Talking White Trash: Mediated Representations and Lived Experiences of White Working-Class People

Description

Talking White Trash documents the complex and interwoven relationship between mediated representations and lived experiences of white working-class people―a task inspired by the author’s experiences growing up in a white working-class family and neighborhood and how she came to understand herself through watching films and television shows. The increasing presence of white working-class people in media, particularly within the genre of reality television, and their role in fueling the unprecedented rise of Donald Trump, has made this population a central subject of U.S. cultural discourse. Rather than relying solely on analyses of mediated portrayals, Dunn makes use of personal narratives, interviews, focus groups, textual analysis, and critical autoethnography to specifically analyze how popular media articulates certain ideas about white working-class people, and how those who identify as members of this population, including herself, negotiate such articulations. Dunn’s work provides alternative stories that are rarely, if ever, found in popular media―stories that feature the varied reactions and lived experiences of white working-class people; stories that talk to, talk with, and talk back to mediated representations and dominant cultural ideas; stories that illuminate the multidimensionality of a population that is often portrayed in one-dimensional ways; stories that move inside and outside the white working-class to better understand their role within, and influence upon, U.S. culture. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents About the Author Acknowledgments Introduction—Mediated Buffoons as Political Stakeholders: Welcome to the White Working Class Methodology Chapter Outline Chapter 1: Becoming “White Trash”: The Formation and Historical Mediated Representations of the White Working Class The Rise and Fall of the White Working Class Naming the White Working Class Origins of “White Trash” in Media The “Redneckaissance” of Rural-Based Sitcoms White on White Class Combat in Film Buffoonery in Family Sitcoms and “Trash Face” in Talk Shows Economic Lows and “White Trash” Highs Chapter 2: Digging in the “Trash”: Contemporary Mediated Representations of White Working-Class People “White Trash” Criminality in Contemporary Media A “Redneck Reality” Revolution “Real” Implications Introducing Here Comes Honey Boo Boo Under Surveillance: White Working-Class People Laughing at “Inappropriate Whiteness” Authenticating “Inappropriate Whiteness” A Damning Setup Digging Deeper Chapter 3: From Insider to Insider/Outsider: An Autoethnographic Account of Returning to My Working-Class Roots (im)Mobile Homes Healthcare(lessness) A Blast from the Past The (im)Mobility of Education Scam U: The Predatory Nature of For-Profit Institutions The Fluidity and Complexity of Class The Insider-Outsider Dilemma Chapter 4: “It’s Like Watching a Car Accident”: When the Lived and Mediated Experiences of White Working-Class People Intersect Identification Dis-identification Negotiation Opposition and Critical Engagement New Voices, New Directions Conclusion—Taking out the “Trash”: A New Beginning for the White Working Class A Second Look A Fruitful Methodological Merger Challenges and Limitations A Shift in Perception The Value of Speaking with Strangers A New Beginning Index