field 260 Aims and objectives of chapter five 260 Postfeminist soap drama 261 Matriarchal community 263 Girl power 265 Girl power and the de-traditionalization of gender 273 From ladies to ladettes 277 Girl power and the re-traditionalization of gender 279 From ladettes to ladies 280 The reinstatement of marriage as the life choice for women 286 The marginalisation of ‘alternative’ lifestyles 288 A more inclusive