Explores The Americans as a groundbreaking series that brilliantly
merged the spy genre and domestic melodrama. Based on the actual
KGB strategy of planting "illegals" into American life during the
Cold War, The Americans (FX 2013-2018) focuses on Philip and
Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Kerri Russell), Soviet spies
posing as middlebrow travel agents in the Virginia suburbs.
Groundbreaking and unsettling, The Americans spins its stories of
espionage, violence, and politics around narratives of marriage,
romance, bromance, and family. Exploring the series' bold merger of
the spy genre and domestic melodrama, author Linda Mizejewski
focuses on the characters and relationships that made this series
memorable: the extraordinary women who defy the femme fatale
stereotype of the spy genre, the conflicted men, and perhaps most
shockingly, the children who are both victims and provocateurs. Do
viewers of this Cold War thriller root for "the good guys"-the
American agents in pursuit of the Jenningses-or for the Jenningses
themselves, the attractive couple whose personal stories compel us
even as they plot the takedown of the United States? Mizejewski
argues for the importance of The Americans' portrayal of 1980s
suburban life as a microcosm of the moral complexities of
citizenship and national identity. Drawing on television studies
and feminist media theory, this book examines the series' seamless
loop of espionage violence and family melodrama, as well as its
savvy uses of 1980s pop culture and music. Far from invoking
nostalgia, the replication of the 1980s "look" invokes
uncertainties about how, exactly, we should see Reagan's America
and the Cold War. Yet the appeal of this series rests on solid
footing in the Americanism it both critiques and espouses.
Mizejewski examines The Americans' struggles with this ambiguity
and with the contradictions of identity, gender, marriage, and the
meanings of home. Everyone from scholars and students of television
and media studies, genre studies, gender and sexuality studies, and
popular culture, to superfans who can't believe the show is over
will revel in this highly approachable and fun read.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(1)
