Drama Queen Research Articles

Study on the Path of Intercultural Communication of Television DramaTake Queen of Tears as an Example

Korean film and television dramas are one of the important carriers of intercultural communication in Korean culture. The study of the reasons for the popularity of Korean dramas from the perspective of intercultural communication has received extensive attention, but there is still a lack of in-depth research on the latest explosive Korean dramas. This paper will take the Korean drama Queen of Tears, which exploded in the first half of 2024, as a sample to analyze the reasons for the popularity of the Korean drama Queen of Tears in China under the cross-cultural communication path. The paper analyses that the popularity of Queen of Tears is inextricably linked to the interplay of casting, plot, filming, and production. Based on this, this essay proposes that domestic TV dramas should pay attention to character suitability in casting, rich and diversified plots, and character settings, and focus on short-video marketing and other suggestions, hoping to shed some light on the production of domestic TV dramas, to promote the export of Chinese culture to foreign countries.

Research on the Media Strategy of Film and TV Drama Promotion in the Background of Omnimedia -- The Queen of News as an Example

In recent years, with the continuous development of the economy and society and the Internet, the media environment is changing, and marketing methods are endless. At the same time, the drama market has been exploding and blossoming. Behind the excellent report card, is it the innate advantage of the drama series, or the methodology of the latter added. Based on this, this paper selects the late 2023 hit drama Queen of News as the research object, analyses its media selection and strategy in the process of promotion and distribution, explores the optimization path of media strategy for fi lm and television works in today s communication era, and helps more high-quality works to achieve the heat breakthrough circle and word-of-mouth precipitation, and promotes the benign development of the fi lm and television industry.

Drama Queens: applying dramaturgy as an inclusive pedagogy within the one shot

PurposeTo illuminate the experience of working with students using the innovative pedagogical approach of dramaturgy, this pedagogy can more effectively address systemic bias within academia.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is rooted in dramaturgical theory which suggests that how a person's identity or background is being constantly reshaped by their interactions with one another and the world around them. Within a classroom setting, it applies to contexts where group activities have a required performative aspect.FindingsThe authors found that taking a dramaturgical approach can be a very effective active learning technique within a one-shot information literacy instruction context.Originality/valueCreative approaches to information literacy instruction often remain untried, and the combination of this work and the consideration of dramaturgical theory within the framework of inclusive pedagogy is a distinct contribution to the field.

“Rahul is a Math Nerd” and “Mia Can Be a Drama Queen”: How Mixed-Reality Simulations Can Perpetuate Racist and Sexist Stereotypes

This article focuses on using simulations of practice in teacher education. We studied preservice teachers’ engagement with a popular simulations platform, which creates mixed-reality simulations of five digital avatars controlled by a single live interactor. Because simulations are only an approximation of real practice, our overarching goal was to understand how mathematical stereotypes might arise in simulated spaces. We used Discourse analysis to classify the stereotypes present and the EQUIP observation tool to understand how PTs made participation opportunities available. We found that the simulations might have perpetuated overtly racist and sexist stereotypes and that negatively stereotyped students were afforded lower-quality opportunities to participate. We discuss how to mitigate potential harm caused and offer guidance for redesigning more equitable and antiracist simulations. Our goal is to raise critical questions for our field around the use of simulations of practice.

#StudentsToo. prevalence of sexual assault reports among students of three European universities and their actions post-assault.

Previous research has indicated high rates of sexual assault (SA) among US students (> 25%). Yet this type of investigation has been less frequent at European universities. We conducted an investigation at three universities, two Dutch universities (N = 95 and N = 305) and one university in Belgium (N = 307). Students were asked to estimate the prevalence of SA, and to report about their personal experience. We defined SA as any situation in which students were inappropriately touched, forced to a sexual act without their consent, or were (sexually) verbally intimidated. 56% of students (Location 1: n = 54/95; Location 2: n = 172/305; Location 3: n = 172/307) across all three samples reported experiencing SA. The disclosed assaults were mostly unwanted sexual contact (i.e., groping) by male strangers aged 18-35 years. One-third of the sample reported to have done nothing post-assault, and among those who took actions, the majority disclosed the assault to friends, but rarely to family members. Also, 3-5% of students (Location 1: n = 3; Location 2: n = 11; Location 3: n = 11) (falsely) denied the assault. Seeking justice and needing support were important motivators of action, whereas psychological factors (i.e., memory distrust) were antagonists of this. Finally, besides psychological factors, fear of interpersonal consequences (e.g., being labelled as a "drama queen") was a strong influence to either deny or try to forget the assault. SA appears to be frequent among European students and further investigation including other European universities is warranted.

