xii, 214 p. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Recombinant television, a common television practice involving recycled, prepackaged formulas, updated to create programming that is perceived as novel, impacts more than industry processes. While the industry uses recombinants to reduce risk by facilitating aspects of production and audience affiliation, the inadvertent outcomes include a litany of narratives and characters that influence our worldview. As did the myths of earlier oral societies, television serves as one of our modern storytellers, teaching what we value and helping us make sense of our culture. This study focuses on how the prevalence of recombinant television limits portrayals of women and the discourse of feminism in three popular, female cast American sitcoms. This study comparatively examines the recombinant narratives and characters in Golden Girls, Living Single , and Sex and the City . While these programs are seemingly about very different modern women, older White women in suburban Florida; twenty-something African-American women in Brooklyn; and thirty-something, White, professional women in Manhattan, respectively, the four main characters in each show represent feminine archetypes found throughout Western mythology: the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother. First, a content analysis determines if a relationship exists between the characters and archetypes. Then, a comparative textual analysis reveals the deeper meanings the archetypes carry. Finally, a comparative narrative analysis examines the similarities and differences among the series. The findings reveal that a relationship exists between each modern character and her corresponding ancient archetype, reflecting particular meanings and discourses. The iron maiden archetypes, for example, generally bring forth a feminist discourse, whereas the child archetypes exhibit traditional values. While the sex object archetypes are self-absorbed, consumed with their own beauty and sexual conquests, the mother archetypes seek psychological wellness for themselves and those around them, generally providing much of the emotional work for the group. As reflected in these popular U.S. television series, the similarities among the archetypes and narratives depict limited views of women's lives, while the variance indicates differences among age, race, and class demographics. These recombinant portrayals of ancient archetypes as modern women suggest that our understanding of women's lives remains antiquated, reductionist, and conventional. / Adviser: Debra Merskin

AFRIKAANS: Die teenwoordigheid van vroue in die massamedia, en spesifiek in televisie, is vroeg in die een-en-twintigste eeu groter as ooit vantevore. Reekse waarin uitbeeldings van vroue beperk was tot dié van meestal onderontwikkelde, periferale of sekondêre karakters, is iets van die verlede. Die wyse waarop vroue in televisie uitgebeeld word is dus uiters belangrik aangesien so ’n groot hoeveelheid televisiereekse spesifiek die vrouegehoor teiken wat, hetsy aktief of passief, met wat hulle in hierdie reekse sien omgaan. Boodskappe wat deur televisiereekse versprei word, sal waarskynlik onbewustelik ’n uitwerking hê op hoe vroue hulleself beskou, hoe hulle ander vroue beskou, sowel as op hulle houding jeens kwessies soos feminisme en vroulikheid. Die doel van hierdie studie is om dominante diskoerse oor feminisme en vroulikheid wat deur hedendaagse televisiereekse aan die samelewing voorgehou word, te ondersoek. Die studie konsentreer spesifiek op drie gewilde en veelbekroonde Amerikaanse televisiereekse van 1997 tot 2012, naamlik Ally McBeal (Kelley 1997- 2002), Sex and the City (Starr 1998-2004) en Desperate Housewives (Cherry 2004- 2012) – reekse wat al drie as sogenaamde zeitgeist-televisie beskryf kan word. Die artikulering van feministiese doelstellings, hetsy dié afkomstig uit die tweede generasie of uit meer onlangse bewegings in feminisme, val onder die soeklig en die wyse waarop hierdie doelstellings aangespreek word, word bespreek. Deur aspekte wat teoreties nóύ verband hou met feminisme (aspekte soos melodrama as ’n vroulik-geïdentifiseerde genre en verbruikerswese) te identifiseer, word daar aangvoer dat die drie reekse beslis in ’n feministiese sfeer geposisioneer is. Die teenwoordigheid van hierdie aspekte in die drie reekse het dan ook dieperliggende narratiewe oor feminisme blootgelê – narratiewe waarvan die alledaagse kyker waarskynlik nie bewus sal wees nie, maar wat onderbewustelik moontlik ’n invloed kan hê op kykers se denke oor en begrip van feminisme. Die belangrikste gevolgtrekking van hierdie studie is dat die drie gekose televisiereekse op verskillende en uiteenlopende wyses met feminisme en vroulikheid omgaan. Verder ondersteun die studie die uitgangspunt dat daar ’n behoefte is aan kritiese debat rakende die uitbeeldings van feminisme en vroulikheid in hedendaagse voorbeelde van populêre massamedia. ENGLISH: The presence of women in mass media, specifically in television, in the twenty-first century is larger than ever and the days of series featuring women that are generally underdeveloped, peripheral or secondary characters is a thing of the past. The way in which females are portrayed in television is thus of the utmost importance since such a large number of television series cater to an extensive female audience, who engage (whether actively or passively) with that which they see. Messages received from popular television series are likely to inadvertently have an effect on how women view themselves, how they view other women, as well as their attitudes towards issues like feminism and femininity. The purpose of this study is to examine dominant discourses on feminism and feminity that are being propagated by contemporary television series. The specific focus of the study falls on three highly successful and critically acclaimed television series running from 1997 until 2012, namely Ally McBeal (Kelley 1997-2002), Sex and the City (Starr 1998-2004) and Desperate Housewives (Cherry 2004-2012) – series that have all been described as so-called Zeitgeist television. The articulation of feminist goals, whether from the second wave or more recent feminist movements, is examined and the ways in which these goals are addressed are discussed. By identifying aspects that are theoretically related to feminism (aspects like melodrama as a female identified genre and consumerism), it is argued that these three series are definitely positioned in a feminist sphere. The presence of these aspects also uncovered deep-seated feminist narratives – narratives that the everyday audience member will most likely not be aware of, but which could unconsciously influence viewers’ thoughts on and understanding of feminism. The main conclusion of this study entails that the three chosen television series deal with feminism and femininity in very different and diverse ways. Furthermore, the study supports the view that there is a need for critical debates on the representation of feminism and femininity in contemporary examples of popular mass media / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

A large number of professional articles or academic works have been written about the series Sex in the City, but none of them directly dealt with the impact of the series on their fans. From an empirical point of view, the diploma thesis Research of the Perception of the Influence of the Cult Series HBO Sex in the City on its Viewers is a qualitative analysis. It is examined opinions of the series' viewers on various aspects of the series and also their motivation to watch such media content are examined through in-depth interviews. In the qualitative analysis, the author focuses mainly on the phenomena such as gender stereotyping, consumer lifestyle (product placement in the series) or, for instance, the postfeminist tone of the series itself. The inspiration for this thesis was the work of Ien Ang, who also focused on fans of the cult series Dallas in her researches and tried to interpret the success of this phenomenon through qualitative research.

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This thesis investigates the motivation, engagement and experiences of men as they interact with the selected television shows, which are presented or conceived as shows for women. The purpose of this thesis is to examine, identify and evaluate the motivation of men as a perceived non-target audience for watching the shows. Using gender theories and the audience in media theories as the background of this thesis, it then presents full- scale research on the TV shows "Sex and the City", "Desperate Housewives", "2 Broke Girls" through fifteen in-depth interviews, discovering narrators' viewing experience and reactions. The empirical analysis of this thesis is conducted in light of perceived and reported demographic groups, keeping in mind the sociocultural context of each series. This thesis examines both socio-economic and gender topics, which are represented in the shows by product placement on the first hand, and emancipatory themes on the other.

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