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UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Neoliberalism, Citizenship, and the Spectacle of Democracy in American Film and Television, 1973-2016 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3sd9m442 Author Royer, Alice Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Neoliberalism, Citizenship, and the Spectacle of Democracy in American Film and Television, 1973-2016 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television by Alice Elizabeth Royer 2018 © Copyright by Alice Elizabeth Royer 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Neoliberalism, Citizenship, and the Spectacle of Democracy in American Film and Television, 1973-2016 by Alice Elizabeth Royer Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor William McDonald, Co-Chair Professor Johanna R Drucker, Co-Chair This dissertation examines American films, miniseries, and television shows that center on the democratic process, mobilizing it in the service of stories that both provide intense narrative and visual pleasures, and offer satisfaction in the form of apparent knowledge gained about the inner workings of electoral politics in the United States; these media texts are here theorized as “democracy porn.” Significantly, democracy porn emerges alongside neoliberalism, and its proliferation mirrors that ideology’s meteoric rise to prominence. As such, the dissertation considers texts made since the advent of neoliberalism in 1973, and up to the US presidential election of 2016, which marks a major shift in the meanings and values associated with democracy porn. Through historical, textual, and discourse analysis drawing on critical theories of affect, citizenship, and neoliberalism, the dissertation interrogates the complex ways in which democracy porn is constructed and functions within and surrounding moving image ii texts. The project thus tracks the ways neoliberal ideology manifests in the media texts in question, as well as how the consumption of these texts impacts viewers’ understandings of their own citizenship within a democracy increasingly steered by neoliberal principles. The project brings cultural critiques of neoliberalism—particularly of its impact on democracy and citizenship in the United States—into the disciplinary realm of cinema and media studies. This approach constitutes an intervention for the field, as analyses of neoliberalism within cinema and media studies have tended to approach the topic from an industrial standpoint. Ultimately, the dissertation seeks to begin answering the question: How is democracy porn symptomatic of the erosion of possibilities for democracy within the context of neoliberalism? iii The dissertation of Alice Elizabeth Royer is approved. John T. Caldwell Jasmine Nadua Trice Ellen Scott Sarah Banet-Weiser William McDonald, Committee Co-Chair Johanna R Drucker, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv For my mom, Ginny Lee v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements……………………………………….………………………………..….....vii Vita…………………………………………………….………………………………...……......ix Introduction: Democracy Porn…………………………………...………………………………..1 Chapter One: The Electoral Process…………………………….……..………………………...31 Chapter Two: The Legislative Process…………………………………………………………..91 Chapter Three: History…………………..……………………………………………...…...…150 Conclusion: Democracy Porn After Trump?…………………………………………………...208 Bibliography…………...……………………………………………………………………….222 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this dissertation has been a journey, and one that would have had a very different ending without support from countless people along the way. Thank you to my committee: Johanna Drucker and Bill McDonald stepped in as Co-Chairs at a critical juncture, for which I am eternally grateful. John Caldwell has been a joy to work with throughout my time in graduate school, and I feel very lucky to have had his insights during the dissertation process as well. Sarah Banet-Weiser, Jasmine Trice, and Ellen Scott were generous to take a chance by coming on board and each provided encouragement at key moments. Beyond the committee, I would also like to extend my gratitude to faculty, staff, and colleagues at UCLA and elsewhere who provided feedback and support during the dissertation process. Allyson Field and Vivian Sobchack offered helpful insights during the project’s early stages. Kathleen McHugh taught me how to challenge myself to do ever more rigorous scholarship. Greg Cohen is model of the kind of scholar I want to be; his magnanimity changed my worldview on more than one occasion. My undergraduate advisor at Vassar College, Sarah Kozloff, has continued to be an incredible mentor over the years. Brian Clark and Barbara Dube