Gen-X TV: Political-Libidinal Structures of Feeling in Melrose Place
2003; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1934-6018
Autores Tópico(s)Gender, Feminism, and Media
ResumoYou know, Melrose Place is a really good Lalaina (Winona Ryder), in Reality Bites (1994) MELROSE PLACE, A PROGRAM THAT EMERGED from economic and ideological ruins of 1980s, is arguably one of paradigmatic television programs of early 1990s.1 Although received wisdom has it that Fox's success as a major network in 1990s was a direct function of its youth-skewed programming (exemplified by its breakthrough program, Beverly Hills 90201), what has received rather less attention is way its equally popular spin-off, Melrose Place, initially embodied many of media assumptions about slacker and then abandoned this focus in its second year in order to raise plummeting ratings. result of this midcourse change of direction is, as it were, history, with Melrose Place becoming, true to its Spelling provenance, Dynasty (ABC, 1981-89) of early 19905 or, as one scribe put it, the Dynasty of (Gliatto et al. 65). In order to understand material conditions of possibility of Melrose Place, one must attend to X in Generation X-an X that is not merely political and economic but, precisely, libidinal-economic.2 Moreover, these preconditions are dramatic, not to say melodramatic in character, and have everything to do with cultural logic or structure of feeling of late capitalism, in which free generation depicted, however politically correct or aesthetically pleasing, in Melrose Place, collides with determinate realities of post-Reagan America.3 net effect is as engrossing and paradoxical, as engrossingly paradoxical, as Clintonian neoliberalism itself: part farce, part melodrama, postmodern capitalism, Melrose-style. Preview Soap operas are fairy tales of capitalism. Elayne Rapping, Daytime Soaps (1994) While debut of Melrose Place in summer of 1992 was auspicious enough, beating out ABC's and CBS's offerings in its time slot, it did not fare nearly so well following fall, despite fact that it was in extremely enviable position of piggybacking on 1991-92 showcase teen-angst drama, Beverly Hills 90210. Indeed, it looked for a long moment as if Melrose Place would end up like Beverly Hills 90210 clones of that year- Heights (Fox, 1992), Freshmen Dorm (CBS, 1992), Round Table (NBC, 1992), and 2000 Malibu Road (CBS, 1992)-on steadily growing Himalayan rubbish heap of failed primetime programming. problem with first full season of Melrose Place, according to retrospective media consensus, was that show was too serious, i.e., earnest. Not surprisingly, producers of Melrose Place promptly shifted its emphasis from what Spelling himself called moral lessons to, in a word, sex (190). As one critic put it, Initially show [was] about young-adult concerns like . . . sexual harassment in workplace. Eventually producers wised up and made show almost exclusively about characters sexually harassing each other (Willman F1). In sum, soapier Melrose Place became, a transformation generally attributed to casting of Heather Locklear (the quintessential Aaron Spelling ingenue and downsized 19905 version of Joan Collins, 19805 melodrama queen), faster its ratings rose, so much so that by spring of 1994, Melrose Place had suddenly become something of a national sensation a la Dallas (CBS, 1978-91) in its own quite heady heyday. It is instructive, then, to return for a moment to original 1992-93 season. In an interview for New York Times, Darren Star, creator and producer of Beverly Hills 90220 and writer-creator-producer of Melrose Place (under, of course, executive tutelage of Spelling himself), commented on genesis of show. Speaking in drawn-out wake of 1980s as well as apocalyptic, Day of Locust-type scenario of LA riots, Star said of 'glitz and greed' ideal that had fueled decade: The riots woke people up to fact that they're living in a very real city . …
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