The West Wing's prime-time presidentiality: Mimesis and catharsis in a postmodern romance

Quarterly Journal of Speech

Volumn 88, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 209-227

  Parry Giles, Trevor ^a   Parry Giles, Shawn J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

Author keywords

Catharsis; Mimesis; Popular culture; Postmodernism; Presidentiality; Rhetorical presidency; Romance; The West Wing

Indexed keywords

EID: 0040675680     PISSN: 00335630     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00335630209384371     Document Type: Article

References (107)

1. According to the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/), 31 feature films were released in the 1990s and in 2000 that feature the president or members of the president's family or staff, including: Absolute Power (1997), Air Force One (1997), The American President (1995), Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue (1996), Bad Trout (2000), Chain of Command (2000), Clear and Present Danger (1994), The Contender (2000), Dave (1993), Deep Impact (1998), Deterrence (1999), Dick (1999), Executive Power (1997), Executive Target (1997), Feed (1992), First Daughter (2000), First Kid (1996), Hot Shots, Part Deux (1993), Guarding Tess (1994), In the Line of Fire (1993), Independence Day (1996), Jefferson in Paris (1995), JFK (1991), Mars Attacks! (1996), My Fellow Americans (1996), Nixon (1995), The Peacekeeper (1997), Primary Colors (1998), Shadow Conspiracy (1997), The War Room (1993), and Wild, Wild West (1999).
2. John M. Murphy reveals the power of popular culture and its depictions of the presidency when he suggests the possibility of a return to a heroic tradition for presidential rhetoric in his admiration for such mediated presidents as Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact, Harrison Ford in Air Force One, Bill Pullman in Independence Day, Michael Douglas in The American President, Kevin Kline in Dave, and Martin Sheen in The West Wing. See John M. Murphy, "The Heroic Tradition in Presidential Rhetoric," Rhetoric & Public Affairs 3 (2000): 466-70.
3. For a more extended discussion of presidentiality, see Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, Constructing Clinton: Hyperreality and Presidential Image-Making in Postmodern Politics (New York: Peter Lang, forthcoming). The term "presidentiality" rarely appears. It occurs once in memos written to President Gerald Ford by aide Foster Channock about the 1976 elections and the need to communicate Ford's "presidentiality." See "Thoughts on Presidentiality," Foster Channock Files, Gerald R. Ford Library, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mark Crispin Miller uses "presidentiality" to designate the "presidential" adjectives that George W. Bush lacks. See Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 32.
4. For a more extended discussion of presidentiality, see Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, Constructing Clinton: Hyperreality and Presidential Image-Making in Postmodern Politics (New York: Peter Lang, forthcoming). The term "presidentiality" rarely appears. It occurs once in memos written to President Gerald Ford by aide Foster Channock about the 1976 elections and the need to communicate Ford's "presidentiality." See "Thoughts on Presidentiality," Foster Channock Files, Gerald R. Ford Library, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mark Crispin Miller uses "presidentiality" to designate the "presidential" adjectives that George W. Bush lacks. See Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 32.
5. For a more extended discussion of presidentiality, see Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, Constructing Clinton: Hyperreality and Presidential Image-Making in Postmodern Politics (New York: Peter Lang, forthcoming). The term "presidentiality" rarely appears. It occurs once in memos written to President Gerald Ford by aide Foster Channock about the 1976 elections and the need to communicate Ford's "presidentiality." See "Thoughts on Presidentiality," Foster Channock Files, Gerald R. Ford Library, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mark Crispin Miller uses "presidentiality" to designate the "presidential" adjectives that George W. Bush lacks. See Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 32.
6. Our analysis concerns the first season of TWW (1999 -2000), with some references to the first episode of the second season.
7. See Richard W. Waterman, Robert Wright, and Gilbert K. St. Clair, The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), 161. Addressing the impact of the Clinton impeachment. Richard A. Posner contends that "The mystique of the Presidency became a casualty of the narration in the Starr Report and of the public interrogation of the President by a grand jury before a global audience." See An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 265. Others studies include Colin Campbell and Bert A. Rockman, eds., The Clinton Legacy (New York: Chatham House, 2000); and Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, eds., The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000).