Islamic Values and Education in Sufiya Ahmed’s Secrets of the Henna Girl

This research examines how Sufiya Ahmed’s Secrets of Henna Girl challenges patriarchal practices by depicting the female character as struggling to fight for their rights through Islamic values and education. By using qualitative methods and close textual analysis, this research examines how the novel opposes to patriarchal culture and the misconception of Islam as a religion that supports discrimination against women. Indeed, the novel uses literary devices to portray patriarchal culture with the following aspects: the female characters experience patriarchal abuse by depicting men as Tiger King represents powerful men. Secondly, the female characters deal with patriarchal system by depicting women as witches representing powerful women. Thirdly, women experienced patriarchal abuse are depicted through the metaphor of glass vases and sacrificed lambs. Fourthly, the characters are depicted as a drama queen if they pursue their educations and careers. Although this novel is seemingly depicted women as the victims of patriarchal system, they are able to resist this system by using Islamic tenets and values, especially the Quran and hadiths. Furthermore, it is found that even though the female characters receive so many patriarchal practices, the novel can depict them as resisting patriarchy through education and Islamic values. Thus, the novel uses Qur’an, hadith, and Islamic teachings as a way to resist the misconception of Islam as a religion that supports discrimination against women.

What Are you?

What Are you? Sammee James (bio) What are you? I have spent most of my life being bombarded by people asking about my heritage, experience, credentials, and skills. I have spent thirty-one years on this planet having to prove my worth every day due to the color of my skin and my feminine appearance. I grew up introducing myself as, “My father was Black and my mother was white.” I described myself as caramel, coffee with cream, or a swirl cone to help give everyone the whole picture of living in between two worlds. Being mixed wasn’t a common thing when I was a child so I became an outcast that found solace in being alone so I wouldn’t feel the rejection of losing another friend due to parts of myself I had no control over. I am the light that warms your soul while you sleep in the soft green grass. I am your favorite song at the end of a long, and tiresome day. I am the cool breeze that brings life to a wind chime. I am the perfect swirl ice cream cone on a hot summer night. I spent most of my energy, as a teen, trying to fit in and ever changing my identity in an attempt to be accepted. I have fit myself in every box I have been forced in and have learned to adapt on the spot. Through every personality I showed, I never let myself love. I didn’t think anyone would love someone who didn’t know who they were. I was just a vessel for everyone to use until I finally found myself. I was the sassy, Black friend you saw on TV. I was the drama queen on and off the stage. I was the bolstering{~?~KB: AU: Did you mean “boisterious”?}, loud gal pal that could party with the boys. I accepted every name and label my friends and family put on me because they know me best, right? I am a tight hug that holds you up when nothing makes sense. I am the passion that rings in your ears while your dreams manifest into reality. [End Page 136] I am laughter that vibrates every bone. I came out twice as an adult. I felt supported and comfortable enough to let the world know “I am a proud bisexual!” at twenty. It took almost another ten years to come out as nonbinary. I had to fight the constant negative thoughts that if I was true to myself, no one would love me. I feared having too many differences from the norm to be accepted by friends and family. I hid behind descriptors like “one of the guys” and a tom girl {~?~KB: AU: Tomboy?}to hint that I wasn’t exactly a woman. I was inspired by peers who were their pure self with such confidence and grace. I wanted to shine as bright as them! I slowly chose outfits and styles that would fit my mood that day rather than my gender. I became an art piece that surprised even myself. I gave myself space to experience the mysterious in-between of what society tells us without the shame I was familiar with. I hoped one day, someone would look at me and be inspired. I am the roar of the crowd celebrating you. I am the sigh of relief when you are able to truly smile again. I am the future where hope thrives and love is the universal language. I am the dream of my past, the progress of my present, and the hope for my future. I was taught by society to apologize for my existence. I was shown that being different made you unloveable. I am now living proof that you can be who you are deep down and that freedom will open all the doors of love and acceptance. I live as an example of telling yourself yes after decades of no and the feeling of relief that overwhelms your very soul. Life wasn’t easy for me but I am grateful for the journey, I can love and forgive myself. I can smile through the toughest...

