That Shadowy Realm of the Interior’

Oprah Winfrey and Hamlet’s Glass

Bibliographic Data

ID12601800
AuthorsEva Illouz (0000-0002-5609-6991, Tel Aviv University, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume2
Issue1
Pages109-131
Publication date1999-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1367-8779 • E-ISSN: 1460-356X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/136787799900200106
OpenAlexW2166098311
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited34

In a way that is reminiscent of the 19th-century campaigns against popular recreations, talk shows have come to the spotlight of public debate and have raised considerable concern about their alleged thirst for sensationalism and shock value. The purpose of this paper is to address a simple question, obfuscated by the public outrage that is ritually poured over talk shows: what are talk shows about? What makes them such a popular cultural form? What segment of the contemporary imagination do they capture? Conversely, what makes talk shows the target for the elite outcry that they cheapen and threaten cultural values? In this paper I argue that the cultural appeal of talk shows resides in the fact that they make sense of the profound transformations of the family in the late modern era and that they stage ‘informal courtrooms’ to adjudicate between the struggles that increasingly make up contemporary everyday life

Aesthetics · Appeal · Art · Elite · Media studies · Outrage · Political science · Politics · Popular culture · Realm · Sensationalism · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Cinema and Media Studies · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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