8. See Richard W. Waterman, Robert Wright, and Gilbert K. St. Clair, The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), 161. Addressing the impact of the Clinton impeachment. Richard A. Posner contends that "The mystique of the Presidency became a casualty of the narration in the Starr Report and of the public interrogation of the President by a grand jury before a global audience." See An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 265. Others studies include Colin Campbell and Bert A. Rockman, eds., The Clinton Legacy (New York: Chatham House, 2000); and Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, eds., The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000).
9. See Richard W. Waterman, Robert Wright, and Gilbert K. St. Clair, The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), 161. Addressing the impact of the Clinton impeachment. Richard A. Posner contends that "The mystique of the Presidency became a casualty of the narration in the Starr Report and of the public interrogation of the President by a grand jury before a global audience." See An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 265. Others studies include Colin Campbell and Bert A. Rockman, eds., The Clinton Legacy (New York: Chatham House, 2000); and Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, eds., The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000).
10. See Richard W. Waterman, Robert Wright, and Gilbert K. St. Clair, The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), 161. Addressing the impact of the Clinton impeachment. Richard A. Posner contends that "The mystique of the Presidency became a casualty of the narration in the Starr Report and of the public interrogation of the President by a grand jury before a global audience." See An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 265. Others studies include Colin Campbell and Bert A. Rockman, eds., The Clinton Legacy (New York: Chatham House, 2000); and Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, eds., The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000).
11. John Fiske contends that the postmodernist "refutes any hierarchicalization of the different truths produced by the different modes of representation." Accordingly, concentrations of power are criticized and distinctions between truth and falsehood are problematized, politicized, and associated with "specific historical time and geographical region." See Media Matters: Race and Gender in U.S. Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 62. See also Linda J. Nicholson, ed., "Introduction," in Feminism/Postmodernism (New York: Routledge, 1990), 4.
12. John Fiske contends that the postmodernist "refutes any hierarchicalization of the different truths produced by the different modes of representation." Accordingly, concentrations of power are criticized and distinctions between truth and falsehood are problematized, politicized, and associated with "specific historical time and geographical region." See Media Matters: Race and Gender in U.S. Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 62. See also Linda J. Nicholson, ed., "Introduction," in Feminism/Postmodernism (New York: Routledge, 1990), 4.
13. Several commentators note the decline of the contemporary presidency. See Stephen Paul Miller, The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999); and Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (New York: Free Press, 2001).
14. Several commentators note the decline of the contemporary presidency. See Stephen Paul Miller, The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999); and Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (New York: Free Press, 2001).
15. nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1988); Joseph N. Cappella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); William Chaloupka, Everybody Knows: Cynicism in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999); Roderick P. Hart, Seducing America: How Television Charms the Modern Voter (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); and Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order (New York: A. Knopf, 1993).
16. nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1988); Joseph N. Cappella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); William Chaloupka, Everybody Knows: Cynicism in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999); Roderick P. Hart, Seducing America: How Television Charms the Modern Voter (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); and Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order (New York: A. Knopf, 1993).
17. nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1988); Joseph N. Cappella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); William Chaloupka, Everybody Knows: Cynicism in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999); Roderick P. Hart, Seducing America: How Television Charms the Modern Voter (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); and Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order (New York: A. Knopf, 1993).
18. nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1988); Joseph N. Cappella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); William Chaloupka, Everybody Knows: Cynicism in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999); Roderick P. Hart, Seducing America: How Television Charms the Modern Voter (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); and Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order (New York: A. Knopf, 1993).
19. nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1988); Joseph N. Cappella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); William Chaloupka, Everybody Knows: Cynicism in America (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999); Roderick P. Hart, Seducing America: How Television Charms the Modern Voter (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); and Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order (New York: A. Knopf, 1993).
20. Sharon Waxman, "Inside The West Wing's New World," George (November 2000): 54-9; 94-6.
21. James W. Chesebro, "Communication, Values, and Popular Television Series - A Seventeen-Year Assessment," Communication Quarterly 39 (1991): 220. We do not rely on Chesebro's conclusion that in mimetic communication characters mirror the audience.
