Animality, domesticity and masculinity in My Cat From Hell

Abstract

This article analyses a US reality TV series for the way it reflects two coinciding phenomena: the elevation of animals to a new domestic status in which their needs and interests demand significant time, care and money and the rise of male-fronted instructional lifestyle television. The commercial dimensions of what has been characterised as ‘America’s hyper-profitable obsession with its dogs and cats’ are apparent in dramatic sales rises of premium pet food, the dramatic growth of pet care and grooming industries and the expansion of care animals in the public sphere. Considering the ways in which we are now called upon to cultivate and monitor the emotional well-being of our pets and to take part in an animal-centred economy on their behalf, I turn to the example of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell. This series emphatically repositions cat care and empathy as congruent with masculinity while demonstrating, as I will argue, the relevance of hipster entrepreneurialism to the vastly expanded pet economy.