Gendered Vocational Identities – Female Students' Strategies for Identity Formation During Workplace-Based Learning in Male-Dominated Work

Purpose: This article investigates female vocational students' strategies for becoming part of a workplace community, what these strategies are and how they are tied to the formation of vocational identities within male-dominated industrial work. Of particular interest is how female students enrolled on Swedish upper secondary industrial programmes experience workplace-based learning at industrial workplaces as part of their vocational education. The theoretical framework derives from Wenger's concept of community of practice, but his theoretical concept does not explicitly include gender dimensions. Therefore, the concept of community of practice is also combined with Paechter's assumption of gender, whereby femininity and masculinity can be considered as different communities of practice. Methods: The article draws on evidence from a Swedish study based on interviews with 20 female students enrolled on the industrial programme at six upper secondary schools. In this vocational programme, there is a distinct gender distribution and only a small minority of the students on the programme are girls. In the analysis, the focus is on the female students' strategies used during workplace-based learning to become part of the work community which consists almost exclusively of male workers.Findings: The female students deliberately negotiated vocational identities as female industrial workers to become accepted in the male-dominated work community. The findings highlight three specific strategies that the female students used: Acting like gender does not matter, acting like boys (not like drama queens), and acting tough and joking around. The female students' strategies were part of – and tied to – a complex vocational identity formation process that featured contradictory requirements. By taking individual responsibility, they identified relevant information for becoming industrial workers and chose to act like boys. The female students saw no problem with being a girl, yet they struggled with implicit, diffuse and hidden gender structures and prejudices in the male-dominated industrial companies. Nevertheless, they strived for what they perceived to be an attractive vocational identity as industrial workers; it was an alternative, atypically feminine way of being that attracted the female students. Conclusions: The study concludes that female students mostly rely on their individual agency when interacting with others in the male-dominated workplace community. A "gendered vocational identity" is formed which shows that the identity formation of female students is a complex double process, in which vocational and gender identities are formed simultaneously and in parallel within the male-dominated workplace.

A Theoretically Based Analysis of Twitter Conversations about Trauma and Mental Health: Examining Responses to Storylines on the Television Show Queen Sugar

ABSTRACT Entertainment programming in the United States has long addressed major public health issues. In the present study, we used a culture-centric approach to systematically investigate the role of television storylines in facilitating health-related conversations on social media. In particular, we examined Twitter conversations about sexual and police-involved trauma prompted by portrayals on the fictional television drama Queen Sugar. Guided by the culture-centric model of narratives in health promotion, we classified the tweets (N = 1,671) into four main thematic categories: identification, social proliferation, emotions, and intentions. The analysis also revealed several subthemes, including identification with characters and cultural elements, expressions of pain and joy, information seeking and sharing, and the need to address intergenerational trauma and promote intergenerational conversations. The data suggests that Twitter may provide a vehicle for engaging in difficult conversations. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the study for mental health communication with Black Americans.

A massive star dies without a bang, revealing the sensitive nature of supernovae

In 2008, a huge red star in another galaxy reached the end of its life. A star as heavy as this one, born with 25 times the mass of the Sun, was supposed to go out in a fiery flash of light known as a supernova, millions or billions of times brighter than our Sun. But this one refused to play the role of drama queen. Instead, it brightened just a little, then vanished, possibly leaving behind a black hole. The spiral galaxy NGC 6946 spawned the first, and so far the only, failed supernova ever seen: a red supergiant star that vanished from the heavens without exploding. Image credit: Science Source/Robert Gendler. No one had ever seen one of these huge red stars wink out of existence with so little fuss before. It was a sign that the lives and deaths of these stars are more complex than our simplest theories had claimed. “As amazing and important and fun and exciting as this is, it’s not a surprise,” says Stan Woosley at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In fact, the discovery may help explain why the massive stars in computer models often fail to blow up. Conventional theory says that nearly all stars born more than eight times as massive as the Sun explode as supernovae. When young, a massive star is bright and blue. Nuclear reactions in its core generate an immense amount of energy. This keeps the star hot so that gas pressure pushes outward and partially counteracts the inward pull of the star’s gravity; so does the pressure of the many photons streaming out of the star’s core. As long as it generates energy, the star can hold itself up. In the end, though, gravity always wins. Later in life, as a massive star begins …

