Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Test Bank
PART VII: STILL WATCHING TELEVISION IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Multiple Choice
1. Reaching the vast majority of the population for well over half a century and seeping
into everyday conversation, ______ has/have made a significant contribution to our
culture’s attitude toward the man who makes his living with his hands.
a. sports
b. reality TV
c. sitcoms
d. documentaries
2. Rhimes’s blind-casting works to acknowledge difference in ways that will cause the
least amount of discomfort to White audiences while providing an illusion that under
liberal individualism, the marketplace will do right by historically ______.
a. marginalized individuals
b. inaccurate figures
c. complex characters
d. significant people
3. When television programs make race an explicit theme, it is usually an appeal to
some universal, effectively White, human experience that operates to ultimately
reinforce the goals of ______.
a. authoritarianism
b. liberal individualism
c. social objectivism
d. hollywood executives
4. Neoliberalism, characterized broadly as the “______” for global capitalism, expounds
the alleged death of class; according to this mode of social organization, professional
success and material security are the responsibility of private individuals.
a. secret key
b. ideological software
c. doomsday device
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
d. philosophical hardware
5. At best, Gilmore Girls points to a lack of political commitment on the part of its
producers, and at worst, it perpetuates a neoliberal fantasy that glosses over the harsh
realities of working-class life in ways that distract from the value of class consciousness.
This seemingly class-based show exploits economic disparities in the articulation of
______.
a. socioeconomic fantasies
b. a classless neoliberal middle class
c. false representations of working-class families
d. a conservative idea of middle class
6. Orange Is the New Black’s ambition to present a different perspective on prison life
appeared to be validated by ______.
a. real-life prisoners
b. television audiences
c. the production cast and crew
d. a chorus of television critics
7. At first glance, representations of female prisoners on contemporary U.S. television
may indeed appear as more ______ than those of their male counterparts.
a. violent
b. sympathetic
c. helpless
d. pathetic
8. Donald Trump is mastering new media as well as dominating television and old
media through his orchestration of media events as ______ and his daily Twitter feed.
a. PR disasters
b. false advertising
c. spectacles
d. historical significance
9. ______ are presented as media spectacles and dominate certain news cycles.
a. Dramatic news and events
b. Pop culture updates
c. Entertainment news
d. Sports and political rallies
10. Netflix has moved into territory that sets it apart from familiar structures of
production, broadcasting, or branding of television. Netflix does signal a change within
______.
a. the digital creator field
b. the online streaming market
c. the digital television landscape
d. the live entertainment framework
11. While Netflix is accountable to shareholders and its partners in revenue sharing, it
tends to be the company that advertises itself to ______ rather than ______.
a. younger audiences; older viewers
b. subscribers; advertisers
c. millennials; baby boomers
d. online viewers; network audiences
12. Which of the following statements best reflects the role of weddings in Black South
African culture?
a. Black South Africans do not celebrate weddings as it is forbidden in their culture.
b. Black South Africans eschew traditional weddings in favor of more Eurocentric
wedding models.
c. Black South Africans prefer to elope rather than hold a wedding ceremony.
d. Black South Africans celebrate both European “white wedding” as well as the
traditional wedding with traditional African clothing.
13. Why are reality television programs so ubiquitous around the world?
a. They are inexpensive to produce and easy to copy in various contexts and countries
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
b. They allow professional actors and directors to work with everyday people
c. They feature heavily scripted dialogue that is easy to translate
d. They show exotic locales
14. Caitlyn Jenner’s endorsement of ______ during the 2016 Presidential primaries
caused much consternation in the LGBTQ+ community.
a. Donald Trump
b. Bernie Sanders
c. Jeb Bush
d. Ted Cruz
15.The values supposedly espoused by Caitlyn Jenner’s program I Am Cait seem to
conflict with the heteronormative ideals of ______ which Jenner is affiliated with and
also airs on the same network.
a. Total Bellas
b. Jersey Shore
c. Keeping Up with the Kardashians
d. Meet the Frasers
True/False
1. If one accepts that television narratives articulate normative truths that enter into
public discourse and reinforce or resist dominant ideologies, then Gilmore Girls is a
poor indicator of and contributor to neoliberal notions of an autonomous individual made
in the image of a classless middle-class American.
2. According to the author, the networks had the money and the audience to dominate
the market as the only buyers of series programming from Hollywood producers and
studios.
3. Rhimes’s approach, balking at any utterance of race talk with regard to dialogue, plot
points, or character development, works to make the discussion of racialization seem
unnecessary and inauthentic.
4. Orange is the New Black’s portrayal of women’s attempts at beautification under the
most dire circumstances takes a much darker approach, but it challenges stereotypes
about female prisoners’ priorities.
5. Without a media-saturated “fast capitalism” and media-centric politics, new
technologies like Twitter and social networking, and a celebrity culture that has morphed
into politics, there could never be a Donald Trump.
6. The shift signaled by Netflix concerns issues of technology but maybe more
importantly, branding and programming strategies, viewing practices independent from
scheduling that lead to a complication in how audience behavior needs to be
understood and “success” of a program measured, and how familiar associations with
the concept of television are not “merely” subverted but changed completely.
7. The complicated nature of reality wedding shows in South Africa is largely due to the
fact that audiences in that country have been exposed to foreign wedding reality
programs in which the focus is on the production of a traditional “white wedding.”
8. Reality television programs came to the African continent prior to their success in
Europe.
9. Caitlyn Jenner’s program I Am Cait strives to place Jenner as a representative for the
trans community but continually displays the conflict between her conservative ideals
and the progressive nature of the movement.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Essay
1. What are some of the media that television uses to justify social class framing?
2. What factors go into developing programming and what is a consequence of those
choices?
3. What is populism?
4. Discuss the trend and ramifications of Black women in South Africa changing their
appearance to appear whiter and therefore, more socially acceptable.
5. What is neoliberalism?