The Female Teacher on Television: Shifting Stereotypes on the Small Screen: Elizabeth Currin: Bloomsbury Academic

The Female Teacher on Television

Shifting Stereotypes on the Small Screen

The Female Teacher on Television

Shifting Stereotypes on the Small Screen

Description

This edited volume examines the ways in which the representation of female teachers on television has developed from the advent of the medium up to the present day. Despite the widely feminized nature of the teaching profession, the first depictions of female teachers on television did not occur until over a century later. Contributors analyze a variety of programs spanning time periods, audiences, and genre to provide insight into the past, present, and future trajectory of increasingly multidimensional portrayals of female teachers. Scholars of television, media, gender, women's, and cultural studies will find this book of particular interest.

Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I: From the Television Revolution to the Sexual Revolution

Chapter 1: Our Miss Brooks: The Lead Teacher in Her Domestic Sphere
Patrick A. Ryan
Chapter 2: What Does it Mean to be a (Working) Woman?: Television's Female Teachers in 1950s and 1960s Situation Comedies
Cathy Leogrande
Chapter 3: From Foundling Home to Maritime Mansion: The Re-Emergence of the Nineteenth-Century Governess in the Twentieth-Century Soap Opera Dark Shadows
Rebecca Grunzke

Part II: Animation Dominations

Chapter 4: "Glorified Babysitter": Edna Krabappel as the Prototype for the Modern Teacher
Adam Grunzke

Chapter 5: Peggy Hill, Patriarchal Shill
Elizabeth Currin

Chapter 6: "Western Civilization As We Know It Will Come to an End": Female Teacher Tropes and Opposing Teaching Ideologies in Disney's Recess
Leah Day

Part III: Iconoclasm with a Purpose: The Death of the Savior Teacher?

Chapter 7: "You're Not Really My Children": Teachers and the Attack on Public Education
Robert Dahlgren
Chapter 8: Not Your Average Manic Pixie Teachers: An Analysis of Jocelyn from Schitt's Creek and Jess from New Girl
Abigail Stebbins, Melissa Stanley, Jacob Gates, and Stephanie Schroeder
Chapter 9: "It's a Calling. You Answered": The Strong Black Woman as Savior Teacher in Abbott Elementary
Andrew Grunzke and Ludovic Sourdot

Part IV: The Case of Rita and the Trans-National Teacher on Television

Chapter 10: Rita: The "Naughty" Teacher
Melanie Janzen and Christie Petersen
Chapter 11: Rita: The "Good Teacher" Gets Real
Mary Dalton

Part IV: Afterword

Chapter 12: What Hath Our Miss Brooks Wrought? The Future of Feminized Portrayals of Teachers: Female Embodiments of Artificial Intelligence
Edward Janak and Pierrette Dagg

About the Contributors

Product details

Published	12 Jun 2025
Format	Ebook (PDF)
Edition	1st
Extent	376
ISBN	9798765155141
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations	7 bw illus
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Anthology Editor

Rebecca Z. Grunzke

Anthology Editor

Andrew L. Grunzke

Andrew L. Grunzke is Associate Professor of Educat…

Contributor

Elizabeth Currin

Contributor

Pierrette Dagg

Contributor

Robert Dahlgren

Contributor

Leah Day

Contributor

Mary Dalton

Contributor

Jake Gates

Contributor

Adam Grunzke

Contributor

Andrew L. Grunzke

Andrew L. Grunzke is Associate Professor of Educat…

Contributor

Rebecca Z. Grunzke

Contributor

Edward Janak

Contributor

Melanie Janzen

Contributor

Cathy Leogrande

Contributor

Christie Petersen

Contributor

Patrick A. Ryan

Contributor

Ludovic A. Sourdot

Contributor

Abigail Stebbins

Contributor

Stephanie Schroeder

Contributor

Melissa Stanley

There is no cultural medium more accessible to the masses than television, and no profession more familiar to the masses than the teacher. It is not surprising that over the decades teachers have been the subject of television entertainment in comedic, dramatic, and animated series. This volume tackles the important question of how female teachers have been depicted in television shows. The chapters examine the question historically and cross-culturally. They offer compelling arguments about what these depictions reveal about our cultural understanding of schools, gender, and the teaching profession.

Robert C. Bulman, Professor of Sociology, Saint Mary's College of California, USA, and Author of Hollywood Goes to High School: Cinema, Schools, and American Culture (2015)