Watching Ideology at work: The Talk Show.

1. Watching Ideology at work: The Talk Show. Nikki Alliu, Jack Grand, Jillian,

2. Johnathan Schmitz ‘Abnormal’ ‘Amoral’ ‘the jenny jones show experienced its highest ratings ever’ ‘The public is getting what it wants, confrontation. And that the shows are filling a need, albeit a sick on in society’ – Janice Kaplin

3. Spectators and the ‘American Carinval’ Bakhtin Comparison of television talk shows to an American carnival ‘therefore it is the spectacle aspect of the carnival’ The people within the programmes are used as social scapegoates, intended to make the audience feel better about their personal sutations. http://youtube/h1X5R0sbUOc?t=2m

4. Roles within consumption. The Dominant Viewer The Moral Rationalist, or ‘Expert’ The Carnival ‘the look of horror’ Consumers Negative viewing allows positive reinforcement. ‘learn our place in a framework of mainstream reality’ Antagonist Whilst perceived to sustain middle class morally based values A function of entertainment ‘The Freak’ ‘to validate our values and beliefs’

5. Ideologies of Women. • Women appear on reality based tv shows • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rs5A62y-RI • Such programs humilate fat women for transgressing bodily norms • Project an impetus on the strive to be thin towards a modern female viewing audience

6. Supporting evidence • Post feminism and shopping films –Pretty woman • Although they might have core narratives about women finding themselves, there was constant feminist criticism of the tpe of woman involved (white, middle class) and the focus on the individual and the relative ease of their quests gfor meaning, and most problematic of all, a man • The texts therefore put forth a strong idology of co-dependent- family based in order to achivehappisness for a viewing female audience • ‘ a world where women are whores with warm hearts of gold and men are rich corporate raiders with organs in need of thawing by those self-same hearts’ walters 1995

7. Construction vs Reality. • ‘Class, Masculinity and Editorial Identity in the Reformation of the UK • Men’s Press’ • ‘iin the course of delineating the fascinating intersections between the cultures of these editors and the production and content of loaded, crewe draws attention to a series of interesting ambilances and contractions emergine from the editors’smself-narratives, particualarly surrounding issues of class, taste, mobility and education. Crewe argues that this rather defensive pattern of narrative is intimately bound up with construstions of hereosexual masculinity celebrated in the pages of loaded’ • ‘The threats against male misbehaviour simple werent as great, no mentions of rape or losing children’ – on talk shows commenting on womens sexual behaviour

8. Conclusion • These programmes maintiain class cohesion • Reinforce sexist ideologies, of a male stream soceity • The audience enjoy the text from a carnivalisticpersepcitive, allowing them to confirm their own social morals. • The programmes pit the audience agaisnt, and disassociate the participants, even when they really are ‘us’

9. Questions