Am I lazy, a drama queen or depressed? A journey through a pluralistic approach to analysing accounts of depression

ABSTRACT The application of Pluralism in Qualitative Research (PQR) allows for a multi-perspective approach to understanding the nuanced social and psychological phenomenon. The complexity of what it means to qualitatively analyse and respond to sensitive data from the reflexive position of the analyst, is the focus of this paper. We introduce previous work in pluralism, and data from ReachOut.com, an online resource for young people in need of mental health advice in Ireland. We present our analysis of the posts from ReachOut.com which conveys the varied understandings of depression, from a medically understood illness, to a socially constructed lived experience. Analysis of the reflexive positioning of our group of experienced qualitative researchers highlights the need for support for those who engage with such data. Our findings reflect the outcomes and experience of using pluralism to examine mental health concerns which require further social, cultural and technological responses.

The ‘Drama-Queen’ and Other Conditionals in Real Discourse

The formal approach to conditionals, treating them in a decontextualized manner, has been the most developed. The present paper shows how problematic this approach can be when conditionals are studied in context. One large class of conditionals could be termed ‘interactional’, and includes formulaic if-clauses of politeness, conditionals which soften the message, speech-act conditionals emphasizing the relevance of some information given beforehand, and paratactic conditionals making promises or issuing threats. It is to this eclectic class that the ‘drama queen’ conditional is added. Recently discovered, this conditional does not deal with either truth or hypotheticality, but with the human emotions of the people who face their reality and compare it with their own past. Not unlike the conditionals that relay the message “It’s absurd!”, the ‘drama queen’ conditionals convey the message “It’s unimaginable!”.

A Conversation with Joyce Grant

Dear Readers,A couple of months ago I had an opportunity to sit down with children’s literacy advocate Joyce Grant and discuss her popular Gabby series of picture books (click here to watch the video). I was really pleased to have the chance to meet with Grant, especially because two of her popular books, Gabby, Drama Queen and Gabby Wonder Girl, were favourably reviewed by Deakin reviewer Leslie Aitken. I was eager to pursue some questions inspired by Aitken's thoughtful comments, especially her description of Gabby, Drama Queen's plot as “imaginative and complex.” Naturally, I was optimistic that I would enjoy reading the entire Gabby series prior to the interview. Now that I have read the series, I can assure readers that the books are delightful, and teachers will certainly appreciate the teacher’s guide that is freely available online to help elementary students to develop reading, writing, and comprehension skills. I met with Grant at the University of Alberta which was one of her stops on an ambitious tour of Alberta’s schools and libraries to celebrate books and reading during TD Canadian Children’s Book Week. She was scheduled to speak at our institution about her experience teaching kids how to spot fake news, and I was glad to hear that she actively encourages kids to read news on her website teachingkidsnews.com that publishes free daily stories for young readers. The website has lots of important stories that are worth talking about and debating, and as we can all attest, kids need to know how to differentiate between real news and stories that deliberately mislead readers for financial or political gain. Grant also publishes a blog called Getting Kids Reading (gkreading.com) that is chock-full of articles, games, crafts, and ideas to inspire kids to read.Grant was a pleasure to interview, and I hope you will take time to watch the video. Aside from answering several questions about the Gabby series, Grant also tells us about her latest projects and how to get in touch. Our new summer issue is filled with many excellent book recommendations, including some reviews of multimedia resources for kids that resulted from a student assignment in the Multimedia Literacies course offered at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies.Wishing you all a wonderful summer!Best wishes,Robert DesmaraisManaging Editor

