Television – Page 96 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Finding Diversity in Television History in the David Dortort Archive at the Autry Museum

Today we thank Shonda Rhimes for bringing color blind casting to television when she casts a diverse array of ethnicities in lead roles on her shows. But she didn’t invent the idea. On our visit to the Autry Museum of the American West I was reminded of a show I used to watch on television but that disappeared too quickly (I didn’t then know why) and didn’t reappear in reruns as much as the more successful, longer-running program also created by the same writer (Bonanza).

The show I only vaguely remembered was The High Chaparral – the story of a Mexican woman married to a man of European descent (then controversially considered an inter-racial marriage) who owned a rancho in the West post the Civil War. I remembered it for its diverse cast and honest portrayal of the discrimination played out against minorities in the West.

Special Projects Archivist Mallory Furnier wrote the blog post, “Casting Actors as People” highlighting the archives of The High Chaparral in the David Dortort Archive, where she noted:

“Though The High Chaparral faced untimely cancellation, its four seasons embodied a step away from tired, inaccurate stereotypes and a movement toward greater respect for actors and characters, regardless of race. As a June 16, 1970 NBC memo instructed, “let’s cast actors to play people and, in so doing, give the ‘minorities’ a break.”

In a second blog post, “Finding Aids and Places”, Furnier discussed her trip to the Old Tuscon Studios in Arizona, site of some of the exterior filming of the show.

As always, I found it fascinating to wander around in the papers (old, handwritten first drafts of scripts, typed rewrites ready for production meetings, cast lists, shooting schedules, etc) and see the inside ideas of a show I had only seen from the outside all those years ago.

One of the papers was even a 1971 letter to Dortort from then U.N. Representative George H. W. Bush saying he sympathized with the producer over the cancellation of such a quality show and would do what he could to communicate that to those who had made that decision. Fascinating.

Listen to the High Chapparal Theme Song.

High Chaparral Script Cover

Mickey’s Masculine Choices from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (1:00)

Dr. Rosanne Welch presents “How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity: A Study of the Doctors and their Male Companions“ at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library. Dr. Welch teaches in the IGE (Interdisciplinary General Education) program.

Watch the entire presentation here

Transcript:

When he (Mickey) made the choice to stay in the alternative universe, he didn’t choose that just because it meant that he was going to continue to fight bad aliens, which is the Warrior part of him. He chose to stay there because, in the real world his grandmother, who he lived with was already dead. In the alternative universe she was still alive and so he chose to stay there so he could continue to kno his grandmother. THAT is a family man. That is a man making a choice about what’s useful and beneficial to his family above and beyond any of the other things that masculinity would require. I think that’s adorable. It’s not like he was staying with his grandfather to manhood from him. It’s staying with his grandmother who needed somebody to take care of her and who he still needed in his life for that influence that she had. And I think that’s a really, really, beautiful part of Mickey and where he grew.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

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Mickey Smith and Martha Jones from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (0:38)

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Transcript:

When I think about Mickey Smith and I want to think about masculinity, he suits a lot of little places. A lot of these definitions. You would think we can talk about him as a warrior, because, in fact, he did become one. He’s probably the man who grew the most in his knowledge and his time with The Doctor. He went from a little puppy dog boyfriend of Rose who was dumb and she wasn’t liking him any more. Then he found his way to being a hero in his own life and so much so that, of course, as we know, he ended up marrying Martha (Jones) who is really a very, very powerful female character I believe.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

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Dr. Rosanne Welch talks “The Monkees” on the Zilch Podcast [Audio]

I’m so pleased to post this link to an interview Sarah Clark did with me for a podcast she co-hosts called Zilch: A Monkee’s Podcast.

Naturally, we talk about my upcoming book Why The Monkees Matter and my scholarly take on the show.

Clck here to read more about Why The Monkees Matter by Dr. Rosanne Welch

Sarah asked all the best questions which allowed me to discuss all the things I love studying about the show – its take on feminism, its handling of ethnic characters, what I like to call its cultural collateral – and of course why it deserves a place in critical studies in television courses because of its innovation – you do know it won an Emmy for Best Comedy in its debut year, don’t you? That ranks it right up there with classic quality comedies.

The whole show is fun to listen to as they discuss Micky’s solo show and some news about future concerts, (but if you want to start with my interview first that starts at 29:15 and ends at 1:23:00)

Listen to the podcast

[audio:http://podkisst.com/audio/Zilch48.mp3]

You might want to download the file (or subscribe to the podcast) rather than listening online as sometimes I’ve found their server gets overloaded and the audio falls out. I download the mp3 and then play it from my iTunes program.

