Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women's Movement Since 1970 (Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Political Culture) (Paperback)

by Bonnie, J. Dow (Author) "If television scholars had established a canon of "great works" akin to that which exists (although not without challenge) in literature, The Mary Tyler Moore..." (more)
Key Phrases: postfeminist attitudes, postfeminist discourse, postfeminist television, Mary Tyler Moore, Murphy Brown, Designing Women (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"The author offers surprising connections and comparisons in the book ...and she provides a solid overview of the women's movement in America to the present...Highly recommended for upper-division and graduate media, cultural, and feminist studies collections."--Choice "Dow's critical insights are inventive, ranging wisely across several disciplines, particularly the history of the U.S. women's movement."--Journal of Communication Dow discusses a wide variety of television programming and provides specific case studies of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, One Day at a Time, Designing Women, Murphy Brown, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. She juxtaposes analyses of genre, plot, character development, and narrative structure with the larger debates over feminism that took place at the time the programs originally aired. Dow emphasizes the power of the relationships among television entertainment, news media, women's magazines, publicity, and celebrity biographies and interviews in creating a framework through which television viewers "make sense" of both the medium's portrayal of feminism and the nature of feminism itself. "Prime-Time Feminism is an important book for scholars and courses in gender and the media. It is a crucial piece of a picture that has not always been pretty."--Quarterly Journal of Speech Bonnie J. Dow is Assistant Professor of Communication at North Dakota State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812215540
• ISBN-13: 978-0812215540
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #858,155 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the classroom, April 4, 2000

By	Dana G. Williams (Savoy, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're teaching a class on the image of women in television, Bonnie J. Dow's text is perfect for undergraduate students. It is very thorough in it's texts at examining Mary Tyler Moore, Murphy Brown, etc. It's a timeline of the women's movement through media images and analyzes them in terms of the context of the how society depicted the decades rather than in terms of the feminist movement.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Well-Written, June 25, 1998

By	Professor (Middle Tennessee) - See all my reviews

Dow is a marvelous writer and her subject of study has deserved this kind of treatment for ages. The book is limited by its focus on whiteness, but so is television itself! Dow does an impressive job of showing the links between TV and the feminist movement. Patterns and changes over time in the pursuit of women's rights become clearer as does the ways in which TV uses these patterns and changes. As enjoyable as but more serious and scholarly than Susan Douglas's _Where the Girls Are_. The "Mary Tyler Moore" show chapter is an absolute classic and a must-read.