Making Feminism Popular: Audience Interpellation in Late Post-Network Era Television (a Case Study of TNT’s The Closer) by Ashley Elaine York A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology University of Alberta © Ashley Elaine York, 2016 Abstract This dissertation explores the serial design model of The Closer. It answers the following question: How does The Closer offer multiple entry points along a spectrum of views on gender and feminism, appeal to a range of viewers, and thus secure popularity? To generate metadata of how The Closer is designed for popularity by offering what film scholar Christine Gledhill calls “a range of positions of identification” with the text, using a Fiskean method of textual analysis, I examine the television codes of the transgender figure and the gaze in Chapters Three and Four (Gledhill 1988, 73). Each chapter offers a detailed analysis of a single episode of The Closer and theorizes how television codes of one episode are designed to take advantage of the coexistence of many possible interpretations of the theme under review. As counterpoint to my readings, in Chapter Two I analyze a focus group study conducted with forty-two sample viewers in Tucson, Arizona in 2013. Combining textual, industrial, and ethnographic audience analyses, I find that The Closer’s historic popularity is due to the ways its television codes broaden hegemonic discourses, break gender binaries, and relieve the dominant male gaze—that is, temporarily, subtly, and anachronistically. This smart serial design offers characterizations and content that chip away at hegemonic ideologies of gender over the series run. Viewers along a spectrum of feminism, gender, or sexuality are interpellated into the text through differing characters and points of view taken up in individual episodes, as well as those across the series. This model of serial design offers more pluralistic gender frameworks while not sacrificing popularity. This model qualifies The Closer as a sea-changing text, and it is why this series has influenced myriad, similarly designed female protagonist dramedies since 2005. ii Preface This thesis is an original work by Ashley Elaine York. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “Focus Group Study on a Sampling of US Viewers of The Closer,” No. Pro00035162, December 3, 2012. iii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Bob and Char Ernstein, Palmer McDonald, Edward Bottomley, and Kristopher Melin. Thanks to each of you for the gestures of friendship extended during the editing, defending, and graduation processes of the Ph.D. program. I will always be grateful. iv Acknowledgments The following dissertation, while an individual work, benefitted from the insights and direction of many scholars, the grant funding of several entities, and the love and support of numerous friends. First, I thank Dr. Michelle Meagher, my major supervisor, for her assistance and guidance. Dr. Meagher is not only an outstanding scholar, but a devoted mentor. She provided timely and instructive comments and evaluation at every stage of the dissertation process, allowing me to complete this dissertation project on schedule. I also thank the complete dissertation committee, and outside reader, respectively: dissertation chair Dr. Jana Grekul, supervisory committee members Dr. Karen Hughes and Dr. Cecily Devereux, examiner Dr. Judy Garber, and external reader Dr. Elana Levine (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Each of these women provided time, support, and insights that guided and challenged my thinking, substantially improving the finished product. I thank professor of sociology and long-time department chair, Dr. Harvey Krahn, for providing wisdom and guidance on many occasions throughout my doctoral program. I also owe a debt of gratitude to (and have an abundance of love and respect for) Mrs. Lynn Van Read, long-time sociology graduate program coordinator at the University of Alberta. Her institutional memory, practical help, and love and nurturance during my years in Edmonton made me feel at home. Secondly, I wish to thank the Corus® Foundation for providing the four-year doctoral fellowship in television studies that primarily funded my Ph.D. program. I also thank the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies for awarding me a doctoral scholarship; the Graduate Students’ Association, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, and the Department of Sociology, all of the University of Alberta, for awarding me professional development grants; the Society for v Cinema Studies and the National Association of Television Program Executives for awarding me travel grants; and the Journal of Popular Culture for selecting me as the 2009 recipient of the Brigman Award for graduate student paper of the year. Finally, I am especially grateful to three professors who have had a tremendous impact on my development as a scholar. I thank Dr. Kimberly Owczarski for inspiring me to become a media industries scholar; for talking through media concepts and theories with me—any time, any day; for collaborating professionally; and for supporting my work and encouraging me to innovate. I thank Dr. Beretta Smith-Shomade for always telling it to me straight, never settling for anything but my best, and for creating many opportunities for me, professionally, opening doors I did not know were there. Lastly, I would not be the scholar I am today without the unceasing support and long-time mentorship of my major professor and undergraduate advisor at Florida State University, Dr. W. Scott Ford. Dr. Ford reminded me on many occasions that I could be anything I wanted to be. He wrote letters of support for my scholarships at Oxford University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Alberta, and supported my applications to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA in New Mexico, a polio vaccination volunteer in Africa, and an ESL teacher in Japan. His encouraging words have echoed in my heart and mind during the seven years of this program. My greatest hope is that I have made him proud. vi Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………ii Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………iii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..v Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………...vii List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………………………viii Chapter 1 Introduction, Relevant Series and Literature Review, and Dissertation Overview……1 Chapter 2 Television as a Cultural Forum: Reading Popularity Among Viewers of The Closer..59 Chapter 3 Cracking the Binary Framework for Thinking about Gender in The Closer………..122 Chapter 4 Three Ways of Looking Beyond the Male Gaze without Losing Mass Appeal: The Pseudofeminist Man, the Postfeminist, and the Protofeminist Heroine in TNT’s The Closer…181 Chapter 5 Conclusion: Theorizing the Serial Design Model of The Closer……………………226 Endnotes………………………………………………………………………………………...251 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………267 vii List of Illustrations Example 4.1 Image of sexist representations of elf’s breast bobbing up and down………….200 Example 4.2 Image of dominant male’s half-hearted attempt to quell catfighting…………..200 Example 4.3 Image of a dominant male preventing intervention of another dominant male...200 Example 4.4 Image of dominant male apathy verses enjoyment in objectifying women…....201 Example 4.5 Image of pseudofeminist man’s criticism of women’s objectification…………201 Example 4.6 Image of postfeminist’s mixed emotions in women’s objectification………….201 Example 4.7 Image of material signifiers that naturalize ideology of women and villainy….207 Example 4.8 Image of pornographic representations of women’s buttocks………………….207 Example 4.9 Image of pornographic representations of women’s splayed legs……...............207 Example 4.10 Image of dominant males’ aggravation verses entertainment in gazing process.209 Example 4.11 Image of the protofeminist heroine’s first instance of intervention……………209 Example 4.12 Image of protofeminist heroine’s reversal of male subjectivity..........................209 Example 4.13 Image of pornographic representation of cleft between elf’s breasts…………..211 Example 4.14 Image of dominant male’s gripping elf’s buttocks………………......................211 Example 4.15 Image of dominant male capturing an elf in an aggressive manner……………211 Example 4.16 Image of protofeminist heroine’s containment in the discovery of evidence…..212 Example 4.17 Image of contraband naturalizing ideology of women and villainy……………212 Example 4.18 Image of protofeminist heroine’s second instance of intervention……………..214 Example 4.19 Image of pseudofeminist man’s containment of the postfeminist……………...214 Example 4.20 Image of protofeminist heroine’s third instance of intervention……………….214 Example 4.21 Image of a dominant male objectifying the postfeminist………………………216 Example 4.22 Image of protofeminist heroine’s fourth instance of intervention……...............216 viii Example 4.23 Image of pseudofeminist man’s criticism of the pleasure in being seen……….216 Example 4.24 Image of dominant males objectifying the postfeminist………………………..218 Example 4.25 Image of the postfeminist as pursuer of the objectifying male gaze…...............218 Example 4.26 Image of dominant males’ response to postfeminist’s return of the look………218 Example 4.27 Image of the signifier