More on The Monkees from Dr. Rosanne Welch:

Hey, Hey, They Wrote The Monkees – Written By Magazine

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The Doctor As Family Man from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (0:51)

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Transcript:

This leads me to the family men which I think is the most defining characteristic and I’d almost say in the new Who, but I’m going to show you how it affected the old Who as well. But they’re in this period, all referencing that. Now we go back to the old Who because it started with a father — a grandfather figure. Right? so we were given a family man to begin with to want to follow through time. His granddaughter, Susan, who is his first companion. So we had him, then we didn’t really talk about The Doctor’s family for a long time, until? Any guesses? (Pause) The Doctor’s Daughter! Finally we got to a daughter. That’s very interesting. Now we know she’s a clone thing and bah blah so it’s not really liked he was married and had a kid yet…

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

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Captain Jack and Danny Pink from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (1:00)

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Transcript:

But I think this is a huge step and, of course, or you may know, if you don’t know, they spun Jack off into his own show, Torchwood, which I found a wonderful show. I’ve got a chapter ina book on Torchwood right here.

And he’s also shows us a man who can deal with a powerful woman. And that’s Gwen in this series is his equal in terms of carry the gun, take the down the bad guy, has all of that stuff. There’s no “better than you” argument. They’re very equal and their both capable of that which makes for a really, really interesting series. So Jack, I think, gives us a few things. He’s a warrior, but then he’s this new person we’re going to accept in our society which wouldn’t have happened in the 1960’s or 70’s. So Jack’s a pretty important guy.

Hey, in our most recent make companion we have Danny Pink. Also a warrior. Also affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from our most recent war. So he’s living with that on a daily basis while he tries to take care of Clara and see where he can go in his life. So I think he’s a really cool character.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

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Captain Jack and Modern Masculinity from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (0:48)

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Transcript:

Before we knew that John Hurt existed, we knew Eccelston the Warrior Doctor. He was really someone who was left with the trauma of having made that decision. We didn’t know that a different version of him had made it. So, he defined himself as well as a Warrior and then we have our beloved David — at least, my beloved David — who is, I would say, is a representation of both the Warrior and the Lone Wolf, but I’m going to add, he’s got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, much more than Eccelston revels it. He’s really talking about how bad he feels about what happened and I think that’s what endeared him to so many people — his ability to share his emotions. Which, I think, is one of the definitions, if we go back to Empathy, that defines a modern “Man” and I think that’s why he captured so many people as quite a favorite Doctor in this period.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

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PTSD and Warriors from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (1:12)

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Transcript:

Before we knew that John Hurt existed, we knew Eccelston the Warrior Doctor. He was really someone who was left with the trauma of having made that decision. We didn’t know that a different version of him had made it. So, he defined himself as well as a Warrior and then we have our beloved David — at least, my beloved David — who is, I would say, is a representation of both the Warrior and the Lone Wolf, but I’m going to add, he’s got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, much more than Eccelston revels it. He’s really talking about how bad he feels about what happened and I think that’s what endeared him to so many people — his ability to share his emotions. Which, I think, is one of the definitions, if we go back to Empathy, that defines a modern “Man” and I think that’s why he captured so many people as quite a favorite Doctor in this period.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

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More Warrior Doctors from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity

Watch the entire presentation here

Transcript:

Before we knew that John Hurt existed, we knew Eccelston the Warrior Doctor. He was really someone who was left with the trauma of having made that decision. We didn’t know that a different version of him had made it. So, he defined himself as well as a Warrior and then we have our beloved David — at least, my beloved David — who is, I would say, is a representation of both the Warrior and the Lone Wolf, but I’m going to add, he’s got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, much more than Eccelston revels it. He’s really talking about how bad he feels about what happened and I think that’s what endeared him to so many people — his ability to share his emotions. Which, I think, is one of the definitions, if we go back to Empathy, that defines a modern “Man” and I think that’s why he captured so many people as quite a favorite Doctor in this period.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

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Warrior Doctors from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip (1 min)

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Transcript:

Gee whiz. In “Day of the Doctor” he named himself the warrior doctor. He literally says it out loud. So, this is his definition because he is the person in that Time War that had to make the big choice of destroying the world. Essentially he’s Truman deciding whether or not to drop the atomic bomb, but in this case, it’s going to destroy not just Japan but but America, too and he has to decide to do that in order to make sure the bad guys don’t win. That’a huge job. We ask men to be warriors and that means they are going to go out in the world we ask them to kill for us and that is a huge responsibility to put on someone. So, I think it’s really interesting that that’s reflected in this later batch of Doctors. Imagine, we’re dealing in a world where we’ve been at war for the last eight years. Right? So, we’ve been more involved in war than we had been in the 60’s and 70’s. I have to say, it was impressive we got John Hurt. I just had to flip over her to Derrick Jacobi for a minute, because this shows us the power of new Who. These are huge names to do a television program. So, I just love that. If you haven’t seen him as The Master, you must because he is marvelous and if you havne’t seen I, Claudius, you must, because he’s marvelous.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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