22. Audiences evaluate messages differently, resulting in polyvalent texts reflecting their ideological positioning. See Jodi R. Cohen, "The 'Relevance' of Cultural Identity in Audiences' Interpretations of Mass Media," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8 (1994): 442-54; Celeste Michelle Condit, "The Rhetorical Limits of Polysemy," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6 (1989): 103-22; Brenda Cooper, "The Relevancy and Gender Identity in Spectators' Interpretations of Thelma & Louise," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 16 (1999): 20-41; and Bonnie J. Dow, Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women's Movement Since 1970 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).
23. Audiences evaluate messages differently, resulting in polyvalent texts reflecting their ideological positioning. See Jodi R. Cohen, "The 'Relevance' of Cultural Identity in Audiences' Interpretations of Mass Media," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8 (1994): 442-54; Celeste Michelle Condit, "The Rhetorical Limits of Polysemy," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6 (1989): 103-22; Brenda Cooper, "The Relevancy and Gender Identity in Spectators' Interpretations of Thelma & Louise," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 16 (1999): 20-41; and Bonnie J. Dow, Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women's Movement Since 1970 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).
24. Audiences evaluate messages differently, resulting in polyvalent texts reflecting their ideological positioning. See Jodi R. Cohen, "The 'Relevance' of Cultural Identity in Audiences' Interpretations of Mass Media," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8 (1994): 442-54; Celeste Michelle Condit, "The Rhetorical Limits of Polysemy," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6 (1989): 103-22; Brenda Cooper, "The Relevancy and Gender Identity in Spectators' Interpretations of Thelma & Louise," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 16 (1999): 20-41; and Bonnie J. Dow, Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women's Movement Since 1970 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).
25. Audiences evaluate messages differently, resulting in polyvalent texts reflecting their ideological positioning. See Jodi R. Cohen, "The 'Relevance' of Cultural Identity in Audiences' Interpretations of Mass Media," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8 (1994): 442-54; Celeste Michelle Condit, "The Rhetorical Limits of Polysemy," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6 (1989): 103-22; Brenda Cooper, "The Relevancy and Gender Identity in Spectators' Interpretations of Thelma & Louise," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 16 (1999): 20-41; and Bonnie J. Dow, Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women's Movement Since 1970 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).
26. Fred I. Greenstein, The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Clinton (New York: Martin Kessler Books/Free Press, 2000), 3.
27. See Barbara Hinckley, The Symbolic Presidency: How Presidents Portray Themselves (New York: Routledge, 1990).
28. Stephen Skowronek, The Politics that Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1997), 15, emphasis added.
29. Jeffrey Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), 203.
30. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
31. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
32. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
33. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
34. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
35. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
36. rd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997); and Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996). A review of the literature on the rhetorical presidency is offered by Mary Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak, "The Rhetorical Presidency: Deepening Vision, Widening Exchange," Communication Yearbook 21 (1998): 405-41.
37. Martin J. Medhurst, "Introduction," in Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1996), xi.
38. Thomas B. Farrell, "Rhetorical Resemblance: Paradoxes of a Practical Art," Quarterly Journal of Speech 72 (1986): 17.
39. The most famous example is Bill Clinton's 1992 appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show. During the 2000 election campaign, Al Gore and George W. Bush appeared on Oprah, Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show, and Live with Regis, among others. For discussions of this phenomenon, see Richard Davis and Diana Owen, New Media and American Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); and Edwin Diamond and Robert A. Silverman, White House to Your House: Media and Politics in Virtual America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997).
40. The most famous example is Bill Clinton's 1992 appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show. During the 2000 election campaign, Al Gore and George W. Bush appeared on Oprah, Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show, and Live with Regis, among others. For discussions of this phenomenon, see Richard Davis and Diana Owen, New Media and American Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); and Edwin Diamond and Robert A. Silverman, White House to Your House: Media and Politics in Virtual America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997).
41. Gunter Gebauer and Christoph Wulf, Mimesis: Culture, Art, Society, translated by Don Reneau (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 317. See also Thomas Twining, "On Poetry Considered as an Imitative Art," in Aristotle's 'Poetics' and English Literature: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Elder Olson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), 45-6.
