New Research By TCF Professors
- August 19th, 2011
- in TCF Faculty, TCF News & Notes
TCF professors Kristen Warner and Matthew Payne have each presented new research this past week.
Dr. Warner considers the racial implications of Real Housewives of Atlanta in her Flow piece: “‘Who Gon Check Me Boo’: Reality TV as a Haven For Black Women’s Affect.” She begins:
A few years ago I attended a conference panel during which a panelist was discussing Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchise. All was well as we listened to the speaker discuss the plots surrounding each of the show’s casts and how these spoke to larger issues of Bravo’s programming strategies. That is, all was well until someone from the audience asked what the speaker’s thoughts were about Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA). Without thought (or malice), the panelist quickly responded, “I don’t watchthat show.” While others laughed, I was inwardly infuriated because, honestly, in a franchise based on ridiculous women behaving badly, how can one distinguish which cast is the worst? All of the women in each cast need come to Jesus moments where they can deal with the way they behave on the shows.
Dr. Payne addresses new models for gaming and advertising on in media res: “Advergaming and Niche Branding.” He contends:
One lucrative business pursuit for indie game developers has been the production of advergames – games designed to advertise a product, service, or brand. We’ve been observing a sliver of this activity in our research on the [adult swim] phenomenon, which began as a late night programming block for Cartoon Network but has since grown into a lifestyle brand that includes a record label, clothing and merchandise, and, of course, an ever-expanding library of games.