The Oprah Winfrey Show, the most-watched US daytime talk show, aims to empower women. This article examines the show's representations of gender and how images of `race', sexuality and class cross-cut them. It considers the show's status as television psychology. It explores the show's translation of aspects of black feminism to television, and discusses the social implications of its `super-real' representations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ang, I.
(1985) Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination. London: Methuen.
2.
Angelou, M.
(1970) I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House.
3.
Bad Object-Choices
ed. (1991) How Do I Look? Queer Film and Video. Seattle: Bay Press.
4.
Bhavnani, K-K.
(1990) `What's Power Got To Do With It?`, in I. Parker and J. Shotter (eds) Deconstructing Social Psychology. London: Routledge.
5.
Bobo, J.
(1988) `The Color Purple: Black Women as Cultural Readers', in D. Pribram (ed.) Female Spectators Looking at Film and Television. London: Verso.
6.
Boemer, M.
(1987) `Correlating Lead-in Show Ratings with Local Television News Ratings', Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media31: 89-94.
7.
Bordo, S.
(1989) `Reading the Slender Body', in M. Jacobus, E. Foxkeller and S. Shuttleworth (eds) Body/Politics. New York: Routledge.
8.
Bretl, D.
and Cantor, J. (1988) `The Portrayal of Men and Women in US Television Commercials: A Recent Content Analysis and Trends over 15 years', Sex Roles18: 595-609.
9.
Brown, M. E.
(1990) `Motley Moments: Soap Operas, Carnival, Gossip and the Power of the Utterance', in M. E. Brown (ed.) Television and Women's Culture: The Politics of the Popular. London: Sage.
10.
Brunsdon, C.
(1989) `Text and Audience', in E. Seiter, H. Borchers, G. Kreutsner and E. Warth (eds) Remote Control. New York: Routledge.
11.
Butler, J.
(1990) Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge.
12.
Carbaugh, D.
(1988) Talking American: Cultural Discourses on Donahue. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
13.
Coward, R.
(1983) Patriarchal Precedents. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
14.
Coward, R.
(1989) The Whole Truth. London: Faber and Faber.
15.
Davis, D.
(1990) `Portrayals of Women in Prime-time Network Television: Some Demographic Characteristics', Sex Roles23: 325-332.
16.
de Lauretis, T.
ed. (1986) Feminist Studies/Critical Studies. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
17.
de Lauretis, T.
(1991) `Film and the Visible', in Bad Object-Choices (ed.) How Do I Look? Queer Film and Video. Seattle: Bay Press.
18.
Deming, C.
(1990) `For Television-centred Television Criticism: Lessons from Feminism', in M. E. Brown (ed.) Television and Women's Culture: The Politics of the Popular. London: Sage.
19.
Dent, G.
ed. (1992) Black Popular Culture. Seattle, WA: Bay Press.
20.
Doane, M. A.
(1987) The Desire to Desire. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
21.
Doty, A.
(1992) Making Things Perfectly Queer. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
22.
Ellis, J.
(1982) Visible Fictions. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
23.
Fife, M.
(1987) `Promoting Racial Diversity in US Broadcasting: Federal Policies Versus Social Realities', Media, Culture and Society9: 481-505.
24.
Fogel, A.
(1986) `Talk Shows: On Reading Television', in S. Donadio, S. Railton and S. Ormond (eds) Emerson and His Legacy. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
25.
Freeman, M.
(1992) `Can We Talk? New for 1993', Broadcasting and Cable (December): 14.
26.
Gaines, J.
(1988). `White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory', Last Special Issue on `Race', Screen29: 12-27.
27.
Gates, H. L.
(1988). The Signifying Monkey. New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
Gates, H. L.
(1989) `TV's Black World Turns-But Stays Unreal', New York Times (Nov.): 12.
29.
Goodman, F.
(1991) `Madonna and Oprah: the Companies They Keep', Working Women. 16: 52-55.
30.
Grey, H.
(1989) `Television, Black Americans, and the American Dream', Critical Studies in Mass Communication6: 376-386.
31.
Gross, L.
(1989) `Out of the Mainstream: Sexual Minorities and the Mass Media', in E. Seiter, H. Borchers, G. Kretscner and E. Warth (eds) Remote Control. New York: Routledge.
32.
Guider, E.
(1987) `Katz Advises How to Handle Daytime Queen', Variety (July): 8.
33.
Harrison, B.
