The limits of interpretation: Ambivalence and the stereotype inSpenser: For hire
- 1 December 1992
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Critical Studies in Mass Communication
- Vol. 9 (4) , 311-324
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15295039209366836
Abstract
A structural analysis of the racial oppositions in the television program Spenser: For Hire challenges the interpretivist media studies claim that popular culture texts are necessarily polysemic. The article argues that representations of racial difference, in particular, are not polysemic but are rather ambivalent within the structure of the racist stereotype. The character Hawk's oppositional stance and persona, though subject to contradictory critical evaluations, serve the needs of the dominant culture to depict blacks in stereotypical ways.Keywords
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