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Windows into the West Wing : theoretical approaches to an ideal presidency / Patrick Webster

Author
Webster, Patrick, 1953-
Published
Jefferson : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2020.
Physical Description
1 online resource (pages cm)
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Contents
Cover -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Dramatis Personae: The Cast and Casting -- 2. A Mosaic of Quotations: Intertextuality in The West Wing -- 3. Historical Fictions: A Parallel Universe -- 4. Death of the Author: Aaron Sorkin as Auteur? -- 5. On a Wing and a Prayer: Bartlet Deconstructs the Old Testament -- 6. Cinematic Television: The ­Mise-en-Scène of The West Wing -- 7. The Signifier and the Signified: Structuralist Readings -- 8. This Pitiful Exercise: Temporal Rupture in the "Isaac and Ishmael" Episode -- 9. Bourgeois Wing: Marxist Readings, 10. The Greatest Country in the World: Misconstrued Politics -- 11. It's Turtles All the Way Down: The West Wing and Religion -- 12. Playing in the Dark: Racist Discourses -- 13. Potus Interruptus: Gender and Queer Theory -- 14. Hollywood MS: The Portrayal of Disabilities -- 15. The Politics of Maryland: The Wire and The West Wing -- 16. Nostalgia for the Present: Postmodern Readings -- 17. Cellmates in The Hague: Bartlet Flouts International Law -- 18. The Crackpots and These Women: Misogynist Discourses -- 19. Cultural Differences: Postcolonial Readings, and 20. Education Is the Silver Bullet: Pedagogy in The West Wing -- 21. A Valentine to Washington: Narrative Authenticity -- 22. Your Father Was a Prick: Psychoanalytical Readings -- 23. Unearned Emotion and the Plaintive Oboe: W.G. Snuffy Walden's Music to The West Wing -- 24. Society Must Be Defended: Poststructuralist Readings -- Conclusion -- Appendix. Seasons 1-7-A Synopsis -- Appendix B. Episodes 1-155: Broadcast Credits -- Appendix C. Directors and Writers -- Chapter Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary
""The West Wing, first broadcast in 1999, is thought by many to have been one of the most significant dramas shown on network television. Despite its overly idealized depiction of American political life, and blatant contradictions in the way we consider America, its values, its aspirations, and its behavior in the world, The West Wing nonetheless succeed in attaining popular national and international aesthetic appeal.This book aspires to explain the appeal of the show by considering issues such as race, religion, sexuality, disability, and education-from both a practical and theoretical perspective-through the lenses of feminism, gender theory, Marxism, psychoanalytical theories, structuralism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, postmodernist approaches and more. These new interrogations of The West Wing seek to offer more informative and more revealing readings of one of the most significant television productions of recent times."-Provided by publisher"--
Subject(s)
ISBN
9781476639369 (electronic bk.)
1476639361 (electronic bk.)
9781476680354
1476680353
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 43275372