have accomplished the miraculous feat of imbuing bureaucracy with humanity. My PhD cohort—Karrmen Crey, Andrew DeWaard, Bryan Wuest, and Andrew Young—were generous with their time and brains while the project was coming together. And colleagues Heather Collette-VanDeraa, Ben Sampson, and Dahlia Schweitzer each provided galvanizing encouragement along the way. This project would not have been possible without financial support from the UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media, the UCLA Department of Communication, the UCLA Department of Sociology, the UCLA LGBTQ Studies Program, and UCLA Graduate vii Division. I was especially fortunate to receive the Charles Boyer French Research Award, which allowed me to broaden the scope of my research, and my mind generally during a transformative academic year in Paris. Life outside the academy provided much-needed perspective and human interaction throughout the marathon that is writing a dissertation. My friends put up with a lot from me during my time in graduate school, and I can’t wait to start showing my gratitude in the form of dinner parties and generally returning to a human form that is capable of being present and supportive. Very special shout-outs to my writing buddies and confidantes Li Cornfeld, Catie Disabato, and Anna Margarita Albelo, who kept me accountable and in (mostly) good spirits. Thank you to Pauline Alonso, Ana David, Erin English, Dorothy Hoover, Nic Koller, Trisha Lendo, Hannah May, Ryan Pleva, Lauren Spencer, and Olivia Typaldos for being my people. A serendipitous run-in while waiting for the bathroom at a queer party led me to my accountability buddy and savior for the home stretch, Kyle Stephan, without whom I’m not sure I would have made it to the finish line. My dad, Leroy Royer, may not understand what I’m doing with my life or why, but has been supportive nonetheless. Thank you also to my friends and colleagues at Outfest for being a constant source of encouragement, laughter, and queer community. And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my dog, Walter, who is simply the best. The single greatest reason I have been able to complete this project and earn a PhD is the lifetime of support I have received from my mom, Ginny Lee. Among many other gifts, she instilled in me a love of learning and taught me the joys of sharing knowledge with others, both of which have propelled me to where I am today. I owe everything to her. viii VITA EDUCATION 2014 C. Phil., Cinema and Media Studies Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media University of California, Los Angeles 2010 M.A., Moving Image Archive Studies, with distinction University of California, Los Angeles 2006 B.A., Film Studies; Sociology Vassar College Poughkeepsie, New York PUBLICATIONS 2015 “UCLA Film & Television Archive at 50: Anecdotes and Reminiscences.” In UCLA Film & Television Archive: 50 Years. Los Angeles: Regents of the University of California. 2010 “Warming Up Records: Archives, Memory, Power, and Index of the Disappeared.” Peer reviewed paper in InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies 6, no. 1. EXPERIENCE 2009-2018 13 quarters of Teaching Assistantships in the Departments of Cinema & Media Studies, Communication Studies, and Sociology. University of California, Los Angeles. 2017 Instructor, Out of the Closets and Into the Vaults: LGBT Film & the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. LGBTQ Studies Program. University of California, Los Angeles. 2016 Guest Curator, Tuesday Matinees. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA 2014-2016 Legacy Project Manager. Outfest, Los Angeles, CA. 2012-2016 Research Assistant to Professor Sarah Kozloff. Vassar College, Los Angeles, CA. 2011-2012 Audiovisual Archivist. Center for the Study of Women, University of California, Los Angeles. 2009-2010 Creative Film Society Researcher. Los Angeles Filmforum / The Getty Institute, Los Angeles, CA. ix Introduction: Democracy Porn Lincoln is democracy porn trussed up in Spielbergian schmaltz. I fucking loved it. - Lindy West, Jezebel.com1 In her review of Lincoln (Spielberg, 2012), author Lindy West uses the term democracy porn and goes on to describe the film as, “A wonky political procedural about the mad scramble to pass the 13th amendment”—a characterization that might better place it in a dry high school civics class than in the explosion- and CGI-laden multiplexes of 2012. But West does not pine for the ever-more-impressive special effects that justify ever-more-expensive ticket prices in today’s cinema-going culture, because what she ultimately “fucking loves” about Lincoln is precisely what she perceives as its success in making the minutiae of
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