42. Gunter Gebauer and Christoph Wulf, Mimesis: Culture, Art, Society, translated by Don Reneau (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 317. See also Thomas Twining, "On Poetry Considered as an Imitative Art," in Aristotle's 'Poetics' and English Literature: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Elder Olson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), 45-6.
43. Gebauer and Wulf, Mimesis, 119.
44. Lee Sigelman, "Taking Popular Fiction Seriously," in Reading Political Stories: Representations of Politics in Novels and Pictures, edited by Maureen Whitebrook (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1992), 151.
45. James Combs argues, "Movies are part of the communication process wherein a political-culture-in-time is defining what's happening politically in the context of temporal immediacy." See American Political Movies: An Annotated Filmography of Feature Films (New York: Garland, 1990), xii.
46. Chesebro, "Communication, Values, and Popular Television Series," 213.
47. Walter R. Fisher, "Romantic Democracy, Ronald Reagan, and Presidential Heroes," Western Journal of Speech Communication 46 (1982): 302.
48. Christopher Caudwell, Romance and Realism: A Study in English Bourgeois Literature, edited by Samuel Hynes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970), 37.
49. Northrop Frye, The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976), 55.
50. Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (New York: Atheneum, 1967), 186.
51. William Lewis, "Of Innocence, Exclusion, and the Burning of Flags: The Romantic Realism of the Law," Southern Communication Journal 60 (1994): 12.
52. Frye, The Secular Scripture, 50.
53. Lewis, "Of Innocence, Exclusion, and the Burning of Flags," 12.
54. John M. Murphy, "Knowing the President: The Dialogic Evolution of the Campaign History," Quarterly Journal of Speech 84 (1998): 30.
55. nd ed., edited by Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1997), 196; and Wendy B. Faris, "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction," in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 185.
56. nd ed., edited by Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1997), 196; and Wendy B. Faris, "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction," in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 185.
57. nd ed., edited by Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1997), 196; and Wendy B. Faris, "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction," in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 185.
58. A complete list of the awards and honors received by TWW and its cast can be found at http://www.geocities. com/westwing01/.
59. Waxman, "Inside The West Wing's New World," 94.
60. Julian Rubinstein, "Politically Correct," US, October 1999, 74.
61. Mary Murphy, "House Call," TV Guide, July 22-28, 2000, 15-24.
62. Matthew Miller, "The Real White House," Brill's Content, March 2000, 88. A New York Times article assesses the realism of TWW, noting areas in which "the show is much glossier than the reality." See "'West Wing' Fact and Fiction," New York Times, July 2001, 14.
63. Matthew Miller, "The Real White House," Brill's Content, March 2000, 88. A New York Times article assesses the realism of TWW, noting areas in which "the show is much glossier than the reality." See "'West Wing' Fact and Fiction," New York Times, July 2001, 14.
64. Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, 187.
65. Joshua Meyrowitz, No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 268-304.
66. Other television exigencies explain why the characters on TWW are routinely shown multitasking as they circulate through the offices and corridors of the White House. Lewis Grossberger noted that "the producers realized the show would be big on talk." Conversation is not visually exciting "so the actors have to shout their lines while rushing past each other and racing in and out of each other's offices. Everyone is constantly in motion, spouting political gibberish." Such activity reinforces a sense of turmoil and uncertainty, which becomes central to TWWs vision of presidentiality. See Lewis Grossberger, "Now and Before," Media Week, October 18, 1999, 82.
67. Caren J. Deming notes that unlike most melodramas, which are "essentially a modernist form," the police drama Hill Street Blues aid not offer "moral absolutes" or heroes with "certainty of virtue." See Caren J. Deming, "Hill Street Blues as Narrative," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 2 (1985): 7.
68. See Lois Parkinson Zamora, "Magical Romance/Magical Realism: Ghosts in U.S. and Latin American Fiction," in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 511; Chesebro, "Communication, Values, and Popular Television Series," 215; and Murphy, "The Heroic Tradition in Presidential Rhetoric."
