The primary objective of this dissertation is to examine how the Oprah Winfrey Show and Network (OWN) uses the platform to engage women and consider particular topics and themes covering aspects of Oprah’s past, fame, her triumphs over adversity, cultural diversity, yet analyzing the representation and format of her television show, and most importantly Oprah’s idol Maya Angelou. It examines her US daytime talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, a social and political space for women where analysis from an episode will depict her format (televisual chat shows psychology or in chat shows) and analyze particular content and components it involved; in ways, Oprah promotes feminist ideology and practice messaging ‘self-help’ topics such as marriage, parenting and how to improve self-image. Also, it explores Oprah’s characterizations and the demeanor she presents herself in to attract her largely female audience: to be a televisual feminist. (Squire, 1994. p.64) The main exploration is how Oprah represents feminist insights within her work to engage women, however may argue in some ways might/does not.
For years it has been evident, that men have always held a stronger power in the industry, however, this is slowly changing in today’s society as we have gained many inspirational female representations portrayed on television who inspire many women globally.
Oprah is a Producer Media Executive Philanthropist Billionaire mogul who is best known for being the first black American female host of the popular, nationally syndicated US chat show The Oprah Winfrey Show which aired from 1986 to 2011. By 1993 it had drawn in a great number of female viewers with over 15 million American people tuning in to watch the ‘typical American woman’ with debates on personal and social issues.
Her work currently consists of her upstart television network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) which launched after she stopped airing her chat show in 2011 and replaced the channel Discovery Health after Discovery Communications invested millions in the network. (Wired, Jason Parham 2018) OWN provides leadership programming creating a space for artists to tell stories that inform and entertain by connecting with the world on social media and television platforms to keep up with today’s society. She successfully does this by attracting superstar talent to join her in the creative network and build a global community of like-minded viewers, leading them to a range of profound content.
Her content is reorganized with videos and playlists, showcasing amazing work from artists of African descent and containing reruns of The Oprah Winfrey Show, celebrity stories, films, new series, and Super Soul sessions, which would include features and segments depicting love, health, parenting and spirituality that present an array of outlooks of what it involves and means to be alive in today’s world.