Amanda D. Lotz
Список книг автора Amanda D. LotzCable Guys
The emergence of «male-centered serials» such as The Shield, Rescue Me, and Sons Of Anarchy and the challenges these characters face in negotiating modern masculinities. Fromthe meth-dealing but devoted family man Walter White of AMC’s Breaking Bad,to the part-time basketball coach, part-time gigolo Ray Drecker of HBO’s Hung,depictions of male characters perplexed by societal expectations of men andanxious about changing American masculinity have become standard across thetelevision landscape. Engaging with a wide variety of shows, including TheLeague, Dexter, and Nip/Tuck, among many others, Amanda D. Lotzidentifies the gradual incorporation of second-wave feminism into prevailinggender norms as the catalyst for the contested masculinities on display incontemporary cable dramas. Examiningthe emergence of “male-centered serials” such as The Shield, Rescue Me, and Sons of Anarchy and the challenges these characters face in negotiatingmodern masculinities, Lotz analyzes how these shows combine feminist approachesto fatherhood and marriage with more traditional constructions of masculineidentity that emphasize men’s role as providers. She explores the dynamics ofclose male friendships both in groups, as in Entourage and Men of aCertain Age, wherein characters test the boundaries between the homosocialand homosexual in their relationships with each other, and in the dyadicintimacy depicted in Boston Legal and Scrubs. Cable Guys provides amuch needed look into the under-considered subject of how constructions of masculinitycontinue to evolve on television.
The Television Will Be Revolutionized, Second Edition
Go behind the TV screen to explore what is changing, why it is changing, and why the changes matters. Manyproclaimed the “end of television” in the early years of the twenty-firstcentury, as capabilities and features of the boxes that occupied a centralspace in American living rooms for the preceding fifty years were radicallyremade. In this revised, second editionof her definitive book, Amanda D. Lotz proves that rumors of the death oftelevision were greatly exaggerated and explores how new distribution andviewing technologies have resurrected the medium. Shifts in the basic practicesof making and distributing television have not been hastening its demise, butare redefining what we can do with television, what we expect from it, how weuse it—in short, revolutionizing it. Television,as both a technology and a tool for cultural storytelling, remains as importanttoday as ever, but it has changed in fundamental ways. The Television Will Be Revolutionized provides a sophisticatedhistory of the present, examining television in what Lotz terms the“post-network” era while providing frameworks for understanding the continuedchange in the medium. The second edition addresses adjustments throughout theindustry wrought by broadband delivered television such as Netflix, YouTube,and cross-platform initiatives like TV Everywhere, as well as how technologiessuch as tablets and smartphones have changed how and where we view. Lotz beginsto deconstruct the future of different kinds of television—exploring how“prized content,” live television sports and contests, and linear viewing mayall be “television,” but very different types of television for both viewersand producers. Throughinterviews with those working in the industry, surveys of trade publications,and consideration of an extensive array of popular shows, Lotz takes us behindthe screen to explore what is changing, why it is changing, and why the changesmatter.