Identity through Identification

First of all, 90210. I thought parts of last night's episode were really laughable, and am quite relieved to have a reprieve until September. Yet the people on Television Without Pity seemed to like it. I'm guessing that's because most viewers, especially those who are older, bailed long ago, but as an academic doing TV, I am in for the duration. It's work, right? But several scenes made me giggle for about five minutes each. One--after Liam realizes that Naomi's sister lied to him to get him to sleep with her and just looks at her and announces "You are a bitch!" I don't know if it was the delivery or just how very "duh" that line was. It's not shocking anymore, even if it's un-PC. Then Annie screaming "Screw all of you" to the entire sophomore class. When she left the house, I seriously thought she was having an asthma attack and was expecting her to pull an inhaler out of her purse, not her phone she used to narc on the party (which indicated she was supposed to be playing anger). Add to that Lori Loughlin pretty clearly having never been stoned before (and Rob Estes seemingly having a better idea of how to play it, yet still not pulling it off) and Kelly, ex-drug addict with drug-addict mother, brother, and bipolar sister, being so nonchalant about the whole thing, that at least it has the makings of a train wreck, rather than the total bore it's been.

By the way, in the zap2itphotos, everyone on the new CBS shows is white except for LL Cool J of NCIS: Los Angeles, but they don't even have those big cast photos, they only have 1-2 people in each picture, and they've got Medium there which has been canceled, so it's not quite right, anyhow. Blows that theory, but I'll check the CBS site. Oh, wait, it's canceled on NBC, now alive on CBS. I've never seen it, and having it on CBS won't make that any likelier. Anyhow, the CBS site doesn't even have the new shows up. Maybe tomorrow (it was just announced this morning).

But what I'm thinking about/working on today is identity and identification. I am running a workshop for our Women's Studies Residency called "Rhoda Morgenstern Made Me What I am Today: What Television Characters Teach us about Ourselves" next Friday. So I need to plan that, and it seems like a good idea to start with a blog post and then make PowerPoint if need be. I know I'll start off with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyaaSm-3G90&feature=related. Frankly, that's not even close to my story, but Rhoda's deadpan, self-deprecating sense of humor was influential, I think. I felt a huge sense of recognition when I watched the first four seasons of the MTM show again last summer, at least.

Then I'd like to show a scene between Mary and Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but I can only find one short one I don't like! They've all been pulled from YouTube, I guess. So I either have to get the DVD, or get there early and cue up a Hulu video (which is free but awkward). In fact, nearly any TV show I looked for simply didn't have a short or easily editable clip to go with it, which is a bummer, but it's easier to use photos anyhow. Anyway, I'll start off talking about what characters have influenced me, and what changes in thought or behavior they might (or might not) have given me. Then I'll talk about identity and the process of identification and how it relates to TV and feminism. Then I'll open it up to discussion. I might talk about my smart girl characters, but they really came about too late to have much impact on me as a teen.


I think maybe the first media character that I looked at and said "hey, she's like me" was Quinn Cummings of The Goodbye Girl. We were both 10 in 1977 when the movie came out. She also played Annie on the last two seasons of Family, from 1978-1980. She was a Jewish bookworm, very different from the tomboyish Buddy or the elegant Nancy on that show. These episodes are simply unavailable, and I don't remember if I watched regularly or not. It may have been on too late for me to stay up, which seems weird for a family show. Yup, according to a schedule on Wikipedia, it was on at 10PM, first on Tuesdays, then on Thursdays. So no, given an 8:30 bedtime on weekdays, I wouldn't have actually seen it much (though on school holidays and the summers I could and did stay up much later). And even the Library of Congress only has the first season or two, so unless hulu picks it up, there's not much chance.

I have seen the similar Danielle Brisbois character Stephanie on the latter seasons of All in the Family and spinoff Archie Bunker's Place, and she was annoying, but I suspect I identified back then. I remember she sang and danced a lot, which I also did whenever anyone would listen.



Being an actor was no doubt why I loved Gilda Radner





and Carol Burnett so much.





Other characters that I can say were influential in some way include Mallory Keaton of Family Ties--who is only influential because we were the same age, and looked a tiny bit alike (and she even had one of my sweaters). I know she's considered by some to be the anti-smart girl, and indeed she is, but I always watched.





Too bad Square Pegs couldn't have a. been better and b. stayed on.




Not all my influences have been TV related.



One thing that was really influential in 1980, when I was about 12, was a movie, not a TV show, Fame. Since I wanted to be an actor, and wanted to live in New York, and would have killed to go to the High School of Performing Arts, Fame looked just great to me, despite the trials and tribulations. There was a television show, but I guess I didn't care for it, because I didn't watch it much. Anyhow, Doris was probably the character I identified with most, as she was an actress (not a dancer or musician like most of the others), and Jewish to boot. I cannot explain by process of identification why I also saw Grease four times in the theater.


Barbie was important. I'm a feminist, and I love Barbie. I don't think any part of my body image comes from Barbie (though I could cite various other influences), and all of mine (I had 11, though a few were technically Skipper, PJ, or Kelley) were in hugely successful careers, went to a lot of balls, and had tons of cool clothes. I only had one Ken, though. He mostly wore a white tuxedo everywhere since his only other garment, a brown checked sports jacket was u-gly. I had at least two of these "Quick Curl" ones, but they rarely wore their gingham dresses as my grandmother made me ball gowns. I went to one formal, but I've still never been to a ball, and don't see it on the horizon. But I now have the original Barbie and box that lived at my grandmother's house through my whole childhood. They're in my office at work. Sometimes I get bored, you know.

Amy March of Little Women. Yes Amy. I know we're all supposed to want to be Jo, but I wanted to be Amy--successful artistically and gets the cute, rich guy. I've seen at least four versions of the movie and none of the actors cast look anything like the Laurie in my head (a very young Robert Downey Jr., before the drugs). I looked and looked for the cover of the copy I checked out of the library in second grade and wasn't quite ready for, and then again a year or two later when I was, but can't find that. This is one of the two copies I have now. I've read it at least ten times.

Later influences included Audrey Hepburn and Andy Warhol, but I was pretty old before I identified them. I'll also introduce my smart girl characters as part of the presentation, and show pictures of at least some of them, but this has literally taken hours (every time I put a photo in, the whole layout moves), and I've got photos of them in presentations already, so I can do some cutting and pasting there.