Research
Urbanized TV Landscapes and the Growth of Gentrification
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University:
California State University, Northridge -
Course:
CTVA 305 | History of Television Academic year:
2011
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Views:
202
Pages:
81
Author:
Emilie Ortega
Movin' On Up
Urbanized TV Landscapes and the Growth of
Gentrification The Rent Gap
• Inquiry starts as a failed attempt to demonstrate
the operation of Smith’s (1979) “rent gap theory” in
Cincinnati.
• Mt. Adams, Cincinnati’s most gentrified
neighborhood appears to have never gone
through a cycle of disinvestment and reinvestment
as Smith suggests.
• The neighborhood known as “Over-the-Rhine”
turned out to be the more likely candidate for rent
gap style reinvestment, but began gentrifying only
in recent years. Mt. Adams Over The Rhine Rent Gap Median House Values 1940-1980
HouseCincinnati
Value 1940-1980
Selected Tracts (adjusted to 1980 dollars)
80000
70000
OTR
OTR
Mt. Adams
Mt. Adams
OTR
OTR
CITY
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980 Median Rents
1940-1980
Cincinnati
Median Rent :1940-1980
Selected Tracts (Adjusted to 1980 Dollars)
300
250
OTR
OTR
200
CITY
150
Mt. Adams
Mt. Adams
Westend
100
OTR
OTR
50
CITY
0
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980 Demand Side Explanations
• My findings might support the “demand-side”
argument that explains gentrification in terms
friendly to the consumer sovereignty position in
classical economics (e.g. Ley 1986, Hamnett
1984).
• Changing patterns in the economy, long
commutes, boredom associated with suburban
living, cited as demand-side reasons for
gentrification. Insufficiencies
• The consumer sovereignty position tends to
overlook the structural constraints involved in
housing markets, which the Marxists point out.
• Other structures within the housing market limit
choices of housing types: What types of houses
were available to those seeking a life in the city?
• Additional structures constrain taste preferences
still more to what might be fashionable. Taste Preferences
• Buying a house is generally the largest personal
investment one makes AND one of the most
personal statements one makes (e.g., Adams
1984),
• A home is a statement of identity for many,
especially those who can afford to personalize
such statements.
• Those without means still have a variety of
opportunities to express their identity through their
housing choices. Housing Options: 1970
• 1970 seems to be a crucial turning point in
American culture and economics, and seems to
be a point of departure for many gentrification
movements.
• What options were available to those looking for
housing in 1970? Option 1: Suburbia Option 2: Modern High-rise Fordist Housing Option 3: “Bohemian” Bargain Option 3: Early Adopters
• Option 3, the bohemian bargain is forced upon the
“starving artists” who can afford neither the
suburbs or modern high-rises.
• The “bohemian” crowd forms the nucleus of
residents “pioneering” this “urban frontier”
• This does not explain how Option 3, becomes… Option 3.5: “Yuppiedom” The $64,000 Question:
• How does consumer taste preferences for housing
change such that urban residents, many of whom
have been identified as “upwardly mobile” and
“engaged in the “new economy”, become willing to
take a chance on the “Bohemian Bargain”
identified earlier?
• This question is explained away too easily by
advocates of consumer sovereignty positions.
• “Oh it’s Better Homes and Garden, City Living,
and those types of magazines”. Ringing Hollow
• Other consumer items, including many that are
much less conflated with ones personal identity,
can not be marketed so simply.
• Pop music albums, for example, exhibit powerful
tendencies to sell poorly in the face of massive
marketing campaigns (e.g., Graves 1999). Television as Marketing Device
• Since radio stands as the only (partially) effective
means for selling music, it stands to reason that
an equally powerful media, such as television or
film, would be necessary to market similar
commodities that function as markers of personal
or cultural identity, especially one like a house
costs many thousands of dollars. Television as Structure
• At the very least, televisual imagery of housing
structures consumer taste preferences by creating
knowable categories into which home-buyers
project themselves. TV Housing 1950-2000
• I gathered Nielsen Ratings data for 1950-2000 to
look for top 20 programs predominantly set in the
home.