(1989) `The Importance of Being Oprah', New York Times Magazine (June): 11.
34.
Heath, S.
(1985) `Joan Riviere and the Masquerade', in V. Burgin, J. Donald and C. Kaplan (eds) Formations of Fantasy. London: Methuen.
35.
Hill Collins, P.
(1990) Black Feminist Thought. Cambridge, MA: Unwin Hyman.
36.
hooks, b.
(1981) Ain't I A Woman? Black Women and Feminism. Boston: South End Press.
37.
hooks, b.
(1989) Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press.
38.
Jones, L.
(1991) `Hot Buttered "Soul"', Village Voice (March): 12.
39.
Julien, I.
and Mercer, K. (1988) `Introduction: De Margin and De Center', Last `Special Issue' on `Race', Screen29(4): 2-10.
40.
Kaplan, E. A.
(1987) `Feminism Criticism and Television', in R. Allen (ed.) Channels of Discourse. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
41.
King, N.
(1987) Everybody Loves Oprah. New York: Morrow.
42.
Lorde, A.
(1984) Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press.
43.
Masciarotte, G-J.
(1991) `C'mon Girl: Oprah Winfrey and the Discourse of Feminine Talk', Genders11: 81-110.
44.
McClellan, S.
(1993) `Freshman "Deep Space Nine" Records Stellar Sweep Debut', Broadcasting and Cable (April): 24-26.
45.
Miller, M. C.
(1990) Boxed In: The Culture of Television. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
46.
Minnini, G.
(1989) `Genres de discourse et types de dialogue: Le "Talk-show"', in E. Weigand and F. Hundnurscher (eds) DialoganalyseII. Tubingen: Niemeyer.
47.
Moraga, C.
and Anzaldua, G. (1981) This Bridge Called My Back. Watertown, MA: Persephone Press.
48.
Morris, M.
(1988) `Banality in Cultural Studies', Block14: 15-26.
49.
Mulvey, L.
(1975) `Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', Screen16: 6-18.
50.
Mulvey, L.
(1981) `Afterthoughts on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" Inspired by "Duel in the Sun"', Framework15/16/17: 12-15.
51.
Naylor, G.
(1982) The Women of Brewster Place. New York: Viking.
52.
Nightingale, V.
(1990) `Women as Audiences', in M. E. Brown (ed.) Television and Women's Culture: The Politics of the Popular. London: Sage.
53.
Oprah Winfrey Show (1989a) `Blacks and Whites Dating', New York: Journal Graphics, 1 March.
54.
Oprah Winfrey Show (1989b) `Home Fights', New York: Journal Graphics, 25 April.
55.
Oprah Winfrey Show (1990a) `A Mother's Plea: Marry My Daughter', 23 May, author's transcript.
56.
Oprah Winfrey Show (1990b) `Stressed-Out Dads' 30 May, author's transcript.
Pfau, M.
(1990) `A Channel Approach to Television Influence', Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media34: 195-214.
60.
Press, A.
(1990) `Class, Gender and the Female Viewer: Women's Responses to Dynasty', in M. E. Brown (ed.) Television and Women's Culture: The Politics of the Popular. London: Sage.
61.
Rich, A.
(1986) `Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence', in Blood, Bread and Poetry. New York: Norton.
62.
Riley, D.
(1988) Am I That Name? Feminism and the Category of `Women' in History. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
63.
Rose, T.
(1990). `Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile', camera obscura23: 109-132.
64.
Spelman, E.
(1990) Inessential Woman. London: Women's Press.
65.
Spivak, G.
(1988) In Other Worlds. New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall.
66.
Stacey, J.
(1988) `Desperately Seeking Difference', in L. Gamman and M. Marshment (eds) The Female Gaze. London: Women's Press.
67.
Stuart, A.
(1988) "'The Color Purple": in Defence of Happy Endings', in L. Gamman and M. Marshment (eds) The Female Gaze. London: Women's Press.
68.
Waldron, R.
(1987) Oprah!New York: St Martin's Press.
69.
Walker, A.
(1982) You Can't Keep A Good Woman Down. London: Women's Press.
70.
Walker, A.
(1983) In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
71.
Walkerdine, V.
(1989) `Video Replay', in V. Burgin (ed.) Formations of Pleasure. London: Methuen.
72.
Ziegler, D.
and White, A. (1990) `Women and Minorities on Network Television News: An Examination of Correspondents and Newsmakers', Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media34: 215-223.
