Unapologetic Women, "Comic Men" and Feminine Spectatorship in David E. Kelley’s Ally McBeal
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Critical Studies in Media Communication
Volume
18
Issue
4
Publication Date
2001
First Page
416
Last Page
435
Abstract
This essay examines how the narrative structure of the Fox primetime television hit Ally McBeal opens the text to a feminist reading. Despite critics' charges to the contrary, I argue that producer/screenwriter David E. Kelley's teleplays construct a preferred feminine spectator position that appropriates dominant male gazes in three ways: the feminine setting of the law firm, the refusal of women characters to yield to the male gaze, and the "comic spectacle of maleness." Ally McBeal's preferred feminine spectatorship stance is articulated through comic strategies in which gender ideals are questioned through mockery, thus opening a safe space for viewers to reject dominant patriarchal meanings and to experience a feminist epistemology.
Recommended Citation
_____. (2001). “Unapologetic Women, ‘Comic Men’ and Feminine Spectatorship in David E. Kelley’s Ally McBeal.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 18, 416- 435,