• Using 1970 as the seminal year for American
gentrification, I selected a 10 year framework
around it for additional analysis. Background-1950s
• The domestic comedy had not yet fully flowered,
but programs such as “I Love Lucy”, “Father
Knows Best” and “Dennis the Menace” employed
understated suburban settings.
• “The Honeymooners” depicted urban, tenement
style living, using it effectively to demonstrate the
difficulties of urban life. 1960s
• Westerns decline in popularity, permitting more domestic
comedies and urban dramas to appear.
• Andy Griffith Show and Green Acres lead a variety of
rural-set TV shows.
• Suburban housing dominates urban settings in programs
such as “My Three Sons”, “Bewitched”, “Here’s Lucy”,
Ozzie and Harriet, etc.
• Inner city scenes are reserved primarily for detective
programs and serve as settings for crime.
• “A Family Affair” and “Julia” are the only two domestic
settings that are both popular and set in the city. My Three Sons
• Initiates the popular “two bachelors raising a
family genre”
• The Douglas family (My Three Sons) moved from
the fictional Bryant Park to suburban Southern
California My
Three
Sons Bewitched
• 1164 Morning Glory Circle Westport, Connecticut Dick Van Dyke Show
• The Dick Van Dyke
Show" centers
around the life of
Rob Petrie, a New
York comedy writer
who lives in
suburban New
Rochelle Suburban 1960s
TV Addresses
• Lucy Carter lived in a
“lovely suburban house at
623 Valley Lawn Drive,
Los Angeles”
• Ozzie and Harriet Lived at
822 Sycamore Road,
Hillsdale - was modeled on
the Nelsons' real-life home
in Hollywood). Swingin’ Bachelor / Bachelorette
• The primary housing arrangement would-be
gentrifiers, (young, urban, professional) in the
1960s was the glass-and-steel, modern high-rise.
• Wealthier TV bachelors live in upscale “5th
Avenue” apartments.
• Major Nelson , of “I Dream of Jeannie” lived in the
suburbs, even though he was an swingin’
astronaut. A Family Affair A Family Affair
• Very highly rated program and depicted someone
successful and, at least at first young, urban and
professional.
• Bill Davis' carefree existence as a swinging bachelor
[was] just about perfect. A highly paid consulting
engineer, he maintained an elegant apartment off Fifth
Avenue in Manhattan (apartment 27A) (fansite)
• Cleary they did not live in gentrified housing, nor
did he live in a glass and steel high-rise. 77 Sunset Strip
• West coast,
swingin’ cats
• Clearly modern,
but West Coast The Courtship of Eddies Father
• West coast widower dad
• Apartment dweller
• Modern I Dream of Jeannie
• Cocoa Beach Julia
• Starred Dihann Carroll
as a widowed African
American nurse and
parent in Los Angeles.
• She lived in a
“modern...beautifully
appointed apartment
rather lavish for a
nurse's salary” That Girl
• Another program of the late
1960s depicting apartment
life, but less clearly.
• The Marlo Thomas
character changed
addresses and setting
frequently.
• Upscale apartments the
rule, but the setting is not
used to much effect.
• Perhaps indicative of the
uncertainty about how to
house a young semiprofessional in the city. 1970s
• In the 1970s, housing becomes much more varied
as programming becomes more thematically
diverse.
• Seven of the top 20 programs in 1973 have
significant urban-domestic settings.
• In 1974, 18 of the top 20 programs are urban set.
• All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Mary Tyler
Moore Show, Maude, Chico and the Man, The Bob
Newhart Show and Good Times, Rhoda, all use big
city settings. The Categories
•
•
•
•
30+ years, urban and working class- row housing
30+, middle class with children- suburbs
30+, urban and wealthy- modern high rise
Under 30, urban and hip-gentrified housing All in the Family (1971-1979)
• The series revolved around the life of Archie
Bunker who resided at 704 Houser Street in the
Corona section of Queens, New York.
• Archie was an uneducated, prejudiced, archconservative with a outspoken and working-class
opinions on everything. All in the
Family Mary Hartman, Mary
Hartman The Jeffersons
• Professional, but over 30.