Gabby Wonder Girl by J. Grant

Grant, Joyce. Gabby Wonder Girl, illustrated by Jan Dolby. Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2016Rising again from Joyce Grant’s imagination, Gabby and Roy, “the dynamic duo,” star in this language development picture book. This time, their creator’s didactic purposes are disguised in the story of Mrs. Oldham’s rescue from an apple tree. The primary focus of the lesson underlying their adventures is the concept of interrogatives: “who,” “where,” “how.” The sounds and shapes of the letters that comprise these words are explored. Other words germane to the story, “mask,” “pie,” are also decoded. The final two pages of the work contain follow-up games and activities.As in Grant’s 2013 work, Gabby Drama Queen, the clear intent is that the young child engaged in the story will be guided by an adult who reads the text and focuses attention on the lesson. Consider the following example:When she was safely on the ground, Mrs. Oldham plucked a “P” from the poppies, inserted an “i” that was inside the inuksuk, and ended with an “e” from the elf to make…”pie.”Obviously, any reader who can cope, quite independently, with the complex structure of this sentence and, as well, the meaning of such words as “inserted” and “inuksuk,” is unlikely to need help spelling the word “pie.” (In fact, a child who has come this far in his or her reading is likely to be intellectually beyond Gabby Wonder Girl.) The publisher suggests, very reasonably, that the book would be suitable for five to seven-year-olds.Jan Dolby’s illustrations support this view. They are cartoon-like, larger than life, boldly delineated and humorous. Tracking the highlighted letters and words through the pages of her bright and busy drawings should engross and delight young children. Long before they are taught to parse a sentence (Is that even done anymore?) they can be introduced to the idea that language has structure. Such a purpose is commendable; so is the book. Highly Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie Aitken Leslie Aitken’s long experience as a librarian involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and academic libraries. She is a former Curriculum Librarian for the University of Alberta.

Media Cultural Politics and the Politics of Sympathy—Queen Seondeok: Dramatized Conspiracy Theory as “Power-Narrative”

In this paper I reveal the mutual interaction between drama, history, and reality, and analyze the cultural operating principle of “the political.” I achieve this by analyzing the narrative of, and viewer reactions to, the television drama Queen Seondeok, which serves as a prominent example of popular K-drama culture in 21 st century Korea. First, I explain that conspiracy theory forms the core of the Queen Seondeok narrative arc, showing how it creates a shared bond of sympathy both with and among the audience in the context of popular disillusionment and resistance to “the political.” Viewing the drama with a critical eye focused on the conspiracies fabricated by the political persons that appear in the show, viewers come to support and sympathize with the conspiracy in the narrative, internalizing it as a lens through which to assess the world. In the process, a paradoxical interaction is revealed. To prove this, I analyze the paradoxical approach adopted by the viewers of the drama: by sympathizing with the narrative the audience recognizes “the political” as a “natural” lens. This stems from the way the drama satirizes and “reenacts” modern and contemporary Korean political history. Finally, I unveil specific mechanisms employed by the characters in Queen Seondeok to disguise their emotions and to win the competitive power game. All these elements together show both the operating principles of cultural politics in the medium of TV drama, and the empowerment inherent in the act of watching.

Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley

Reviewed by: Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley Elizabeth Bush Beasley, Kate Gertie’s Leap to Greatness; illus. by Jillian Tamaki. Farrar, 2016 [256p] ISBN 978-0-374-30261-0 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-5 Mary Sue Spivey’s arrival in Ms. Simms’ fifth-grade class has disturbed the social order in general and Gertie Foy’s current life mission in particular. Gertie has decided to up her academic game, become the star student of the fifth grade, and thus send the mother who abandoned Gertie years ago a final stinging message that she’s missing out on one fabulous daughter. Mary Sue, however, promptly insinuates herself into that star student slot, inching past hardworking Gertie on assignments and tests. The new girl is sly and catty, not above dropping her father’s career as a movie producer into conversations, mentioning her own close acquaintance with a teen movie star, and slipping effortlessly into alpha mode among her classmates. Things get worse when the slimy newcomer uses her mother’s credentials as an environmental lobbyist to organize an anti-oil-drilling campaign, a harsh slap at Gertie, whose father works on a gulf rig off the Alabama coast. Gertie’s now battling on too many fronts, and although the struggle for her mother’s recognition doesn’t play out the way she hoped, she does come away with a new appreciation for the family she has, an understanding of how teachers’ brains work, and grudging but heartfelt insight into what makes the class tyrant tick. Tamaki’s black and white illustrations focus on the humorous side of Gertie’s drama queen antics, while Beasley balances the humor of classroom situation comedy with raw realism about how much change smarts for kids entering their double digits, how herculean effort sometimes comes up short, and how lonely and utterly normal it is to feel passed over. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

“Attention seeker”, “drama queen”: the power of talk in constructing identities for young people with mental health difficulties

Purpose – Mental health difficulties are often stigmatised because of situated ways of talking that become taken-for-granted “truths”. Against this backdrop, identities of those affected are constructed. The purpose of this paper is to explore identities of former inpatients at an Irish Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Design/methodology/approach – Ten young people (aged 18-22) participated in discussions and their discourse was analysed using a critical discursive perspective. Findings – Three key identities emerged: a hidden identity, a misunderstood identity and the struggle for a re-claimed identity. Research limitations/implications – Findings indicate the power of discourse in creating stigma and the need for mental health professionals to draw on empowering discourses to help service-users construct positive identities. The importance of involving service-users in research is also implicated. Originality/value – This research involves service-users who are increasingly, although not traditionally, involved in research. Use of qualitative methodology allows their voices to be heard and gives meaning to their experiences.

