Video in the Home - A critical discussion of "Behind closed

A detailed Summary of Video in the Home - A critical discussion of "Behind closed

Video in the Home - A critical discussion of "Behind closed doors: video recorders in the home" pp327-336 Ann Gray (1987) Media studies a Reader

This article outlines the role of gender in authority and use of home technology, specifically the home video recorder, or VCR.

In the economic climate of the late eighties Gray argues that the TV and VCR are a very important part of family entertainment due to high prices of going out as a family. This is one of the first points stereotyping the nuclear family, and using only a very narrow social context. Gray stereotyping women as the inferior of most households implies that such entertainment is heavily gender biased due to a mans superior authority within a 'typical home', thus leading the use of the VCR to be a 'site of constant social negotiation'. Placing the woman as the sole domestic labourer of the household she argues that many women do not see the house of a place of leisure at all, and even daytime television viewing being a treat rather than a natural part of being a 'housewife'

Gray goes on to discuss the gender differences of domestic vs. entertainment technology i

Theories of a gendered audience are useful but when women and men watch together they become a social spectator hybrid, and in the present day many of the social contexts seem less relevant than in the late 1980's, at the time the article was written.

There is a wide choice of viewing due to the VCR, however Gray rightly states that there is much left to be addressed in understanding the female's viewing position in the typical nuclear family. This view must be stressed even more today than in 1987.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 768
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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