This is UnREAL: discourses of quality, antiheroes, and the erasure of the femininized popular culture in “Television for Women”

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay examines the discourse of the initial industry promotion and popular press reviews of the Lifetime series, UnREAL, and argues that in seeking to justify the program as “quality,” this discourse disparaged Lifetime TV as feminized popular culture. This was accomplished in two ways. First, in seeking to legitimate its brand, Lifetime effectively denigrated its own brand history, including its programming and audiences. Second, commentators and creators were eager to herald at least one of the central protagonists as the arrival of the seemingly long-awaited female antihero, thus making the show a worthy entry to the quality TV canon. The result was denial of the program’s relationship to feminized cultural forms, including its provision of different frames for interpreting the actions of the characters and “soapy” pleasures, contributing to the broader process of the denigration of those very forms and practices.