Oprah Winfrey has transcended her status as talk show host to become a cultural icon of some considerable stature. This book explores the nature of Oprah's celebrity persona and considers the relevance that she has to contemporary audiences. The stories recounted by guests, and the ways in which confessional discourse works to produce a particular relationship between Oprah, her guests and the audience members are considered within the context of contemporary American culture.
Autorentext
SHERRYL WILSON is a lecturer in Media Theory at Bournemouth Media School, Bournemouth University, UK. Her interests include the cult of celebrity, reality TV, popular culture and identity. She has previously taught at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, University of the West of England, UK.
Zusammenfassung
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self argues that a reading of this popular TV show is contingent on understanding the cultural context in which it is produced. By examining versions of self in two key, conflicting American cultural traditions, and through a systematic analysis of the shows themselves and the Oprah persona, the book offers cumulative evidence that Oprah is an ambivalent text. The book argues that the persona of Oprah Winfrey is the embodiment of conflicts, acting as a conduit for a self-expression that emerges from the clash of antagonistic forces. Thus, The Oprah Winfrey Show is used as a case study to show how contradictory cultural constructions of self combine in a carinvalesque play to produce something new. It is this 'something new' that accounts for Oprah's popularity in contemporary popular culture.
Inhalt
List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction About Television Talk Shows Anxiety and Agency: Oprah and Constructions of Self Confessional Discourse on Oprah Oprah and Narrating the Self The Oprah Persona Conclusion Appendix Bibliography