The aesthetics of nostalgia TV : production design and the boomer era /
The Aesthetics of Nostalgia TV explores the aesthetic politics of nostalgia for 1950s and 60s America on contemporary television. Specifically, it looks at how nostalgic TV production design shapes and is shaped by larger historical discourses on gender and technological change, and America's p...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
Bloomsbury Academic,
2019
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| Summary: | The Aesthetics of Nostalgia TV explores the aesthetic politics of nostalgia for 1950s and 60s America on contemporary television. Specifically, it looks at how nostalgic TV production design shapes and is shaped by larger historical discourses on gender and technological change, and America's perceived decline as a global power. Alex Bevan argues that the aesthetics of nostalgic TV tell stories of their own about historical decline and progress, and the place of the baby boomer television suburb in American national memory. She contests theories on nostalgia that see it as stagnating, regressive or a reversion to outdated gender and racial politics, and the technophobic longing for a bygone era; and, instead, argues nostalgia is an important form of historical memory and vehicle for negotiating periods of historical transition. The book addresses how and why the shows construct the boomer era as a placeholder for gender, racial, technological and declensionist discourses of the present. The book uses Mad Men (AMC, 2007), Ugly Betty (ABC, 2006-2010), Desperate Housewives (ABC, 2004-2012) and film remakes of 1950s and 60s family sitcoms as primary case studies |
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| Physical Description: | xvi, 245 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 23 cm xvi, 245 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-237) and index Includes bibliographical references and index |
| ISBN: | 1501331418 1501368095 9781501331411 9781501368097 |