Description
Book SynopsisShonda Rhimes is one of the most powerful players in contemporary American network television.
Adventures in Shondaland critically explores Shonda Rhimes’s meteoric rise to stardom, her reign (or cultural appointment) as television’s diversity queen, and Shondaland’s almost-universally lauded melodramatic narratives.
Trade Review"Full of sophisticated analysis, this comprehensive and robust edited collection explores a diverse range of topics, including identity, representation, fandom, the media industry, and reception/meaning-making.
Adventures in Shondaland is an impressive, necessary contribution to scholarship." -- Robin R. Means Coleman * coeditor of Fight the Power! The Spike Lee Reader *
"This is a must-read collection of research and essays on the showrunner whose shows have transformed must-see TV in the age of social media. Insightful, critical—and fun." -- Catherine R. Squires * author of The Post-Racial Mystique: Media and Race in the Twenty-First Century *
"Chronicle of Higher Education new scholarly books weekly book list, by Nina C. Ayoub * Chronicle of Higher Education *
" Recommended." * Choice *
With Good Reason Radio "The Shondaland Revolution" interview with Michaela D. E. Meyer * With Good Reason Radio *
"Offers a thorough account of the complex politics of representation in Shondaland and offers important insights for readers in television studies, feminist media studies and critical race studies." * Critical Studies in Television *
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction: Riding Shondaland’s Rollercoasters: Critical Cultural Television Studies in the 21st Century
Michaela D. E. Meyer and Rachel Alicia Griffin
Part I: Quality Television’s Cultural Dominance: The Auteur Comes to Television Studies
Chapter 1: Trauma, Spin, and Murder: The Carnival Spectacle in Shondaland
Richard G. Jones, Jr. and Emily Vajjala
Chapter 2: Wounded Detachments, Differential Alliances: Beyond Identity & Telos in Shondaland’s Heterotopia
Joan Faber McAlister
Chapter 3: Abortion in Shondaland: Daring Departures from Oppressive Industry Conventions
Jessica L. Furgerson
Chapter 4: Soundtracking Shondaland: Televisual Identity Mapped Through Music
Jennifer Billinson and Michaela D.E. Meyer
Part II: Shondaland’s Paradoxical Identity Politics and the Fantastical “Post-”
Chapter 5: Race (Lost and Found) in Shondaland: The Rise of Multiculuralism in Primetime Network Television
Jade Petermon
Chapter 6: Emb(Race)ing Visibility: Callie Torres’s (Im)Perfect Operation of Bisexuality on
Grey’s Anatomy Shadee Abdi and Bernadette Marie Calafell
Chapter 7: The Problematics of Postracial Colorblindness: Exploring Cristina Yang’s Asianness in
Grey’s Anatomy Stephanie L. Young and Vincent Pham
Chapter 8: Interracial Intimacies: From Shondaland to the Post-racial Promised Land
Myra Washington and Tina M. Harris
Part III: Consumption, Ethics, and Morality: Shondaland Fandom as Cultural Meaning Making
Chapter 9: #BlackLivesMatter on
Scandal: Analyzing Divergent Fan Reactions to ‘The Lawn Chair’ Episode
Mark P. Orbe
Chapter 10: Blurring Production Boundaries with Fan Empowerment:
Scandal as Social Television
Mary Ingram-Waters and Leslie Balderas
Chapter 11: Media Criticism & Morality Policing on Twitter: Fan Responses to
How to Get Away with Murder Melissa Ames
Chapter 12: Dying for the Next Episode: Living and Working Within Shondaland’s Medical Universe
Sean Swenson
Notes on Contributors
Index
