Is Dynasty a Clone of Dallas ?: Reading Formations for Cultural Politics in Consumer Culture*

• 영문명: Is Dynasty a Clone of Dallas ?: Reading Formations for Cultural Politics in Consumer Culture*
• 발행기관: 한국외국어대학교 영미연구소
• 저자명: Eunjung Park
• 간행물 정보: 『영미연구』제12집, 45~61쪽, 전체 17쪽
• 주제분류: 사회과학 > 지역학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2005.06.01

영문 초록

  In January, 1981, Dynasty took to the air, while Dallas overtook as the most high-rated television program in America. This paper will argue that the public and private reaction to Dynasty should be understood in context of the role of T.V. media in consumer culture. Dynasty and Dallas are both shown to represent the mass desires of consumers because they are versions of the perennial myth of the American Dream, linked as it is with the Western cowboy myth as a dominant political and national self-image. It is shown that Dynasty, especially, dealt with the issues of gender and sexuality in the Reagan era. Also revealed is the fact that Dynasty primarily projected an upper-class ambience of consumer culture through its openness toward sexuality that was an important feature of American culture in Reagan’s America. Focus is given to the key role of Alexis, who is portrayed as an aggressive, power-hungry, and enormously successful career woman. The paper concludes showing that the commercial success of Dynasty occurred despite the fact that female economic and socio-sexual power and male gay sensibility are somewhat slippery phenomenon not easily identifiable with by innumerable televisual subjects.

목차

Ⅰ. Introduction
Ⅱ. History, Reading Formations, and the Televisual Apparatus
Ⅲ. The Cultural Politics of Dynasty: Politics, Myth, and the American Dream
Ⅳ. Female Historical Subjects
Ⅴ. Concluding observations
Works Cited
Abstract

키워드

Dynasty TV serial reading formation Regan’s 1980s sexuality American Dream