Gabby, Drama Queen by J. Grant

Grant, Joyce. Gabby, Drama Queen. Illus. Jan Dolby. Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2013. Print.This book is best described as “busy.” The plot is both imaginative and complex, busying itself with a subplot—a play within a story, and incorporating spelling and phonics as integral elements of the text. The book features appended activity pages.Briefly, the protagonists, Gabby and Roy, become actors, bringing their stage and props into existence through the magic of letters spilled from a picture book Conveniently, they create a stage, a crown, and a stream. Children will probably not notice (but reading teachers will) that the story is a good introduction to lessons on consonant blends.The illustrations are cheerful, whimsical, and, once again, busy; they should engage a child’s attention. Still, regarding the beginning reader, the book is inherently problematic. The child who is only just beginning to sound out and spell the words “crown” and “stream” will not be able to read independently such sentences as “Queen Gabriella swanned dramatically onto the stage.”If the book is to fulfill its dual purposes of instructing and entertaining the child reader, its first reading, at least, will require adult assistance. This reviewer would suggest de-emphasizing the didactic elements, and letting the playfulness of the storyline carry the day. Reviewer: Leslie AitkenRecommended: 3 stars out of 4Leslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections. She is the former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

Drama Queens in the House by Julie Williams (review)

Drama Queens in the House by Julie Williams (review)

Drama queens: making television drama for women 1990-2009

Women have been making popular television drama for the ‘female’ audience since the early days of television in the UK, yet it is only in relatively recent times that their contribution to daytime series and early evening soap has extended to the primetime ‘quality’ slot in the mid-evening schedule. As I have argued elsewhere, female producers such as Verity Lambert and Lavinia Warner played an important role in commissioning works focused on female characters' lives and experiences, although it was not until the early 1990s with Sally Head's production of Lynda La Plante's award-winning Prime Suspect (Granada for ITV, 1991–2006) that a female writer achieved critical and popular success in the traditionally ‘male’ genre of the primetime crime series.1 Since the 1990s, a number of what are now conceived of as ‘quality popular’ dramas created by female writers have achieved national and international acclaim. These include award-winning single, series and serial dramas such as Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (BBC2, 1990), Band of Gold (Granada for ITV, 1996), Fingersmith (Sally Head Productions for BBC1, 2005), White Girl (Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC2, 2008), Cranford (BBC Drama Productions/WBGH Boston, 2009), Small Island (Ruby Films and Television/AL Films for BBC1, 2009), and popular series drama such as Call the Midwife (Neal Street Productions for BBC1, 2012– ), Scott and Bailey (Red Production Company for ITV1, 2011– ) and Getting On (Vera Productions for BBC4, 2009–10). Most academic work on television drama and gender since 2000 tends to rely heavily on textual analysis and theorization, often focusing on issues of postfeminism in US ‘quality popular’ dramas such as Sex and the City (HBO, 1994–2004) and Desperate Housewives (Cherry Productions/Touchtone Television, 2004–12), or teen dramas such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Fox, 1997–2003);2 to date there have been few attempts to understand the ways in which female creatives, defined here as producers, writers and directors, influence the depiction of female characters and their issues and concerns on the small screen. Denise Bielby argues that if we want to understand fully the ways in which the symbolic content of the products produced by the film and television industries is gendered, attention has to move beyond textual analysis and theorization to include the material barriers that prevent women working in the industry from becoming equal producers of these texts with their male counterparts.3 Award ceremonies offer one way of assessing the contribution of female creatives to dramas that are considered excellent by their industry peer group. The contribution of female writers, directors and producers can be discerned from an analysis of the credits of nominated dramas at the annual British Academy Film and Television Awards (BAFTAs). This analysis encompasses the twenty years from 1990 to 2009, a period in which it is claimed that the ‘feminization’ of television has taken place, explained in part by the increasing power of female commissioners in major organizations such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.4