The Identity Crisis of Christie Love: Situating ABC's Get Christie Love in 1970s Network Television

• 발행기관: 한국아메리카학회
• 저자명: Hye Jean Chung
• 간행물 정보: 『미국학논집』제46집 1호, 209~227쪽, 전체 18쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기타인문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2014.05.31

영문 초록

ABC's Get Christie Love (1974-75) was an attempt to cross gender and race barriers of network television by featuring an African-American policewoman in the title role. Coming in the wake of the civil rights movement and the women's movement of the 1960s, the premise of the show was symptomatic of existing social tensions. It showed innovation as the first hour-long television drama featuring a black female star, and the protagonist was a young, attractive working woman who deviated from the stereotypical African-American characters that often populated mainstream media. Despite its initial promise of novelty, however, the show failed to achieve ratings success, leading to its early demise. Get Christie Love faced various difficulties in terms of the text, the television industry, and the social context of the mid-1970s. It was sacrificed in the highly competitive market based on ratings, and the show encountered specific problems that included a relatively low budget, weak scripts, and the religious beliefs of the main actress. I suggest that the show suffered an identity crisis; it constantly struggled to effectively commodify the star and to categorize itself within a genre. This essay endeavors to interrogate why the show failed to challenge conventional codes of gender and race, or to spark debates on issues of race and gender with contemporary audiences. The essay further explores what this audience indifference reveals about the socio-cultural background and the institution of the television industry of the mid-1970s in the United States by examining primary documents in the show's production files and critical reception in the popular press.

목차

Ⅰ. Introduction

Ⅱ. The Trials of Christie Love

Ⅲ. Race, Sex, Violence and Television Audiences

Ⅳ. Conclusion

Works Cited

Abstract

키워드

prime-time network television Get Christie Love race gender 1970s American society popular culture