A “list” of what six social scientists are watching on television and film.
When we asked a group of sociologists what media they’re consuming, this is what they told us.
Karen Cerulo (Rutgers University)
So sue me…this pop cultureholic loves television! Don’t call me on the Sundays that
Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Good Wife
, or
Downton Abbey
are showing, and I can’t wait until the fifth season of
Damages
comes to DVD. When I need a laugh,
Modern Family
never lets me down, and the midnight reruns of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
are a great ending to any busy day. I’ve just started watching
Lilyhammer
on Netflix which is like “Northern Exposure meets The Sopranos”—so fun! And of course, for this political junkie, MSNBC is always on somewhere in my house.
Bonnie Thornton Dill (University of Maryland)
Since becoming dean, I’ve given some thought to how I can use visual media to illuminate the work and ideas of the arts and humanities, making them more available and accessible to a broader audience. Then a colleague recommended watching HBO’s
The Blacklist
, and I was completely inspired by the series of documentary videos and their ability to uncover the very personal stories of high-achieving blacks and their varied roads to success. I’m now working on a team project to create a series of scholar videos on research in the arts and humanities, showing how it continues to offer significant insights for contemporary society.
Herman Gray (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Aside from standing television appointments with cable pundits and local news, I have been keeping appointments with
Totally Biased
with W. Kamau Bell, a sketch comedy show on cable’s FX channel. Writer/comedian Bell follows in the wake of Dave Chappell’s disappearance, and joins Comedy Central’s The Key and Peele Show, poking fun at social absurdities. Issa Ray’s refreshing Internet web series
The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl
covers some of the same territory.
Race 2012
on PBS is fairly traditional documentary but held my attention. I also caught a rare live appearance of saxophonist and writer Archie Shepp, the highlight of which was Shepp singing Strayhorn’s “Lush Life,” and the powerful photographs from
New Orleans Suite
by photographer Lewis Watts.
Judy Howard (University of Washington)
Take Shelter
is a beautifully acted story of mental illness and the profound ways it reverberates throughout a Midwest family. Critics describe this as a drama-thriller; I think it is far more subtle. It reminded me of Julianne Moore’s amazing performance in Todd Haynes’ 1995 film, Safe.
The Company Men
is another fine recent film about a corporate man who loses his job; Ben Affleck does a lovely job of portraying his crumbling sense of masculinity and class privilege. On the TV front, our two household “don’t miss” series are
Call the Midwife
, a BBC series on the world of midwifery in 1950s’ East London, and
Scandal
, a political thriller starring Kerry Washington. It’s not The West Wing, but still compelling. I have not yet been able to bring myself to see the remake of
Frankenweenie
, since the original was perfect.
Thomas Scheff (University of California, Santa Barbara)
I was bowled over by the film
Temple Grandin
, an enactment of the real life of a woman who overcame her impairment (autism). She is now a professor of animal husbandry at Colorado State University. Two things were surprises: I have always seen actress Claire Danes as undistinguished, and just another pretty face. In the role of Grandin, she is transformed, a totally different person, and therefore a lion of theatre. The other surprise was the skill of the film in revealing the societal reaction to impairment in minute detail, and the skill and courage that Grandin needed to overcome it.
John Torpey (The Graduate Center, City University of New York)
I mostly watch the
PBS NewsHour
, which I thought profoundly boring as a kid but now consider the only watchable American news show. Otherwise, I mostly watch sports, assuming it’s not football (interruptions, occasionally punctuated by action) or baseball (watching grass grow). I don’t really have a sociological perspective on sports, other than that most sociologists aren’t interested in sports (professionally/intellectually, at least). I think we therefore miss out on one of the things that matters most to a lot of people, but that’s a broader problem in the discipline—mistaking our interests for those of the people we study.
