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This book fills a significant gap in the critical conversation on
race in media by extending interrogations of racial colorblindness
in American television to the industrial practices that shape what
we see on screen. Specifically, it frames the practice of
colorblind casting as a potent lens for examining the
interdependence of 21st century post-racial politics and popular
culture. Applying a 'production as culture' approach to a series of
casting case studies from American primetime dramatic television,
including ABC's Grey's Anatomy and The CW's The Vampire Diaries,
Kristen Warner complicates our understanding of the cultural
processes that inform casting and expounds the aesthetic and
pragmatic industrial viewpoints that perpetuate limiting or
downright exclusionary hiring norms. She also examines the material
effects of actors of color who knowingly participate in this system
and justify their limited roles as a consequence of employment, and
finally speculates on what alternatives, if any, are available to
correct these practices. Warner's insights are a valuable addition
to scholarship in media industry studies, critical race theory,
ethnic studies, and audience reception, and will also appeal to
those with a general interest in race in popular culture.
This book fills a significant gap in the critical conversation on
race in media by extending interrogations of racial colorblindness
in American television to the industrial practices that shape what
we see on screen. Specifically, it frames the practice of
colorblind casting as a potent lens for examining the
interdependence of 21st century post-racial politics and popular
culture. Applying a 'production as culture' approach to a series of
casting case studies from American primetime dramatic television,
including ABC's Grey's Anatomy and The CW's The Vampire Diaries,
Kristen Warner complicates our understanding of the cultural
processes that inform casting and expounds the aesthetic and
pragmatic industrial viewpoints that perpetuate limiting or
downright exclusionary hiring norms. She also examines the material
effects of actors of color who knowingly participate in this system
and justify their limited roles as a consequence of employment, and
finally speculates on what alternatives, if any, are available to
correct these practices. Warner's insights are a valuable addition
to scholarship in media industry studies, critical race theory,
ethnic studies, and audience reception, and will also appeal to
those with a general interest in race in popular culture.
Television scholarship has substantially ignored programming aimed
at Black audiences despite a few sweeping histories and critiques.
In this volume, the first of its kind, contributors examine the
televisual diversity, complexity, and cultural imperatives manifest
in programming directed at a Black and marginalized audience.
Watching While Black considers its subject from an entirely new
angle in an attempt to understand the lives, motivations,
distinctions, kindred lines, and individuality of various Black
groups and suggest what television might be like if such diversity
permeated beyond specialized enclaves. It looks at the macro
structures of ownership, producing, casting, and advertising that
all inform production, and then delves into television programming
crafted to appeal to black audiences-historic and contemporary,
domestic and worldwide. Chapters rethink such historically
significant programs as Roots and Black Journal, such seemingly
innocuous programs as Fat Albert and bro'Town, and such
contemporary and culturally complicated programs as Noah's Arc,
Treme, and The Boondocks. The book makes a case for the centrality
of these programs while always recognizing the racial dynamics that
continue to shape Black representation on the small screen.
Painting a decidedly introspective portrait across forty years of
Black television, Watching While Black sheds much-needed light on
under-examined demographics, broadens common audience
considerations, and gives deference to the the preferences of
audiences and producers of Black-targeted programming.
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