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Transcription
The Morning Show, a television series, explores gender dynamics in the workplace, particularly through the characters of Alex and Bradley. The show discusses the challenges women face in male-dominated industries and the portrayal of assertive women in the media. It also tackles the Me Too movement, addressing workplace harassment and the psychological impact on survivors. The narrative explores the complexities of accountability for corporations and the importance of solidarity among women. The show also touches on issues of diversity, discrimination, and intersectionality, highlighting struggles faced by characters from diverse backgrounds. Hello and welcome to our podcast. I'm Carly and I'm Nick and today we're going to be unraveling the complexities of ideologies, norms, values, and beliefs as presented in the television series The Morning Show. The Morning Show opens a window into the fast-paced, high-stakes world of broadcast journalism. As we dissect the show, let's first consider the representation of gender dynamics in the workplace, particularly through the lens of Alex Levy, portrayed by Jennifer Aniston. Alex, a seasoned journalist, finds herself navigating a challenging landscape dominated by men. The show sheds light on the struggles women face in positions of power, tackling issues like imposter syndrome and the broader challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. The show also includes Bradley Jackson, played by Reese Witherspoon, as a fearless reporter challenging conservative norms. Bradley's character brings forth a discussion on the importance of diverse voices in the media landscape, but how does the show handle Bradley's representation and her outspoken approach? Bradley's confrontational style raises questions about how the media views and portrays assertive women. Her character becomes a vehicle for discussing the societal expectations placed on women in the workplace, particularly when it comes to expressing opinion. The media can portray assertive women in a negative light, painting them as emotional or bossy. Bradley goes against this narrative by reporting on issues with passion and intensity, regardless of what society thinks, landing her a job on The Morning Show. Many are skeptical of her at first, even including Alex Levy, who thinks that she is just trying to gain attention. This can be seen in season 1, episode 1. The skepticism shows the hurdles that women must deal with regarding media as she faced assumptions of filming her outburst intentionally, being overly dramatic, and even planting information about oil to make her appear more knowledgeable, all of which ended up being fake. In moments like her explosive encounter at the coal protest, Bradley's passion for uncovering the truth is palpable. In these scenes, she's very intense and is not afraid of showing her true opinions on topics, something that is not seen as much from news reporters. From the very beginning of the show, Bradley is characterized as a truth seeking individual, even if it's uncomfortable or difficult to hear about. Now let's dive into the complexities of the Me Too movement presented in The Morning Show. The portrayal of sexual misconduct allegations against Mitch Kessler in season 1 raised critical questions about corporate power and accountability. According to a 2022 Television and New Media Journal, from 2019 to 2020, Netflix, Apple TV, and HBO all released shows related to the Me Too movement, including The Morning Show. This article dissects the similarities of The Morning Show's fictional plotline of a show anchor that is accused of widespread sexual harassment and assault to the real-life scenario of Matt Lauer, an NBC anchor accused of similar crimes. Researchers also point out that The Morning Show is incredibly similar to the accusations against Matt Lauer, with Mitch Kessler admitting to infidelity but not sexual misconduct. The show navigates the emotional toll of the Me Too movement, especially through the character of Hannah, and highlights the importance of addressing the psychological impact of workplace harassment. How does the narrative handle redemption, accountability, and the larger impact of the movement on survivors? The impact of workplace harassment on survivors is immense. This is represented in multiple scenes throughout season 1, but specifically in the last episode when Bradley is interviewing Hannah. It can be felt through the intense emotions Hannah expresses when she is retelling the story. And this connects to an article by Guttek et al. from 1996, where evidence suggested that women experienced more discrimination in organizations than men, which kind of supported the storyline behind The Morning Show. Going along with this, an additional factor that is portrayed in this episode is the ability for corporations to cover up misconduct and keep stories from reaching the public eye. Often when we learn about misconduct within large corporations, it is much later than the actual occurrence. This can be seen in The Morning Show when it is exposed that the victims of sexual misconduct, including Hannah, were promptly offered promotions when it was discovered by higher-ups within the company. This creates a corrupt workplace and an unsafe environment. This method of cover-up can also be seen as taking a major toll on Hannah, as she is seen facing turmoil of whether or not her promotion was simply a way for them to assure she stayed quiet or because of merit. She was also offered another job in LA around the time of her interviews, but the abuse she faced added to her doubting the company's intentions. In the end, Hannah unfortunately ends up dying as the result of an overdose, which is directly connected to the intense emotional toll that she faced from sexual misconduct at the hands of Mitch. So, Nick, what does accountability look like for a corporation? That's a complex question. Depicted in The Morning Show, in attempts to clean up their image, the immediate firing of Mitch Kessler was UBA's plan of action. However, this is not enough to help compensate for the victims of harassment, as seen in the final episode of