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Start Date

23-6-2022 12:00 AM

End Date

23-6-2022 12:00 AM

Abstract

The 2020/2021 TV “season” proved unusual for audiences and studios, grappling with the impact of COVID-19 production restrictions amidst a global pandemic as well as discourses of race and gender in the U.S. While broadcast rating juggernauts competed with offerings by streaming competitors, audiences adapted to life at home as the realities of social injustice intensified through media. The intersectional dialogue created through the Black feminist movement, amplified with the addition of the Black Lives Matter and Me-Too movements, began to impact audience behavior and institutional structures of media development.

We seek to explore the ways in which this complex context manifested itself in online discussions and promotional material surrounding Bridgerton and The Bachelor series.

In 2021, both triggered extensive talk about race, gender, and sex within the domain of romance and both are tied to well-established franchises. Each raises questions about the power structures of culture industries and how they interact with diverse audiences embedded within a white supremacist and patriarchal society. How have viewers negotiated the introduction of Black characters to franchises and genres that have been white-dominant? How have these depictions been received by audiences and what has been the role of control, access, and power in the development of these narratives? By examining online discourse and promotional framing about these series, we aim to facilitate an open discussion about critical race, intersectionality, and romance in television and culture.

Bio

Dr. Sharon Marie Ross is Associate Professor in the Department of Cinema and Television Arts at Columbia College Chicago; she teaches critical media studies and is the author of Beyond the Box: Television and the Internet and co-editor of Teen Television: Essays on Programming and Fandom. Dr. Ross has a BA in Psychology from Cleveland State University, a Master's degree in Women's Studies from Ohio State University, and a PhD in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently writing a book about teens in 1980s and early 1990s TV.

Jennifer Sadler is an Assistant Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, and lead of the marketing program at Columbia College Chicago in Chicago. Her research focuses on the application of critical race theory in mass media and marketing strategy, with a pedagogical emphasis on eradicating practices that reinforce assumptions about people of color. Sadler leads a team that developed CiteBlackAuthors.com, a database of Black scholarly citations that aims to amplify Black academic voices in research.

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Jun 23rd, 12:00 AM Jun 23rd, 12:00 AM

Romance, Race, and Rhetoric: Online Fans and Media Companies Negotiate the Interracial Dynamics of Bridgerton and The Bachelor

The 2020/2021 TV “season” proved unusual for audiences and studios, grappling with the impact of COVID-19 production restrictions amidst a global pandemic as well as discourses of race and gender in the U.S. While broadcast rating juggernauts competed with offerings by streaming competitors, audiences adapted to life at home as the realities of social injustice intensified through media. The intersectional dialogue created through the Black feminist movement, amplified with the addition of the Black Lives Matter and Me-Too movements, began to impact audience behavior and institutional structures of media development.

We seek to explore the ways in which this complex context manifested itself in online discussions and promotional material surrounding Bridgerton and The Bachelor series.

In 2021, both triggered extensive talk about race, gender, and sex within the domain of romance and both are tied to well-established franchises. Each raises questions about the power structures of culture industries and how they interact with diverse audiences embedded within a white supremacist and patriarchal society. How have viewers negotiated the introduction of Black characters to franchises and genres that have been white-dominant? How have these depictions been received by audiences and what has been the role of control, access, and power in the development of these narratives? By examining online discourse and promotional framing about these series, we aim to facilitate an open discussion about critical race, intersectionality, and romance in television and culture.