Normporn - (Postmillennial Pop) by Karen Tongson (Paperback)

About the Book

"Revisiting soothing network dramedies like Parenthood, Gilmore Girls, This is Us, and their late-80s precursor, thirtysomething, with a detour into True Blood (the funhouse mirror to these normy worlds), Normporn mines the nuanced pleasures, and attraction-repulsion queer TV viewers experience through liberal family shows-the outlets for our "spontaneous overflow of basic feelings.""--

Book Synopsis

An irreverent look at the love-hate relationship between queer viewers and mainstream family TV shows like Gilmore Girls and This Is Us

After personal loss, political upheaval, and the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us craved a return to business as usual, the mundane, the middlebrow. We turned to TV to find these things. For nearly forty years, network television has produced a constant stream of "cry-along" sentimental-realist dramedies designed to appeal to liberal, heterosexual, white America. But what makes us keep watching, even though these TV series inevitably fail to reflect who we are?

Revisiting soothing network dramedies like Parenthood, Gilmore Girls, This Is Us, and their late-80s precursor, thirtysomething, Normporn mines the nuanced pleasures and attraction-repulsion queer viewers experience watching liberal family-centric shows. Karen Tongson reflects on how queer cultural observers work through repeated declarations of a "new normal" and flash lifestyle trends like "normcore," even as the absurdity, aberrance, and violence of our culture intensifies. Normporn allows us to process how the intimate traumas of everyday life depicted on certain TV shows--of love, life, death, and loss--are linked to the collective and historical traumas of their contemporary moments, from financial recessions and political crises to the pandemic.

Normporn asks, what are queers to do--what is anyone to do, really--when we are forced to confront the fact of our own normalcy, and our own privilege, inherited or attained? The fantasies, the utopian impulses, and (paradoxically) the unreality of sentimental realist TV drama creates a productive tension that queer spectators in particular take pleasure in, even as--or precisely because--it lulls us into a sense of boredom and stability that we never thought we could want or have. .

Review Quotes

"The unstable mutating gulf between queerness and normalcy generates fantasy--the porn in normporn--and tension in equal parts, and their resonance is what comforts even as it causes ejaculative tears... a study of strong but irresolvable feelings that can never find cohesion as long as they are subject to political inconsistency."-- "GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies"

"In this astute mix of memoir, media criticism, and social/political analysis, Tongson demonstrates what it means to be complicit in, and implicated by, regressive and transgressive media messages and representations."-- "CHOICE"

"This book is an example of a brilliantly executed scholarly reflection on the ways in which media simultaneously portray and affect our perception of normalcy, written from a very personal, albeit theoretically sound and rigorous perspective...Normporn offers an important contribution to the field of television and queer studies and is a must read for anyone interested in the topic of queer media representations."-- "The Journal of Popular Culture"

"Not only does Tongson engage with an impressive number of texts, but she does so in an eloquent, insightful, and oftentimes witty manner. Normporn offers an important contribution to the field of television and queer studies and is a must read for anyone interested in the topic of queer media representations."--Kamil Zapasnik "Journal of Popular Culture"

"Tongson artfully weaves together fiction and reality to explore the desire for normalcy... This book is likely to be of interest to scholars of multiple disciplines, including media, queer, and gender studies. Tongson's work is deep yet also approachable, making it an ideal book for a wide range of audiences."--Megan Vladoiu "Journal of Gender Studies"

"Tongson's accessible, witty and jargon-free prose and her academic rigour produce a balance between affective subjectivity and intellectual inquiry, demonstrating how it is possible to critically approach cherished television series while at the same time leaving space for personal enjoyment and emotional response."-- "Continuum"

"Emotionally cathartic. The critic's wrestling with the compromises that the pleasures of mass culture inevitably demand is heartfelt. In a word, it's normal."-- "Arts Fuse"

"The analysis presents bracing assessments of network TV touchstones, and Tongson's wit is a treat. Thought-provoking and full of fresh insights, this entertains and enlightens."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"What begins as a searing cultural critique of the prevalence of sentimental, whitewashed television shows--This is Us, Parenthood, etc.--unfurls brilliantly into a soul-stirring reflection on personal and cultural grief and the palliative effects of plainness. Tongson exquisitely captures what it means for queer people in particular to find solace in the quotidian."-- "Electric Literature"

"Normporn is a funny, bracing and unrelentingly smart journey through the pop culture of the last twenty years to explain the confused, damaged state of American identity. Karen Tongson takes a look at everything from WandaVision to True Blood to parse out the conflicting ideas of what America is and should be. It's that rarest of books, a searingly intellectual cultural analysis that's fun and dishy enough for the beach."-- "Guy Branum, author of My Life As A Goddess"

"A personal and heartfelt ode to the problematic pleasures of normalcy. Insightful, relatable, and funny, Tongson is a master at twirling the personal around the political, giving us a layered, brainy investigation into this sneaky cultural manipulation."-- "Michelle Tea, author of Valencia"

About the Author

Karen Tongson is Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies, English, and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Why Karen Carpenter Matters and Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries, as well as co-editor of the Postmillennial Pop book series at NYU Press.