• Settled in the “deluxe apartment” in the sky.
• Clearly Fordist housing The Jeffersons The Odd Couple (1970-1975)
• Divorced male
roommates, over 30.
• Lived in a high-rise
apartment, but the
apartment set changes
during series.
• Professional, but
decidedly unstylish
(Felix and Oscar) Odd Couple Bob Newhart
• Older, decidedly uncool
• Glass and Steel high-rise apartment dwellers Good Times 1971-1979
• Florida and James Evans were lowermiddle-class blacks living in a high-rise
on the South Side of Chicago with their
three children: JJ was the oldest at 17;
Thelma, 16 and Michael, 10.
• Fordist housing at its worst, most
depressing.
• Robert Taylor Homes? Robert Taylor Homes Robert Taylor Homes Sanford and Sun
• 9114 South Central, Los Angeles, California Chico and the Man What’s Happening
• Urban setting, but not
inner city The Brady
Bunch
• House and neighborhood where I most wanted to live
while I was growing up: suburban and safe.
• Opposite the “Good Times” set.
• Mike Brady was an architect, one would guess they
would have lived in a more interesting house.
• This house probably set the standard for suburbanfamily housing in the early 1970s. Happy Days Family (Eight is Enough?) Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970-77
• Perhaps the first TV
depiction of a yuppie in a
gentrified dwelling.
• Careful consideration of
Mary’s Apartment was
made by the production
staff.
• Fans of the show are still
taken by Mary’s pad. MTM Set MTM blueprint Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Mary lived Apartment D in an old Victorian home
located at 119 North Weatherly Avenue
• Many scenes shot in the apartment and many plot
involved directly the apartment.
• Rhoda (her upstairs neighbor) covets her
apartment and they initially do not get along well
because of this apartment envy. MTM Exterior at 2104 Kenwood
Parkway Mary Tyler Moore Show
• In later seasons, Mary moves on up out of the
“gentrified” apartment to something befitting her
greater maturity.
• Modern in style it is describe by one fan as “very
upscale”
• In reality, the building is modern, but part of one of
Minneapolis’ more dangerous public housing
complexes. MTM “new place” Rhoda
• Carlton the
Doorman
• Various living
arrangements
but got clearly
gentrified in
later seasons. Welcome Back Kotter
• Kotter’s house was clearly gentrified.
• Set in Brooklyn and the apartment or house
they lived in was originally intended to be a
focal point of the program.
• Series shifted early to more school-set
episodes, but cool Mr. Kotter’s house
remained the closing shot for each episode. Welcome
Back Kotter Mork and Mindy
• Lived in an
apartment in a
restored Victorian
• Earthy vibe One Day at a Time
• Set in an apartment in Indianapolis.
• Exterior shots not prominent or absent.
• Since the building super was a regular, one can
assume that it was not it good repair, but it
appeared to be semi-gentrified. One Day at a Time Sesame Street Sesame Street Three’s Company
• Apartment dwellers, but in
Santa Monica 1980s
• By the 1980s, TV housing categories fully
developed.
• Almost all under 30 urbanites were living in
gentrified housing.
• Over 30 characters, in order to establish their
“hipness” were placed in old Victorians,
Brownstones, etc.
• The Rosanne show recreated the working class
housing category. Cosby Show Cosby Show Cosby Show
• The Huxtable’s
brownstone front
steps are now a
New York City
tourist landmark. Too Close For Comfort Friends Friends Conclusions
• Television programs help establish the
categories of knowledge regarding our
housing choices.
• Television assisted in characterizing brick,
glass and steel, Fordist housing as suited
for those over 40 and/or the urban poor. Conclusions
• Gentrified housing became a popular and
knowable category of urban dwelling
through programs such as, The Mary Tyler
Moore Show, Mork and Mindy, Welcome
Back Kotter, etc.
• These programs therefore helped fuel
demand for gentrified housing by giving
gentrifiers and developers a knowable and
desirable housing/lifestyle category.
Urbanized TV Landscapes and the Growth of Gentrification
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