Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis develops an understanding of animation as transgression based on the work of Christopher Jenks. The research focuses on adult animation, specifically North American primetime television series, as manifestations of a social need to violate and thereby interrogate aspects of contemporary hetero-normative conformity in terms of identity and representation. A thematic analysis of four animated television series, namely Family Guy, Queer Duck, Drawn Together, and Rick & Steve, focuses on the texts themselves and various metatexts that surround these series. The analysis focuses specifically on expressions and manifestations of gay sexuality and sexual taboos and how these are articulated within the animated diegesis. The findings reveal the mutuality between the plasticity of animation, which lends itself to shaping physical representations of reality, and the complex social processes of non-violent cathartic ideological expressions that redefine sociopolitical boundaries. The argument contextualizes the changing face of sexuality and the limits of sexual taboo in terms of current contestations and acceptability and the relationship to animation. Contemporary animation both represents this social performance of transgression and is itself a transgressive product disrupting accepted conventions.

In this study I focus on the representation of women in crime films by Black South African women to understand how Black South African women directors represent women onscreen. Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,' on the male gaze in Classical Hollywood cinema serves as the springboard for a close textual analysis of Jyoti Mistry's Impunity (2015) and Nosipho Dumisa's Nommer 37 (Number 37) (2018). I set out to determine how Mistry and Dumisa use the camera to represent the women protagonists in the two films, and whether they reproduce, transform, or comment on the patriarchal conventions of representation. This study finds that both directors include aspects of unconventional representation in their films, but that overall, Mistry and Dumisa direct viewers to regard the women onscreen through a heterosexual patriarchal male gaze. Strikingly, in both films, this male gaze is one of surveillance. In Nommer 37 the surveillance of the woman includes the threat of punitive sexual violence, and in Impunity the woman performs her femininity for the benefit of the surveilling male gaze. Through the self-conscious application of surveillance in Impunity, Mistry also implicates the spectator in the violence meted out to the woman. I conclude that while both filmmakers comment on the position of women in society, that by and large, they reproduce patriarchal conventions without offering new ways to regard women onscreen.

While Black women are more visible in media and popular culture today, the range of their visibility remains narrow and in continuation within the dominant ideology concerning Black women within the U.S. The images that are presented discourage a full understanding of the conditions of the Black female experience and the ways these women are socially constituted within it (Newton & Rosenfelt 1985). This paper examines how the images of Black women are contradictory to the depressed socioeconomic status of Black women, how the show Girlfriends works to move beyond these images by expressing moments of the lived experience of Black women, and how Black women recognize their position within the oppressive institutional forces of the U.S. by negotiating their representations. / text

This practice-based PhD has at its core six short films, made by and featuring the author (Dean Kelland), which take as their inspiration certain male characters from TV sitcoms from the 1950s-1970s. Those characters are: Tony Hancock (Hancock’s Half- Hour, 1956-59, BBC1 UK); Harold Steptoe (Steptoe and Son, 1962-65, BBC1 UK); and the two “Likely Lads”, Bob Ferris and Terry Collier, (Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?, 1973-74, BBC1 UK). The research is an investigation into the construction of masculine gender stereotypes, explored through a process of a performance-led visual arts practice that incorporates the use of interdisciplinary approaches. This interdisciplinarity is aligned to Lisa Lattuca’s definition of “informed disciplinarity” as being “informed by concepts or theories from another discipline or relying upon methods from other disciplines.” (History of Intellectual Culture, 2003). Disciplines and fields include: comedy studies, performance art studies, television studies, gender studies and cultural studies. The selected sitcom examples were hugely popular and influential in the eras in which they were first broadcast, a period in post-war British history when constructions of class were changing. The PhD provides analysis of: location; both geographical (the parts of the UK in which the programmes were set) and in terms of domestic setting; class-derived identity (including distinctions of taste); and sociologically/historically based perspectives. In my performance-led practice, I create scenarios that have emanated from the research, focusing on specific scenes from the programmes (identified for their relevance to the research questions). I then re-purpose these scenes in order to show them in a new light, specifically by inhabiting the characters utilising traditional acting methodologies combined with performance art techniques. Each mimetic repetition exposes the blurring of one identity into another, and so interrogates the intersubjective identifications between actor, projected character and audience, mobilized through “performing masculinity”. Drawing on my own memories, and the sense of nostalgia that has been created by my exposure to these (repeated) programmes, I ask new questions about subjective experience within fine art practice (in other words, how the modes of such practice have been used to address the relationship between 7 the body, the external world and self-representation). Often this involves “rupturing” the meaning of the programmes, and revealing what might loosely be termed the horror beneath the comedy. The resulting dialogue between historical source material and contemporary artwork creates a critical interrogation of culturally constructed gendered stereotypes within a specific television entertainment genre. The research journey is carefully logged (sketchbooks, digital portfolio) and analysed (written thesis) in accordance with a reflective, practice-based, methodology.