Season 1. Between the mental toll of everything going on at the news station, the interview with Bradley, and the reliving of the abuse she faced, Hannah's mental health continued to decline, resulting in an overdose. I mean, not like with the news. I'm not talking about that. I'm actually talking about herself. What the fuck are they doing? Get ready to go to tape early. We don't tell you everything, even a little bit. I mean, this whole place, it's really different than what you, than what it may appear to you. And there are some really bad things going on here, some really bad things, and really bad, there are bad people, and... Are we doing this? Yeah. We should just tell the truth quickly. They're going to cut us off. We have one minute. So in that clip from the final episode of Season 1, viewers witnessed a powerful moment of solidarity between Bradley and Alex. This representation of two powerful women in the journalism industry, which becomes a beacon of hope in this narrative filled with corporate maneuvering and ethical dilemmas. That's one thing I felt like this show really did a good job on, displaying women in positions of power on the morning show and at the production company UBA. I found it really interesting that there was a clip of Alex going rogue on air and kind of like overtaking a segment. I feel like it's something I've never seen on TV before. Carly, I was wondering if you saw something like that, how would you respond? I really don't even know, because that's something that takes so much gut. You're sacrificing, potentially, your entire career and your position at that point. Yeah, it was interesting because they even showed it displayed in Times Square. Everything was kind of playing, and then all of a sudden everyone started watching, and then it cut. So that was a really interesting scene. Yeah, for sure. Especially the way that it was shot. It just made it all so intense, and it really raised the emotions. Yeah, for sure. There is this really strong sense of diversity in the cast for the show, even with the accusations and difficult events occurring at the morning show itself. Going back to that Gutek et al. article that was mentioned earlier, in this study about 50% of women and men thought that women were discriminated against in executive positions in business, and I thought this was something that wasn't represented as much in this show, even with the focus on the MeToo movement, which I found really interesting. Yeah, the show also grapples with issues of identity, as seen in the discussion in Season 2, Episode 4, between Mia Jordan and Daniel Henderson, both black characters, exposing systemic biases and discrimination within the workplace. How does the morning show navigate the intersectionality of identities, and does it adequately address the challenges faced by the characters from diverse backgrounds? Well, looking at Daniel Henderson, he's faced with so many issues of discrimination and struggles within the workplace, specifically at the morning show, and his character is a representation of how, due to his race, he's only considered for specific stories. Like, the producers went as far to send him to Wuhan, China, in the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, because he was the only one who had interest in the story. It's mentioned in this episode that Daniel feels that he's only chosen for stories that have to do with diversity, something that's hindering him from getting as much air time. This issue of selecting certain reporters for stories based on their race alone is a theme in this episode, and there's a lot of discussion about what voices are being included for each segment. I also found it interesting, the way they depicted COVID in this segment, because they sent one of their reporters that they considered lower level, and any time they'd cut to his scenes, it would be shorter, and even sometimes they skipped his segments, they'd brush off his stuff for other parts, so it was really interesting seeing that, because COVID ended up being such a big deal, how one of their lower reporters ended up reporting on, like, a major issue. Yeah, for sure. In the morning show, another issue raised by writers is regarding sexuality and sexual identity. In season two, episodes three and four, viewers learn that Bradley, the conservative and radical journalist from a southern conservative family, is queer. As she begins navigating her relationship with Laura Peterson, she shares that she does not believe that she is gay. Bradley, you just called yourself straight. Yeah, that's just the best of the world I am. And why is that exactly? Because most of the time I'm straight. Laura is taken aback by this, especially because at the current moment, Bradley faces a potential advantage with coming out of the closet and the ability to get more screen time. This personally hit me as a little strange, especially with Laura previously being fired from her position as a news anchor on another morning show after being publicly outed. Laura's past experiences and Bradley's reluctance to quote-unquote use her identity invite discussion about the challenges faced by LGBTQ plus individuals in the workplace and potential discrimination. In addition, the co-anchor Daniel that was discussed earlier also felt that his lack of air time could be a result of him being gay. In a study done by Sears et al. and published by the School of Law Williams Institute, over 40% of LGBT workers reported experiencing unfair treatment at work, including being fired, not hired, or harassed simply because of their sexual orientation, which is something I really think producers wanted to have a focus on in this show, especially in season two. As we wrap up our exploration, the morning show represents a complex tapestry of ideologies, norms, values, and beliefs. It invites us to reflect on the media industry, ethical considerations and journalism, and the broader societal implications of workplace dynamics. We encourage you to check out the morning show on Apple TV Plus for its thought-provoking narrative and complex characters. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, keep questioning, keep exploring, and keep listening.
