"An insightful examination of one of the most provocative and challenging American TV shows of recent years."—Stacey Abbott, editor of The Cult TV Book: From Star Trek to Dexter, New Approaches to TV Outside the Box
Description
When The Shield first appeared on US television in March 2002, it broke ratings records with the highest audience-rated original series premiere in cable history. In the course of its subsequent seven-season run, the show went on to win international acclaim for its abrasive depiction of an urban American dystopia and the systemic political and juridical corruption feeding it. The first book dedicated to the analysis of this immensely successful series, Interrogating “The Shield” brings together ten critical essays, written from a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives. Topics range from an exploration of the series’ derivation, genre, and production, to expositions of the ethics, aesthetics, and politics of the show.
As may be expected from a multiauthored collection, this volume does not seek to present a homogenized account of The Shield. The show is variously applauded and critiqued. In their critical variety, however, the essays in this book are a testament to the cultural significance and creative complexity of the series. As such, they are a reminder of the renewed power of quality television drama today.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction: Trees Falling
1. The Derivation of a Television Crime Drama, Concepción Cascajosa Virino
2. The Meaning of Messiness: The Shield and the Production of Television Style, Gary Needham
3. Sound Policing: Attending to Acoustic Matters in The Shield, Nicholas Chare
4. Fitting the Profile: Dutch Wagenbach, Realism and the Ensemble, Lorna Jowett
5. Quality, Controversy, and Criminality: The Shield as Post-Sopranos Cop Show, Glyn White
6. Scenes from the Interrogation Room: Power, Character, Truth, and Justice in The Shield, Douglas L. Howard
7. "You Want Me to Lick Your Balls, Daddy?" Masculinity, Race, and Power in The Shield, Mike Chopra-Gant
8. Glass Ceilings: Gender, Sexism, and The Shield, Jason P. Vest
9. "A Different Kind of Cop": Exception and Complicity in The Shield, Nicholas Ray
10. Cracking Ice: The Shield and the Middle-Class Crisis of Social Reproduction, Stephen Shapiro
References
Index
About the Author
Nicholas Ray is a lecturer in the School of English at the University of Leeds. He is the author of Tragedy and Otherness: Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Psychoanalysis.
September 2012