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In the late 20th century, the global economy experienced a radical shift due to widespread deregulation and, subsequently, rapid financialization. Examining archival and contemporary trade magazines and corporate reports, this project considers the interconnections between television audience constructions/ratings and financial institutions amid these structural changes. In chapter one, this thesis starts by charting the pre-history of media financialization and financial stakeholders’ early influence over the radio industry and its antecedent industries (i.e., the telegraph and telephone) between 1800 and 1943. After charting a historical overview of media industries’ relationships to Wall Street, the second chapter details the financialization of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1943 and 1970 and considers the correlation between Nielsen ratings and stock prices. In the third chapter, these theories are brought into the 21st century, examining how media companies like Disney “pitch” their audiences to Wall Street and how financial incentives have led streaming platforms to engage in performative social justice in order to cater to upscale white audiences.

Television drama is a crucial site where notions of gender, as well as other cultural issues, are formed. Since 2010, the Chinese television industry has shown a growing interest in representing feminism-inflected content, most evident in cashing in on serials centering on a strong female character. These women-centric dramas mark a departure from previous constructions of gender, women, and feminism due to their narrative centrality of women, portrayal of strong female leads, expansion of women’s spheres of action, and endorsement of female power and independence. This dissertation explores the phenomenon, examining what feminist discourses are being represented by juxtaposing them with the social context of gender in China and interrogating how they are shaped by industrial practices. The factors at play in the serial production that have surfaced in this study mainly include female television professionals, textual and narrative conventions, considerations of audience profile, and party-state cultural leadership. Based on textual analysis and interviews with professionals associated with several representative women-centric television dramas, this dissertation found that these social and industrial forces collaboratively shaped the feminist discourses into various forms including the post-feminist and neoliberal feminist tendency, a common-ground form of feminism shared by various sections of society, and a vision of gender that combines traditional feminine roles and a powerful presence in the public sphere. The research raises issues about the role of the television industry in cultivating public understandings of feminism and the relationship between televisual forms of feminism and feminist politics.

A figure that has been pushed to the periphery of television shows throughout history, the African American woman has become more and more visible recently thanks to the proliferation of the cheap-to-produce reality television genre. Although many of these shows do feature African American women, critics often argue that these shows are a disgrace to the community, full of bickering women who are more obsessed with their labels than one another. This dissertation is an attempt to recuperate these programs from such denigration. I argue that reality television shows that focus on African American women do provide a great service to the community. Using soap opera theory as a theoretical foundation and close reading as an analytic tool, this project argues that these reality programs, which are called docusoaps, provide complex representations of African American women that are rarely seen on television. In addition, they offer therapeutic space to the women on the program as well as possible ones to the Black female viewers at home. The case study is The Real Housewives of Atlanta, a show that has aired on Bravo since 2008. This show has served as the template for the various African American docusoaps that have followed it, making it an important site for the investigation of how these programs present Black women and possible therapeutic spaces for that community.

<p>The purpose of this study is to examine the popular cultural form of television within the field of gender studies. The study focuses on the representation of masculinities in the American television series <em>The O.C. </em>This is done by using textual analysis to gain information from the first and the second season of <em>The O.C. </em>The theoretical framework used is based on Judith Butler and R.W. Connell. The result of the study is that <em>The O.C</em>. can be said to show that alternative masculinities are less worthy and lower in the hierarchy. Another result is that the series is heteronormative.</p>

NBC?s situation comedy The Office reflects on the nature of workplace management in the 21st century. The show critiques a corporation that values conformity over individuality, while implying that promoting ?creative? employees to upper management is not credible alternative. The Office does this by focusing on Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell), a character whose unique creative working style makes him a great salesman but a poor manager. Michael?s character stands in contrast to Ryan Howard (played by B.J. Novak), who differs from Michael both in his approach to business and his success at it. The Office implies that creativity is a valuable asset for non-managerial workers, but creative management can be problematic. As workplaces continue to evolve, it is imperative to explore how creativity and bureaucracy co-exist. It may be unrealistic to expect creativity to saturate all aspects of professional life, but striking a balance between creativity and organization might be paramount in assuring job satisfaction and productivity for future generations of employees.