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Morreale traces the development of the documentary films produced
for presidential candidates from Calvin Coolidge in 1923 to George
Bush and Bill Clinton in 1992. The work provides insight into
today's visually oriented presidential campaign by analyzing the
production of candidates' images as the films evolve from classical
to modern forms. Campaign films are usually overlooked by campaign
scholars, yet they provide the fullest available visual portrait of
a candidate during a campaign, they encapsulate persuasive appeals
and strategies, and they illustrate Republican and Democratic
candidates' different approaches to mediated communication.
Morreale concludes that presidential campaign films provide a lens
through which we can view both changes and continuities in American
politics and culture. Recommended for scholars and students of
communication, political science, and history.
Provides a history and criticism of an important disrupting force
in early science-fiction television programming. Joanne Morreale
highlights the differences of The Outer Limits (ABC 1963-65) from
typical programs on the air in the 1960s. Morreale argues that the
show provides insight into changes in the television industry as
writers turned to genre fiction-in this case, a hybrid of science
fiction and horror-to provide veiled social commentary. The show
illustrates the tension between networks who wanted mainstream
entertainment and the independent writer-producers, Leslie Stevens
and Joseph Stefano, who wanted to use the medium to challenge
viewers. In five chapters, The Outer Limits makes a case for the
show's deployment of gothic melodrama and science fiction tropes,
unique televisual characteristics, and creative adaptation of any
cultural sources to interrogate the relationship between humans and
technology in a way that continues to influence contemporary debate
in such shows as Star Trek, The X-Files, and Black Mirror.
Underlying the arguments is the eerie notion of The Outer Limits as
a disruptive force on television at the time, purposely making
audiences uncomfortable. For example, in its iconic opening credit
sequence a disembodied "Control Voice" claims to be taking over the
television as images mimic signal interference. Other themes convey
Cold War paranoia, ambivalence about the Kennedy era "New
Frontier," and anxiety about the burgeoning
military-industrial-governmental complex. The book points out that
The Outer Limits presaged what came to be known as "quality"
television. While most episodes followed the lowbrow tradition of
televised science fiction by adapting previously published stories
and films, the series elevated the genre by rearticulating it
through themes and images drawn from myth, literature, and the art
film. The Outer Limits is lucid yet accessible, well researched and
argued, with enlightening discussions of specific episodes even as
it gives attention to broader television history and theory. It
will be of special interest to scholars and students of television
and media studies, as well as fans of science fiction.
This key textbook traces the development of advertising from the
mid-nineteenth century to the present, providing connections with
the past that illuminate present developments and point to future
possibilities. Chapters take a variety of theoretical approaches to
address four main themes: how advertising imagines the future
through the promise of transformation; how tribalism creates a
sense of collective identity organised around a product; how
advertising builds engagement through participation/presumption;
how the blurring of advertising, news, art, education and
entertainment characterises the attention economy. P. David
Marshall and Joanne Morreale expertly trace these themes back to
the origins of consumer culture and demonstrate that, while they
have adapted to accord with new technologies, they remain the
central foci of advertising today. Ideal for researchers of Media
Studies, Communication, Cultural Studies or Advertising at all
levels, this is the essential guide to understanding the
contemporary milieu and future directions for the advertising
industry.
The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS 1961-1966) was a uniquely
self-reflexive sitcom that drew on vaudevillian tropes at a time
when vaudeville-based comedy variety was disappearing from
television. At the same time, it reflected the liberal politics of
the Kennedy era and gave equal time to home and work as it ushered
in a new image of the sitcom family. In The Dick Van Dyke Show,
author Joanne Morreale analyzes the series' innovative form and
content that altered the terrain of the television sitcom. Morreale
begins by finding the roots of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the
vaudeville-based comedy variety show and the "showbiz" sitcom, even
as it brought notable updates to the form. She also considers how
the series reflects the social context of Kennedy's New Frontier
and its impact on the television industry, as The Dick Van Dyke
Show responded to criticisms of television as mass entertainment.
She goes on to examine the series as an early example of quality
television that also pointed to the complex narrative of today,
examining the show's progressive representations of race,
ethnicity, and gender that influenced the content of later sitcoms.
Morreale concludes by considering The Dick Van Dyke Show's
afterlife, suggesting that the various reappearances of the
characters and the show itself demonstrates television's
"transseriality." Fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show and readers
interested in American television and cultural history will
appreciate this insightful reading of the series.
At a time when television offered limited opportunities for women,
Donna Reed was an Oscar-winning Hollywood actress who became both
producer (though largely uncredited) and star of her own television
show. Distinct from the patriarchal family sitcoms of the era, The
Donna Reed Show's storylines focused on the mother instead of the
father, and its production brought a cinematic aesthetic to
television situation comedy. In The Donna Reed Show, author Joanne
Morreale illustrates how the program pushed the boundaries of the
domestic sitcom at a time when the genre was evolving and also
reflected the subtle shifts and undercurrents of unrest in the
larger social and political culture. Morreale begins by locating
Donna Reed in relation to her predecessors Gertrude Berg and
Lucille Ball, both of whom were strong female presences in front of
and behind the camera. She also explores the telefilm aesthetics of
The Donna Reed Show and argues that the series is a prime example
of the emergent synergy between Hollywood and the television
industry in the late fifties. In addition, Morreale argues that the
Donna Stone character's femininity acts as a kind of masquerade, as
well as provides a proto-feminist model for housewives. She also
examines the show's representation of teen culture and its role in
launching the singing careers of its two teenaged stars. Finally,
Morreale considers the legacy of The Donna Reed Show in the
representation of its values in later sitcoms and its dialogue with
contemporary television texts. Morreale illustrates the interplay
of gender, industry, and culture at work in the history of this
classic TV series. Fans of the show, as well as students and
teachers of television history, will enjoy this close look at The
Donna Reed Show.
Choice essays on the TV sitcom lend insights into shifting cultural
modes and methods for television criticism.
This is the first anthology to present writings that examine the
TV sitcom in terms of its treatment of gender, family, class, race,
and ethnic issues. The selections range from early shows such as I
Remember Mama (George Lipsitz's "Why Remember Mama?" The Changing
Face of a Woman's Narrative) to the more recent Roseanne (Kathleen
Rowe's "Roseanne: Unruly Woman as Domestic Goddess"). The volume
also looks unflinchingly at major controversies, for example, the
NAACP boycott of the stereotypical yet wildly popular Amos n' Andy
and the queer reading of Laverne and Shirley.
These diverse essays constitute a veritable history of postwar
American mores. Some are classic, some forgotten, but all indicate
the importance of considering text and subtext (social, historic,
industrial) in the critical study of television. A final chapter by
the author bids sitcoms adieu with the "cultural spectacle of
Seinfeld's last episode."
Morreale traces the development of the documentary films produced
for presidential candidates from Calvin Coolidge in 1923 to George
Bush and Bill Clinton in 1992. The work provides insight into
today's visually oriented presidential campaign by analyzing the
production of candidates' images as the films evolve from classical
to modern forms. Campaign films are usually overlooked by campaign
scholars, yet they provide the fullest available visual portrait of
a candidate during a campaign, they encapsulate persuasive appeals
and strategies, and they illustrate Republican and Democratic
candidates' different approaches to mediated communication.
Morreale concludes that presidential campaign films provide a lens
through which we can view both changes and continuities in American
politics and culture. Recommended for scholars and students of
communication, political science, and history.
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