The Prime-Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. NationalismContrasting strong women and multiculturalism with portrayals of a heroic white male leading the nation into battle, The Prime-Time Presidency explores the NBC drama The West Wing, paying particular attention to its role in promoting cultural meaning about the presidency and U.S. nationalism. Based in a careful, detailed analysis of the "first term" of The West Wing's President Josiah Bartlet, this criticism highlights the ways the text negotiates powerful tensions and complex ambiguities at the base of U.S. national identity--particularly the role of gender, race, and militarism in the construction of U.S. nationalism. Unlike scattered and disparate collections of essays, Trevor Parry-Giles and Shawn J. Parry-Giles offer a sustained, ideologically driven criticism of The West Wing. The Prime-time Presidency presents a detailed critique of the program rooted in presidential history, an appreciation of television's power as a source of political meaning, and television's contribution to the articulation of U.S. national identity. |
Contents
| 21 | |
2 Gendered Nationalism and The West Wing | 54 |
3 Racialized Nationalism and The West Wing | 87 |
4 Militarized Nationalism and The West Wing | 118 |
5 The West Wings PrimeTime Nationalism | 151 |
The West Wing Episode Directory | 173 |
Other editions - View all
The Prime-Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism Shawn J. Parry-Giles No preview available - 2006 |
The Prime-Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism Trevor Parry-Giles,Shawn J. Parry-Giles No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Sorkin Abigail Bartlet affirmative action African American Alex Graves American presidency articulates campaign characters chief of staff Christopher Misiano Clinton color conflict confronts Congress construction context define depiction discourse dominant drama frame election enemies episode entitled Feminism fictional fight fighting figure film fire first season Fitzwallace gender heroic ideological influence Iosh issues Josh Josiah Bartlet Kersh Landingham leaders Leadership Leo’s male Martin Sheen masculinity Media military moral narrative national identity nationalistic o’LEARY office official Parry—Giles plot plotline portrayed pres President Bartlet presidential hero presidential heroism Qumar race racial reelection reflects reinforces relationship republican response Rhetorical Presidency role romantic Roosevelt Russian sexualized show’s significant specific staffers television tells terrorism terrorist Thomas Schlamme tion tionalism Toby Toby Ziegler TWI/V’s TWW’s U.S. nationalism U.S. presidency U.S. representative United University Press viewers voice West Wing White House women written by Aaron
Popular passages
Page 22 - In every age the ruling social or intellectual class tends to project its ideals in some form of romance, where the virtuous heroes and beautiful heroines represent the ideals and the villains the threats to their ascendancy.
Page 12 - In the literary artistic chronotope, spatial and temporal indicators are fused into one carefully thought-out, concrete whole. Time, as it were, thickens, takes on flesh, becomes artistically visible; likewise, space becomes charged and responsive to the movements of time, plot and history.
Page 14 - In fact, all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined. Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined.