The Extratextuals

What are the media stereotypes of your hometown or current residence that bug you the most?

Many media depictions of New York head in one of two directions: we’re either below 125th Street and wealthy, or above and in an urban nightmare. So there’s Sex and the City, Friends, and endless others on one hand, or Law and Order on the other. I’ve now lived here on and off for seven years, yet have completely missed both New Yorks.

One of the most annoying and seemingly common NYC-on-screen myths is of the rent-controlled apartment. This is conveniently necessary for shows like Friends, to explain how people who are meant to be “just like you” live in a place that you will never be able to afford. One would think that there’s a separate section of Craigslist for rent-controlled apartments, or that one’s offered the chance to flip a coin upon arrival in the city, and if it’s heads, congrats, your rent is controlled below $600/month.

Also, because so many New Yorkers on screen are wealthy, they take cabs everywhere. Or on the off chance that they head down to the subway, it’s filthy, and full of odd, threatening people. I spend too much time on the subway, and resent it accordingly, but it’s also the lifeblood of the city, and way more interesting, vibrant, and cultured than television would allow one to believe. House guests always find a ride on our local train, the #7, fascinating, hearing multiple languages, seeing all ages, classes, races, and styles.

And because so many screen New Yorkers take cabs, their commutes are quick, and they have an endless supply of free time. The entire cast of Friends appear to work within half a block of Central Perk, or they must, because nobody complains about spending an hour on the 4 because it decided to run local, or on the G because the MTA is doing work on the tracks. No wonder they’re all so happy, without those pesky commutes.

Then there’s the Bronx, and a stream of perpetual murders, gang fights, and juvenile delinquency in progress. Even though in reality almost two thirds of the population of New York City are non-White or White Hispanic, not too many of them seem to be below 125th Street on screen, except when delivering a pizza, washing dishes in a kitchen, working in a Chinatown sweatshop, or working as a cop. Instead, it seems that they’re all hanging out in the Bronx or dodgy areas of Brooklyn or Queens, committing crimes, or covering up for others who are doing so.

How about you? What media stereotypes of your home bug you?

Uncategorized Friends, New York, Sex and the City, stereotypes

I’ve been enjoying looking at some of yesterday’s April Fools Day pranks. Some highlights, along with a few historical favorites at the end:
For the TV Studies geeks in the crowd, Mark Fowler’s “toaster with pictures” came to life with a new BBC iPlayer-enabled toaster (see above)

And for those worrying about the future of print journalism, confirmation that the end is near from the Guardian, who announced they’re going to work solely by Twitter from now on

Google offered an autopilot response tool:

Yahoo, meanwhile, countered with its new Ideological Search, allowing you to screen out everything from those you disagree with

For any guy who was a pre-teen with parents with a subscription to National Geographic comes the compilation they always wanted, a Best of the Breasts book

Lost fans may have worried that the grand conclusion is that everyone’s dead (except for Aaron, who can see them all), if they heard that M. Night Shyamalan had been booked to film the series conclusion

Those hoping for a great vacation could get to Mars for a steal, with Expedia offering packages for $99

And it seems as though scientists located the first cell that began the Big Bang

Now, for some historical favorites of mine (for a large list go to the Museum of Hoaxes):

In 1998, Alabama tried to legislate pi back down to its “Biblical value” of 3.0.

Elsewhere that year, the good folks at Burger King were thinking of the poor southpaws who just can’t eat a burger properly, and so they created the Left Handed Whopper

In 1992, NPR’s Talk of the Nation announced that Richard Nixon was set to run for office again. His priceless quote: “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”

And last, but not least, we take you to Switzerland in 1957, when the spaghetti weevil had been beat, leading to a bumper crop of spaghetti:

What were your favorites, this year or years past?

Uncategorized April Fools Day, pranks

After having ordered two more seasons of The Simpsons, FOX has cleared the way for the show to soon become the longest running primetime show in American television history. It will edge out Gunsmoke for the title. Add in the Tracey Ullman years, and your average undergrad has never lived in a world without Homer.

I think it’s worth pointing out that primetime television’s longest resident will also therefore be one of its more iconoclastic. More after the fold …
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Uncategorized Gunsmoke, The Simpsons

I am very happy to announce that I’ll be moving to the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, effective this summer. I’m thrilled to be joining the Media and Cultural Studies group, along with the other Comm Arts folk. There are many reasons to be happy, and some to be sad. I’ve had to be relatively secretive about the whole search process, and thus I want to share for those who may’ve been in the dark. For any readers who don’t really give a damn, forgive my self-indulgence. For others …

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Uncategorized Madison

I went to see the filming of the Martha Stewart Show this week. A former student was an intern there, and very kindly arranged for my wife and I to go. I can’t say I’m a fan, though I’m not an anti-fan either: Martha’s often surprised me by not being the stereotype she’s purported to be. She also has a reputation for giving away freebies, and I love seeing how shows happen, so I was keen to go. More after the fold …

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Uncategorized hyperreality, live audience, Martha Stewart

Purely as a silly little exercise, I thought it would be interesting to compare the per hour price of a variety of media/entertainment sources for me. We often compare total costs, yet this strikes me as foolish, since not all media/entertainment fill the same amount of time, and thus I wanted to move things to a per hour price. Follow me beyond the fold …
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Uncategorized cost, price

Since I made such a big deal of it, I thought I’d follow up my last post with just a couple thoughts after last night’s Boston Legal finale:

Small spoilers ahead!

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Uncategorized Boston Legal

Once more, I’m getting my inspiration to blog from a post at Ken Levine’s blog. Apparently the mayor of a small town in Turkey believes that royalties from Warner Bros should be forthcoming to the town for their use of his town’s name. See, he’s the mayor of Batman (and here I was thinking that Sheriff of Nottingham was a good title to have!), and so the mayor has taken umbrage at The Dark Knight using the name without asking.

The story reeks of being a rather Orientalized hoax, and I almost expect to see news tape with the mayor played by Sacha Baron Cohen. So let’s proceed with caution.

But part of me thinks that the content industries deserve such allegations. When they crack down on fans for writing fiction with “their” characters, how can we not appreciate it when the mayor of Batman gets angry at Time Warner? In a rapidly globalizing world (in which the mayor of Batman only now hears about this guy called Batman?! Don’t anyone show him Schumacher’s Batman and Robin, okay?), what’s the statute of limitations on things like this? However, beyond the simple, idle, and ultimately hollow pleasure of imagining the content industries swarmed by suits and grievances from the franchise-themed towns of the world (Hulk, Azerbaijan? James Bond, Brazil? X-Men, Namibia?), it also raises issues about names in a copyright culture. When I was a grad student in the UK, the European Union was at its height of silliness, with some pushing for champagne from anywhere but Champagne, for instance, to be required to carry a different name. Cheddar from anywhere but Cheddar would be next? Or Worcestershire sauce? Buffalo wings?

It’s no less funny in the realm of media, though, as Batman’s mayor tells us (an aside: I wonder if there’s a town in Greece called Joker, hence explaining the age-old rivalry? Perhaps Batman’s just mad because a Greek insurgent killed favorite son Jason Todd?). When signing my book contracts, they often include a little thing about my television or film royalties. Now, I don’t know if you’ve read my work, but I don’t see how, for instance, my chapter on intertextual theory in Watching with The Simpsons could be turned into the opening act of a charming romcom). A colleague’s husband who just made big bucks this way, though, explained that it’s often just the title that studios will want, as was the case with his own deal. Television Entertainment isn’t likely to be a Christmas classic anytime soon, but maybe I should take this into account and call my next book Iron Man 2?

Uncategorized Batman, copyright, The Dark Knight

Bob Rehak has a really good post at his blog, Graphic Engine, all about the odd CNN hologram that premiered a few nights ago. Like Bob, though, it’s hard for me to hear “hologram” without thinking of cinema’s most famous hologram of all — Leia asking Obi-Wan for help. But perhaps you didn’t see the new version on offer in Lucas’s 52nd rerelease of Star Wars: A New Hope:

Uncategorized holograms, Star Wars

Channeling The West Wing’s President Jed Bartlet with real pleasure, I ask, “What’s Next?”

Uncategorized politics