69. See Lois Parkinson Zamora, "Magical Romance/Magical Realism: Ghosts in U.S. and Latin American Fiction," in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 511; Chesebro, "Communication, Values, and Popular Television Series," 215; and Murphy, "The Heroic Tradition in Presidential Rhetoric."
70. See Lois Parkinson Zamora, "Magical Romance/Magical Realism: Ghosts in U.S. and Latin American Fiction," in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 511; Chesebro, "Communication, Values, and Popular Television Series," 215; and Murphy, "The Heroic Tradition in Presidential Rhetoric."
71. Most citations from TWW derive from videotapes of the episodes, but some citations are from transcripts of the program previously found at http://www.testytoads.com/TWW/. This site has ceased operation, and all transcripts from this site were matched to the videotaped version of the episode.
72. Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, 187.
73. Deming, "Hill Street Blues as Narrative," 15.
74. Robert W. Connell, Gender and Power: Society, the Person, and Sexual Politics (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987). See also Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, "Gendered Politics and Presidential Image Construction: A Reassessment of the 'Feminine Style,'" Communication Monographs 63 (1996): 337-53.
75. Robert W. Connell, Gender and Power: Society, the Person, and Sexual Politics (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987). See also Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, "Gendered Politics and Presidential Image Construction: A Reassessment of the 'Feminine Style,'" Communication Monographs 63 (1996): 337-53.
76. The Clinton administration worked with Hollywood to lessen the amount of violence in television and film, and the president called on the entertainment industry to work with the administration to create more positive television programming for children in his 1996 "State of the Union" address. See William Jefferson Clinton, "1996 State of the Union Address," January 23, 1996, http://clinton4.nara.gov/textonly/WH/New/ other/sotu.html.
77. Lesley Johnson, "'As Housewives we are Worms': Women, Modernity, and the Home Question," in Feminism & Cultural Studies, edited by Morag Shiach (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 478.
78. In 1992, Bill Clinton promised to create a White House that looked like the nation. When TWW first aired, DeWayne Wickham of USA Today maintains that Ben Johnson of President Clinton's Initiative for One America visited with TWW's producers to encourage greater diversity on the program so as to help "this nation escape the bog of our racial division." See DeWayne Wickham, "TV's White House is Just Too White," USA Today, March 21, 2000, available at www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/ wickham/wick073.htm.
79. See Nick Trujillo, "Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8 (1991): 291.
80. Susan Brownmiller, Femininity (New York: Linden Press/Simon & Schuster, 1984), 16.
81. See "Media Advisory: NAACP to Take New Actions to Increase Television Diversity," May 24, 2001, available at http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/TVdiv52401.shtml.
82. Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for 'Blackness' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), 171-2. Thomas K. Nakayama discusses the tendency to "(re)construct white heterosexual masculinity [i.e., power] in the wake of an emasculating Vietnam experience, and with a white society facing a multicultural future." See "Show/Down Time: 'Race,' Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 11 (1994): 162-79.
83. Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for 'Blackness' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), 171-2. Thomas K. Nakayama discusses the tendency to "(re)construct white heterosexual masculinity [i.e., power] in the wake of an emasculating Vietnam experience, and with a white society facing a multicultural future." See "Show/Down Time: 'Race,' Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 11 (1994): 162-79.
84. Murray Edelman, From Art to Politics: How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 63.
85. See Fiske, Media Matters, 62. See also Stephen H. Browne, "Remembering Crispus Attucks: Race, Rhetoric, and the Politics of Commemoration," Quarterly Journal of Speech 85 (1999): 186; and Eva Illouz, "The Lost Innocence of Love: Romance as a Postmodern Condition," Theory, Culture & Society 15 (1998): 161-86.
86. See Fiske, Media Matters, 62. See also Stephen H. Browne, "Remembering Crispus Attucks: Race, Rhetoric, and the Politics of Commemoration," Quarterly Journal of Speech 85 (1999): 186; and Eva Illouz, "The Lost Innocence of Love: Romance as a Postmodern Condition," Theory, Culture & Society 15 (1998): 161-86.
87. See Fiske, Media Matters, 62. See also Stephen H. Browne, "Remembering Crispus Attucks: Race, Rhetoric, and the Politics of Commemoration," Quarterly Journal of Speech 85 (1999): 186; and Eva Illouz, "The Lost Innocence of Love: Romance as a Postmodern Condition," Theory, Culture & Society 15 (1998): 161-86.
