A Cultural Critique or Just a Little Escapism? An Anthropological Analysis of the TV Series "The Chair"
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v17i2.2Keywords:
The Chair, racism, gender, ageism, university, dramedy, popular cultureAbstract
This paper offers an analysis of the 2021 Netflix mini-series The Chair, a dramedy whose authors sought to give an "authentic" depiction, but also a cultural critique, of the functioning of a contemporary US university and US higher education. The series includes four important elements of higher education – the institution of the university, its administration, university staff (professors/lecturers), and the student population; due to the format of the series, however, these elements have not been given equal attention. Furthermore, through the story of a woman of color at a university who suddenly finds herself in the position of department chair, this six-part mini-series addresses and/or elaborates on a whole set of messages and issues with which the wider audience can identify – an audience interested in questions regarding universities, the humanities, and wider social issues such as gender, race, age and class (in)equalities in academia, and also in western society more generally (particularly in the USA), the problem of a crisis in the humanities, of neoliberalism at universities, the question of political correctness and the phenomenon of so-called cancel culture. The series is viewed both as a text and as a popular culture artifact, that is, as a product that meets certain societal needs (besides the need for mere entertainment), depicts real-life social relationships and transmits certain values, i.e., conveys a certain message. The series can also be seen as an educational text which can acquaint viewers with the purpose, values and people who work in academia, particularly in the humanities. In order to consider its various meanings more comprehensively, the series has been analyzed on two levels: the connotative and the denotative. The intersection of these two levels of analysis provides a fuller, clearer picture of the importance of the series as a work of pop culture which seeks to offer a cultural critique, and which has elicited a wide range of responses, mostly from the academic public. The public’s reception is thus viewed as a sort of corrective which seeks to confirm or refute certain messages conveyed by the series and thus provides us with a more complete view of them.
Downloads
References
Banić Grubišić, Ana. 2017. „Predstave o profesiji etnolog/antropolog u filmu ‚Ringeraja‘. Etnoantropološki Problemi 12 (4):1119–1137. DOI: 10.21301/eap.v12i4.6.
Berebitsky, Dan, and Molly K. Ellis. 2018. „Influences on Personal and Professional Stress on Higher Education Faculty“. Journal of the Professoriate 9(2): 88-110.
Breatnach, P. A. 2007. „Crisis in the Universities: The Impact on the Humanities“. Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 96 (384), 391–406. DOI:10.1177/1741143214549968
Cawelti, John. 1976. Adventure, Mystery and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Chin, Margaret M. 2020. "6. The Double Bind for Asian American Women". Stuck: Why Asian Americans Don't Reach the Top of the Corporate Ladder,147-166. New York, USA: New York University Press,.
Cruz-Boone, C., Boschini, D., and Sherman, T. 2015. „Evaluating Adjunct Professors for Promotion: A Case Study Approach to Review Adjunct Student Evaluation of Teachers Over Time“. Journal for Leadership, Equity, and Research 2(1). https://journals.sfu.ca/cvj/index.php/cvj/article/view/15
Evans, Elrena, Caroline Granr, eds. 2008. Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life. New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press.
Evatt-Young, Dustin, Brandy S. Bryson. 2021. „White Higher Education Leaders on the Complexities of Whiteness and Anti-Racist Leadership“. Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity 7(1): 47-82.
Fisk, Džon. 2001. Popularna kultura. Clio: Beograd.
Gačanović, Ivana. 2010. „Problem globalnog rangiranja univerziteta ili o iskušenjima savremenih visokoobrazovnih sistema“. Etnoantropološki problemi 5(2): 185-204.
Havas, Julia and Maria Sulimma. 2020. „Through the Gaps of My Fingers: Genre, Femininity, and Cringe Aesthetics in Dramedy Television.“ Television & New Media 21(1): 75–94. DOI: 10.1177/1527476418777838.
Jay, Paul. 2014. The Humanities “Crisis“ And The Future of Literary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kezar, Adrianna, and Cecile Sam. 2011. „Understanding Non-Tenure Track Faculty: New Assumptions and Theories for Conceptualizing Behavior“. American Behavioral Scientist 55(II): 1419-1442.
Kovačević, Ivan, Marija Brujić. 2014. “Ljubav na prvi pogled” – TV serije: uvod u antropološku analizu. Etnoantropološki problemi 9(2): 395-415. DOI: 10.21301/EAP.v9i2.7
Kovačević, Ivan. 2018. „O antropologiji TV serija“. Zbornik radova Fakulteta dramskih umetnosti 33: 97-111.
Mandell, Alan, Katherine Jelly. 2020. „Creative tensions in progressive higher education“. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education 26 (1): 149-173.
Marcham, Cheryl Lynn, Ann Marie Ade, Patti Clark, and James Marion. 2020. „Bias and Trends in Student Evaluations in Online Higher Education Settings“. Collegiate Aviation Review International 38(2): 34-50.
Milosavljević, Ljubica. 2017. „Dead end: antropološka analiza filma Bez stepenika“. Etnoantropološki problemi 12(4): 1063-1090. DOI: 10.21301/eap.v12i4.4
Mitrović, Ljubiša. 2021. „Značaj multidisciplinarne saradnje i transdisciplinarnih istraživanja za prevladavanje krize društveno-humanističkih nauka“. Sociologija LXIII: 526-533.
Pfnister, Allan. 1984. „The Role of the Liberal Arts College“. The Journal of Higher Education 55(2): 145-170. DOI: 10.1080/00221546.1984.11778680
Prynor, K. N. 2020. „Surviving, or Striving? A Part-Time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Typology for the New Era of Faculty Work.“ Teachers College Record 122(11): 1-40. DOI: 10.1177/016146812012201104
Reynolds, Pauline J. 2014. „Representing “U“: Popular Culture, Media, and Higher Education“. ASHE Higher Education Report 40 (4).
Salaita, Steven. 2015. Uncivil Rites: Palestine and the Limits of Academic Freedom. Haymarket Press.
Stojilković, Jelena. 2010. „Baby boom generacije na pragu penzionisanja“. Stanovništvo 48(2): 75-91. DOI:10.2298/STNV1002075S
Vande Berg, Leah R. Ekdom. 1989. „Dramedy: Moonlighting as an emergent generic hybrid“. Communication Studies 40(1): 13-28. DOI: 10.1080/10510978909368252
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.