Beyond Representation Television Drama and the Politics and Aesthetics of Identity

Beyond representation explores whether the last thirty years witnessed signs of "progress" or "progressiveness" in the representation of "marginalized" or subaltern identity categories within television drama in Britain and the US. In doing so, it interrogates some of the key assumptions concerning the relationship between aesthetics and the politics of identity that have influenced and informed television drama criticism during this period. This book examines ideas around politics and aesthetics, which emerge from such theories as Marxist-socialism and postmodernism, feminism and postmodern feminism, anti-racism and post colonialism, queer theory and theories of globalization, and evaluates their impact on television criticism and on television as an institution. These discussions are consolidated through a number of case studies that offer analyses of a range of television drama texts including "Ally McBeal", "Supply and Demand", "The Bill", "Second Generation", "Star Trek: Enterprise", "Queer as Folk", "Metrosexuality" and "The Murder of Stephen Lawrence".

Geraldine Harris is a Professor of Theatre Studies at Lancaster University

Introduction: Beyond the politics of identity? * Beyond realism? Modes of reading in Marxist-socialist and post-Marxist socialist, television drama criticism * The end(s) of feminism(s) from Madonna to Ally McBeal.? * Divided duties: diasporic subjectivities and ‘race relations’ dramas (Supply and Demand, The Bill, Second Generation) *  The world of enterprise: myths of the global and global myths (Star Trek) * Only human nature after all? Romantic attractions and queer dilemmas (Queer as Folk) * Conclusion: Beyond (simple) representation? Metrosexuality and The Murder of Stephen Lawrence