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Book Details
Abstract
‘From Happy Homemaker to Desperate Housewives: Motherhood and Popular Television’ is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to key debates concerning the representations of motherhood, motherwork and the maternal role in contemporary television programming. The volume looks at the construction of motherhood in the ostensibly female genre of soap opera; the mother as housewife in the domestic situation comedy; deviant, desiring and delinquent motherwork in the teen drama; the single working mother in the contemporary dramedy; the fragile and failing mother of reality parenting television; the serene and selfless celebrity motherhood profile; and the new mother in reality pregnancy and childbirth television. ‘Motherhood and Popular Television’ examines the depiction of motherhood in this wide range of popular television genres in order to illustrate how the maternal role is being constructed, circulated and interrogated in contemporary factual and fictional programming, paying particular attention to the ways in which such images can be seen to challenge or conform to the ideal image of the ‘good’ mother that dominates the contemporary cultural landscape.
Rebecca Feasey is Senior Lecturer in Film and Media Communications at Bath Spa University, UK.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half Title | i | ||
| Title | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| CONTENTS | vii | ||
| Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: THEORISING MOTHERHOOD ON THE SMALL SCREEN | 1 | ||
| Chapter 2 SOAP OPERA: CHALLENGING THE ‘GOOD’ MOTHER STEREOTYPE | 13 | ||
| Introduction | 13 | ||
| History of the Genre | 13 | ||
| Women and Soap Opera | 14 | ||
| Soap Opera and Motherhood | 16 | ||
| EastEnders | 18 | ||
| Abortion, Miscarriage and Impending Motherhood | 19 | ||
| Birth and Biological Mothers | 23 | ||
| Soap Opera and Other-Mothers | 26 | ||
| Conclusion | 28 | ||
| Chapter 3 SITUATION COMEDY: THE (UN)FUNNY MUMMY WARS | 29 | ||
| Introduction | 29 | ||
| History of the Genre | 29 | ||
| Situation Comedy and the Importance of Family | 30 | ||
| Situation Comedy, the Family and Social Change | 32 | ||
| Pregnancy and Motherhood in the Situation Comedy: Lucy, Murphy and Roseanne | 32 | ||
| Outnumbered | 41 | ||
| Maternal Routine and Motherwork | 42 | ||
| Women, Work and the Mother ‘Wars’ | 45 | ||
| Conclusion | 50 | ||
| Chapter 4 TEEN DRAMA: ABSENT, INEPT AND INTOXICATED MOTHERS | 53 | ||
| Introduction | 53 | ||
| The Teen Experience Within and Beyond the Small Screen | 53 | ||
| History of the Genre | 54 | ||
| Ineffective and Absent Parents in Teen Television | 56 | ||
| 90210 | 59 | ||
| Domestic Privilege and Problematic Motherhood | 60 | ||
| Power, Patriarchy and the Single Shift | 64 | ||
| Imperfect but Available Motherhood | 65 | ||
| Conclusion | 68 | ||
| Chapter 5 DRAMEDY: STRUGGLING, SEXUAL AND SISTERLY SINGLE MOTHERS | 71 | ||
| Introduction | 71 | ||
| History of the Genre | 71 | ||
| Single, Sexual and Sisterly Motherhood in the Dramedy Genre | 72 | ||
| Defining Single Motherhood in Society | 75 | ||
| The ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Single Mother | 79 | ||
| Gilmore Girls | 80 | ||
| A Myriad of Mothers on Gilmore Girls | 81 | ||
| Lorelai, Rory and the Sisterly Bond | 85 | ||
| Lorelai, Rory, Sex and Conversation | 87 | ||
| Lorelai, Rory and Domestic Indifference | 90 | ||
| Lorelai, Rory, Other-Mothers and the Community Effort | 91 | ||
| Lorelai, Emily and the Mother–Daughter Dynamic | 91 | ||
| Conclusion | 95 | ||
| Chapter 6 REALITY PARENTING PROGRAMMING: FRAGILE, FAILING AND INEFFECTUAL MOTHERS | 97 | ||
| Introduction | 97 | ||
| History of the Genre | 97 | ||
| Maternal Myths and the Monstrous Reality of Motherhood | 100 | ||
| Class, Gender and Parenting Programming | 106 | ||
| Supernanny | 110 | ||
| Positive and Empowering Parental Programming | 111 | ||
| Incompetent, Incapable and Ineffectual Mothers | 112 | ||
| Conclusion | 119 | ||
| Chapter 7 CELEBRITY REALITY TELEVISION: MAINTAINING THE ‘YUMMY MUMMY’ PROFILE | 121 | ||
| Introduction | 121 | ||
| Serene, Selfless and Spontaneous: The Celebrity Mother Profile | 122 | ||
| The Hierarchy of Contemporary Female Celebrity | 132 | ||
| Mothering and Motherwork in Celebrity Reality Television | 133 | ||
| Alicia Douvall: One Teenage Daughter, Body Dysmorphia and Glamour Modelling | 134 | ||
| Katie Price: Three Children, Two Fathers, Disability and Material Excess | 137 | ||
| Kerry Katona: Four Children, Two Fathers, Bankruptcy and Bipolar Disorder | 141 | ||
| Conclusion | 146 | ||
| Chapter 8 FACTUAL TELEVISION: PREGNANCY, DELIVERY AND THE NEW MOTHER | 147 | ||
| Introduction | 147 | ||
| The Changing ‘Nature’ of Childbirth | 147 | ||
| Women’s Voices and the Childbirth Experience | 153 | ||
| A Baby Story: The Cosy Reality of Pregnancy and Childbirth Television | 157 | ||
| Maternity Ward: The Difficult Reality of Pregnancy and Childbirth Television | 161 | ||
| One Born Every Minute UK | 163 | ||
| Fixed Cameras, No Commentary and a More Balanced View of Childbirth | 164 | ||
| Revealing the Hidden Truths of Pregnancy and Childbirth | 168 | ||
| Dramatic Action, Voice-Over Narration and Medicalised Childbirth in One Born Every Minute USA | 172 | ||
| Conclusion | 174 | ||
| Chapter 9 CONCLUSION | 177 | ||
| BIBLIOGRAPHY | 185 | ||
| INDEX | 203 |