This book analyzes the ways in which television dramas allow audiences to vicariously experience fantasy-indulging, escapism-satisfying, and reality-reckoning stories. Contributors discuss how our innate desire to tell human stories both binds us together and motivates us to persevere as a community on a global scale.

This book discusses the role of television drama series on a global scale, analyzing these dramas across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Contributors consider the role of television dramas as economically valuable cultural products and with their depictions of gender roles, sexualities, race, cultural values, political systems, and religious beliefs as they analyze how these programs allow us to indulge our innate desire to share human narratives in a way that binds us together and encourages audiences to persevere as a community on a global scale. Contributors also go on to explore the role of television dramas as a medium that indulges fantasies and escapism and reckons with reality as it allows audiences to experience emotions of happiness, sorrow, fear, and outrage in both realistic and fantastical scenarios.

Introduction: Television Dramas as Storytellers of Race and Gender for the Global Village

Diana I. Rios and Carolyn A. Lin

Section I. Fantasy-Science Fiction, Horror, and Mystery

Chapter 1: Luke Cage is Harlem’s Captain America: Black Masculinity and Vulnerability in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Graeme John Wilson

Chapter 2: Doctor Who’s 13^th Doctor: Redefining the Female Lead in Science Fiction Television

Gwendelyn S. Nisbett and Newly Paul

Chapter 3: A Woman in Trouble in Twin Peaks: The Return: Gothic Texts, Magical Technology, and Dreams Within Dreams

Joseph Boisvere

Chapter 4: Arya and Sansa Stark of HBO’s The Game of Thrones: Abuse, Agency, Trauma Survival, and Redefined Destinies

Diana I. Rios, Mary Helen Millham, Karin A. Haberlin, and Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez

Chapter 5: The Protagonists of the Fantasy Drama Lost: From Stereotypes to Flexible Identities

Jérôme David

Section II. Soap Operas and Telenovelas

Chapter 6: Pakistan Television Drama Serials and Telenovelas During Fifty Years: Gendering in Different Political Regimes

Saleem Abbas

Chapter 7: Primetime Brazilian Telenovelas and Gender Violence Representation

Lorena Caminhas

Chapter 8: French Television and the Audience: Examining Serial Dramas Un Si Grand Soleil and Plus Belle La Vie

Patricia Jullia and Frédéric Marty

Chapter 9: Brazilian Telenovelas and Multi-platform Audiences: Overviews and Industry Insights

Rosane Svartman

Section III. Historical and Period Drama

Chapter 10: Korean Historical Television Dramas: Cultural Meanings, Confucian Values, and Transcultural Identities

Suji Park and Carolyn A. Lin

Chapter 11: Thoroughly (Un)Modern Downton Abbey: Interrogating Gender/Sexual Dynamics and Whiteness Boundaries

Gordon Alley-Young

Chapter 12: From The Crown to Madmen: Historical Television as Commentary on 21^st Century Ideologies

Nettie Brock

Chapter 13: The Story of Zheng Yang Gate: Chinese Television Representation of Female Entrepreneurs

Mei Zhang

Chapter 14: Exploring Gendering in Iranian Television Drama Serials

Ali Zohoori

Section IV. Comedy-Drama

Chapter 15: Being a Black Man on Being Mary Jane: Considering Complexities of Black Masculinity in a Female-centric Drama

George L. Daniels

Chapter 16: HBO’s Insecure and Issa Dee: Black Women’s Interpretations on Facebook

Morgan W. Smalls

Chapter 17: Pregnancy and the Back-to-Work Narrative: How Television Comedy-Dramas Navigate the Social Norms of Motherhood

Elizabeth Fish Hatfield

Section V. Crime and Medical Drama

Chapter 18: Historical Drama Peaky Blinders: Pitching Racial Allegiances and Ethnocentric Populism

Inna Arzumanova

Chapter 19: Zero Tolerance: Genre and the Politics of Reconciliation in a South African Crime Show

Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk

Chapter 20: Doctor(ed) Representations: Physician Portrayals on Medical Television Shows

David Lynn Painter, Sarah Parsloe, and Hannah Jureller

About the Contributors