88. Images of "realism" typically are "conservative" because of the "acceptance of society in its present structure." See Frye, The Secular Scripture, 164.
89. Edelman, From Art to Politics, 63.
90. Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, 187.
91. See Frye, The Secular Scripture, 58; and John A. McClure, "Postmodern Romance: Don DeLillo and the Age of Conspiracy," South Atlantic Quarterly 89 (1990): 353.
92. See Frye, The Secular Scripture, 58; and John A. McClure, "Postmodern Romance: Don DeLillo and the Age of Conspiracy," South Atlantic Quarterly 89 (1990): 353.
93. Chesebro, "Communication, Values, and Popular Television Series," 206.
94. nd ed. (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994).
95. Forrest McDonald, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994), 433. See also Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, "Meta-Imaging, The War Room, and the Hyperreality of American Politics," Journal of Communication 49 (1999): 28-45; Samuel L. Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Theodore O. Windt, Jr., "Presidential Rhetoric: Definition of a Field of Study," Central Stales Speech Journal 35 (1984): 24-34.
96. Forrest McDonald, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994), 433. See also Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, "Meta-Imaging, The War Room, and the Hyperreality of American Politics," Journal of Communication 49 (1999): 28-45; Samuel L. Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Theodore O. Windt, Jr., "Presidential Rhetoric: Definition of a Field of Study," Central Stales Speech Journal 35 (1984): 24-34.
97. Forrest McDonald, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994), 433. See also Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, "Meta-Imaging, The War Room, and the Hyperreality of American Politics," Journal of Communication 49 (1999): 28-45; Samuel L. Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Theodore O. Windt, Jr., "Presidential Rhetoric: Definition of a Field of Study," Central Stales Speech Journal 35 (1984): 24-34.
98. Forrest McDonald, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994), 433. See also Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, "Meta-Imaging, The War Room, and the Hyperreality of American Politics," Journal of Communication 49 (1999): 28-45; Samuel L. Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Theodore O. Windt, Jr., "Presidential Rhetoric: Definition of a Field of Study," Central Stales Speech Journal 35 (1984): 24-34.
99. Bruce Miroff, Icons of Democracy: American Leaders as Heroes, Aristocrats, Dissenters, and Democrats (New York: Basic Books, 1993), 354-5.
100. Laura Mulvey, Visual and Other Pleasures (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989).
101. Thomas K. Nakayama and Robert L. Krizek, "Whiteness: A Strategic Rhetoric," Quarterly Journal of Speech 81 (1995): 293.
102. Homi K. Bhabha, "The Other Question: Difference, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism," in Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, edited by Russell Ferguson, et al. (New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990), 71-2. See also Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979); and Nakayama, "Show/Down Time," 162-79. John A. McClure implicitly connects western ways of knowing with modernist expressions. See McClure, "Postmodern Romance," 347.
103. Homi K. Bhabha, "The Other Question: Difference, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism," in Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, edited by Russell Ferguson, et al. (New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990), 71-2. See also Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979); and Nakayama, "Show/Down Time," 162-79. John A. McClure implicitly connects western ways of knowing with modernist expressions. See McClure, "Postmodern Romance," 347.
104. Homi K. Bhabha, "The Other Question: Difference, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism," in Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, edited by Russell Ferguson, et al. (New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990), 71-2. See also Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979); and Nakayama, "Show/Down Time," 162-79. John A. McClure implicitly connects western ways of knowing with modernist expressions. See McClure, "Postmodern Romance," 347.
105. Homi K. Bhabha, "The Other Question: Difference, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism," in Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, edited by Russell Ferguson, et al. (New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990), 71-2. See also Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979); and Nakayama, "Show/Down Time," 162-79. John A. McClure implicitly connects western ways of knowing with modernist expressions. See McClure, "Postmodern Romance," 347.
106. "Changing Images of Government in TV Entertainment," Council for Excellence in Government, June 5, 2001, available at http://www.excelgov.org/ index.htm.
107. Edelman, From Art to Politics, 62 (emphasis in original).