Abstract
High-profile Shitty Media Men accused of sexual harassment were dramatised in two feature films and two prestige television shows released across a six-month period in 2019: The Assistant (Kitty Green 2019), inspired by former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein; The Morning Show (Apple+ 2019-), inspired by former network television hosts Matt Lauer, Bill O’Reilly and Charlie Rose; The Loudest Voice (Showtime 2019) and Bombshell (Jay Roach 2019), based on former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. The four dramas were some of the first fictional representations of men accused of sexual harassment and abuse following #MeToo. This essay explores their reflective and reflexive attempts to make sense of the complexity of debates around #MeToo. Collectively, they constitute a cultural reckoning of sorts as the film and television industries grapple with their complicity in crafting and enabling male abusers and the normalised and normative practices of exploitation in casting couch culture.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Toxic Masculinity: Men, Meaning, and Digital Media |
Editors | John Mercer, Mark McGlashan |
Publisher | Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |
Chapter | 9 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Edition | 1 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781003263883 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 31 Jan 2023 |