television

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• SOURCE: The Drift
  9/14/2021
  

  XOXO, Ruling Class​: Gossip Girl, The O.C., and the New Gilded Age

  David Klion looks at TV producer Josh Schwartz's jump from "The OC" to "Gossip Girl" and argues that, after the 2007 financial crisis, popular culture was able to show the sociopathy of the super-rich. `

• 
• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  9/15/2021
  

  The Significance of Yasuke, the Black Samurai

  by Warren A. Stanislaus

  "While media coverage of Afro-Japanese encounters overwhelmingly focuses on incidents of racism or misunderstandings, Yasuke’s interaction with Japan has helped illuminate a rich but overlooked history of Afro-Japanese connectivity." 

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• SOURCE: AV Club
  9/13/2021
  

  Ken Burns's "Muhammad Ali" Well-Crafted, But Not Groundbreaking

  Ken Burns has an irresistable subject for his latest project. The problem isn't the quality of his film, but that so many others have gotten there first. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/13/2021
  

  "Negotiated Authenticity" and the Precarious Position of Black Creators in Television History

  "Since its invention, television has shaped this country’s self-image. To the extent that we share notions of “normal,” “acceptable,” “funny,” “wrong,” and even “American,” television has helped define them. For decades, Black writers were shut out of the rooms in which those notions were scripted."

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  9/9/2021
  

  "Impeachment" Shows How Different the Clinton Scandal Looks with Women at the Center

  by Nicole Hemmer

  "Monica Lewinsky fits squarely in this retelling of the work and experiences of women in the 1990s, as well as broader efforts to grapple with the influence of the decade on our current political travails."

• 
• SOURCE: Jacobin
  9/1/2021
  

  Socialist Actor Ed Asner Fought for Labor

  by Jeff Schuhrke

  Ed Asner fought for the representation of small-time actors in the Screen Actors Guild and protested American support for right-wing autocrats in Central America. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/29/2021
  

  Ron Popeil, Inventor and Ubiquitous Infomercial Pitchman, Dies at 86

  "Mr. Popeil’s mastery of television marketing, dating to the 1950s but spanning several decades, made him nearly as recognizable onscreen as the TV and movie stars of his era."

• 
• SOURCE: UChicago News
  5/25/2021
  

  The Hidden History Of “Guerrilla Television”: UChicago Scholars Preserve Decades-Old Videos

  Technological innovation in the 1960s allowed more people to shoot video and push for community-based television. University of Chicago scholars are working to digitize and preserve "guerrilla television." 

• 
• 5/16/2021
  

  FDR's Indispensable Right-Hand Woman Portrayed Unfairly – Again

  by Kathryn Smith

  A new PBS series on the Norwegian Royal Family's contact with FDR at the outset of World War II takes some liberties with the facts, but is particularly unfair to Marguerite LeHand, who was Roosevelt's de facto chief of staff for years. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/6/2021
  

  The Epic Journey to ‘The Underground Railroad’

  Director Barry Jenkins struggled with the ethical implications of making entertainment out of the brutal events narrated in Colson Whitehead's novel "Underground Railroad." He discusses how he decided to go ahead with the miniseries adaptation anyway. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/22/2021
  

  Hank Azaria Apologized for Playing Apu on ‘The Simpsons.’ I Accept

  An Indian American actress reflects on the impact of 30 years of the character of Apu on the wildly popular show, arguing it enshrined a performance akin to minstrelsy as the dominant view of South Asians in American culture. 

• 
• SOURCE: TIME
  4/7/2021
  

  How a New Kung Fu TV Series Is Reclaiming Much More Than Just the Martial Arts

  The reboot of the 1970s series reflects a history of activism by Asian Americans for greater representation and control of their image in popular culture. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/6/2021
  

  Review: ‘Exterminate All the Brutes’ Rewrites a Brutal History

  The atrocities documented in Raoul Peck's HBO film series on colonization of the western hemisphere are not news. That's part of what fuels the anger driving the film. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/19/2021
  

  In ‘Genius: Aretha,’ Respecting the Mind, Not Just the Soul

  "The full scale of Franklin’s contributions to her own music has long been obscured. She was a gifted songwriter and a superb pianist. In the studio, she was a taskmaster, pushing herself and her collaborators until they captured the exact sound she heard in her head — not easy for a Black female musician of her time."

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/12/2021
  

  Ken Burns Still Has Faith in a Shared American Story

  "The most important thing about me talking about race now is to say that I am in a position where I have to be quiet. You have to be quiet. There are other voices that need to speak. The dismantling of white supremacy is not just white people continually talking about the dismantling of white supremacy. You have to shut up and listen."

• 
• SOURCE: Hollywood Progressive
  2/28/2021
  

  Reflecting on Capitalism Through "I Care a Lot"

  by Walter G. Moss

  The new Netflix film "I Care a Lot" features a protagonist who preys on the elderly as an appointed conservator, and reflects the dangers of a social safety net entrusted to the profit motive. 

• 
• SOURCE: Hyperallergic
  3/1/2021
  

  An Invaluable Black Public Broadcasting Archive Is Now Accessible Online

  The American Archive of Public Broadcasting is a repository of interviews and broadcast content dealing with the spectrum of African American history and political activism. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  2/17/2021
  

  The Original Shock of AIDS in “It’s a Sin”

  The British show "It's a Sin" reconstructs the emergence of AIDS in London through the story of a group of flatmates working to reconcile fear and affirmation. 

• 
• 2/7/2020
  

  Unforgettable Images, and Something New in TV News

  by Ron Steinman

  A month past the Capitol Riots, a veteran television news journalist observes that the coverage of the chaotic protest and breach of the Capitol relied on something new: masses of journalists and citizens (including the rioters) recording video on their phones where TV cameras couldn't operate, forming a rich and important composite of the day's events. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/29/2020
  

  The Life in "The Simpsons" Is No Longer Attainable

  In the 1990s, "The Simpsons" drew humor by putting bizarre dysfunction in the context of middle class suburban banality. Today it's the idea of homeownership paid for by a stable single income that seems outlandish.