Category: Television

A Clip from this longer presentation: Why Monkees Matter: How The Writing Staff of The Monkees Brought the 1960s Counter Culture to Mainstream Pre-Teen Viewers

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Dr. Rosanne Welch presents Why Monkees Matter: How The Writing Staff of The Monkees Brought the 1960s Counter Culture to Mainstream Pre-Teen Viewers at the 2014 Cal Poly Pomona Provost’s Symposium on Faculty Scholarship (http://www.cpp.edu/~research/)

Transcript:

Feminism is what struck me, because we’re all little girls watching this program and because of the way TV today. something that I — I do enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but really it’s a show about who’s going to have sex with which girl this week and that’s kind of what happens to females on TV sometimes these days. Because we had rules back in the day. Four musicians should be about that, too, and yet they weren’t. Every girl that they met on this program in 58 episodes had her own job, took care of herself, was going to school, cared about the culture, and the world, was involved insocial justice issues. Nobody was a cheerleader. Nobody was “Rah, Rah, Look at me! I’ma ditzy blonde and I have no brain.” They were all intelligent, interesting, young women. 

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Description:

Based on a chapter in my upcoming book The Metatextual Menagerie that was The Monkees, which includes a series of interviews conducted with surviving writers and performers of the 1960s television program, The Monkees I will discuss how the writers and actors used the show as a platform for their own emerging counter culture/anti-war messages.

Worth studying for its craft and place in television history (the show won an Emmy as Best Comedy Of 1967) the program’s true importance may come from its impact on the politics and culture of the era. Considered innocuous by the network, thepress and the parents of the era, the storylines and jokes created by the writers and the actor’s ad-libs brought the emerging counter-culture to the attention of young teens whose parents might not have appreciated the message. Cultural icons such as Timothy Leary recognized the subversive nature of the program, seen through the writing and in choices made about costuming, hair length, musical guests (Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Charlie Smalls) and songs performed by the band brought issues of Vietnam, voting and civil rights to the ‘young generation’ for whom the show clearly had ‘somethin’to say.

• Dr. Rosanne Web Site and Blog
• Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter
• Follow Dr. Welch on Tumblr

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

About the Symposium:

The 2014 Provost’s Symposium is a forum to learn about each other’s scholarly work, make new friends, renew old acquaintances, and enhance our appreciation of the rich and diverse array of professional endeavors pursued by the faculty at Cal Poly Pomona.

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A Clip from this longer presentation: Why Monkees Matter: How The Writing Staff of The Monkees Brought the 1960s Counter Culture to Mainstream Pre-Teen Viewers

---

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Dr. Rosanne Welch presents Why Monkees Matter: How The Writing Staff of The Monkees Brought the 1960s Counter Culture to Mainstream Pre-Teen Viewers at the 2014 Cal Poly Pomona Provost’s Symposium on Faculty Scholarship (http://www.cpp.edu/~research/)

Transcript:

This is my androgynous clothing slide, just to cover that for a moment. The poncho. The colors. I mean how could you do that? This is in their second season. In their first season they appeared like that. Much more 50’s-ish verging on  early 60’s. A little Frankie Valli thing going on. So look at the change that was brought to their viewers in just one season where you could see truly the Hippie Culture in its clothing.

View photos from this presentation 

Description:

Based on a chapter in my upcoming book The Metatextual Menagerie that was The Monkees, which includes a series of interviews conducted with surviving writers and performers of the 1960s television program, The Monkees I will discuss how the writers and actors used the show as a platform for their own emerging counter culture/anti-war messages.

Worth studying for its craft and place in television history (the show won an Emmy as Best Comedy Of 1967) the program’s true importance may come from its impact on the politics and culture of the era. Considered innocuous by the network, thepress and the parents of the era, the storylines and jokes created by the writers and the actor’s ad-libs brought the emerging counter-culture to the attention of young teens whose parents might not have appreciated the message. Cultural icons such as Timothy Leary recognized the subversive nature of the program, seen through the writing and in choices made about costuming, hair length, musical guests (Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Charlie Smalls) and songs performed by the band brought issues of Vietnam, voting and civil rights to the ‘young generation’ for whom the show clearly had ‘somethin’to say.

• Dr. Rosanne Web Site and Blog
• Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter
• Follow Dr. Welch on Tumblr

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

About the Symposium:

The 2014 Provost’s Symposium is a forum to learn about each other’s scholarly work, make new friends, renew old acquaintances, and enhance our appreciation of the rich and diverse array of professional endeavors pursued by the faculty at Cal Poly Pomona.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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A Clip from this longer presentation: Why Monkees Matter: How The Writing Staff of The Monkees Brought the 1960s Counter Culture to Mainstream Pre-Teen Viewers

---

---

Dr. Rosanne Welch presents Why Monkees Matter: How The Writing Staff of The Monkees Brought the 1960s Counter Culture to Mainstream Pre-Teen Viewers at the 2014 Cal Poly Pomona Provost’s Symposium on Faculty Scholarship (http://www.cpp.edu/~research/)

Transcript:

Now, we’re going to come to Eastern Philosophies. No, if you know anything about Buddhism, they use this chant to get out of a situation. Obviously, they’re all tied up. The bag guys have taken over for a moment and Micky remembers a chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and they chant it. When I was a kid I had no what that meant, but I thought to myself — and studying them now — I bet it means something besides gibberish language. As a matter of fact — ooh, how’d that happen? The picture got laid over that — it’s the Lotus Sutra. It’s basically the teaching of The Buddha that all people have the ability to reach enlightenment. In the middle of a TV show with about a bunch of — I mean, come on!

View photos from this presentation 

Description:

Based on a chapter in my upcoming book The Metatextual Menagerie that was The Monkees, which includes a series of interviews conducted with surviving writers and performers of the 1960s television program, The Monkees I will discuss how the writers and actors used the show as a platform for their own emerging counter culture/anti-war messages.

Worth studying for its craft and place in television history (the show won an Emmy as Best Comedy Of 1967) the program’s true importance may come from its impact on the politics and culture of the era. Considered innocuous by the network, thepress and the parents of the era, the storylines and jokes created by the writers and the actor’s ad-libs brought the emerging counter-culture to the attention of young teens whose parents might not have appreciated the message. Cultural icons such as Timothy Leary recognized the subversive nature of the program, seen through the writing and in choices made about costuming, hair length, musical guests (Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Charlie Smalls) and songs performed by the band brought issues of Vietnam, voting and civil rights to the ‘young generation’ for whom the show clearly had ‘somethin’to say.

• Dr. Rosanne Web Site and Blog
• Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter
• Follow Dr. Welch on Tumblr

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

About the Symposium:

The 2014 Provost’s Symposium is a forum to learn about each other’s scholarly work, make new friends, renew old acquaintances, and enhance our appreciation of the rich and diverse array of professional endeavors pursued by the faculty at Cal Poly Pomona.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS