Page 113 - Culture Media Language Working Papers in Cultural Studies

102 ETHNOGRAPHY

characters in the series Coronation Street and Crossroads are women who
themselves have to confront the ‘problems’ in their ‘everyday’ lives, and the
resolution or negotiation of these problems within the drama provides points of
recognition and identification for the women viewers. It is in the ‘living out’ of
problem areas that much of the appeal of the series is located. However, the
resolution of areas of conflict, contradiction or confusion within a dramatic
situation is double-edged. The woman can be confronted with the problems and
also informed of the different elements which have to be considered in any
‘living out’ or resolution of problems. It is in the forms that the resolutions are
made within programmes that the ideological basis of consensual femininity is
reproduced and reinforced for women. As with the problems that are discussed
in phone-in programmes and in the chatter of DJs, the very fact of recognition
and seeming discussion or consideration by some ‘outside’ or ‘independent’
authority gives an impression that the problems have been aired. The outcome
remains the same. The resolutions within either the soap opera series or the
telephone conversations or talks are not revolutionary; what emerges is the
reinforcement of the fatality or inevitability of the situation, without the need to
change it.
It is impossible to attempt a detailed analysis of the decoding of the programmes
which is made by the women because at this stage this would be only
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supposition. What is clear, however, is that the programmes which the women
watch are differentiated specifically in terms of both class and gender. Overall
the programmes fall into the categories of popular drama and light
entertainment, and although it is obvious that the women reject news and the
political content of current affairs programmes, it would be wrong to contend that
they do not have access or exposure to news or politics. Within comedy
programmes, news and current affairs topics are presented in a mediated form—
and often in a more easily accessible or even ‘joking’ or parodying manner. The
news on Radio 1, which is transmitted every hour, is relatively accessible; it is
also introduced by music which is recognizable, bright and repetitive and
demanding of attention. The women in this study are exposed to news in this
form, but they do not mention finding that unacceptable. Clearly, what is
important is the definition of specifically feminine interests which women select
from media output and the rejection of items which they see as specifically of
masculine interest. They combat their own isolation through their interest in
radio programmes during the day, and they see television programmes as a form
of ‘leisure’ or relaxation. Radio is integral to their working day, but early-
evening television is secondary to the domestic labour which they perform. The
programmes which the women watch and listen to, together with the
programmes which they reject, reinforce the sexual division of spheres of
interest, which is determined both by their location in the home and by the
structures of femininity that ensure that feminine values are secondary (or less
‘real’) than those of the masculine world of work and politics, which the women
regard as alien, yet important.