This qualitative work examines the role of tween live-action television shows in the friendships of four tween girls, providing insight into the use of televisual material in peer interactions. Over the course of one year and with the use of a video camera, I recorded, observed, hung out and watched television with the girls in the informal setting of a friend’s house. I found that friendship informs and filters understandings and use of tween television in daily conversations with friends. Using Erving Goffman’s theory of facework as a starting point, I introduce a new theoretical framework called friendship work to locate, examine, and understand how friendship is enacted on a granular level. Friendship work considers how an individual positions herself for her own needs before acknowledging the needs of her friends, and is concerned with both emotive effort and social impact. Through group television viewings, participation in television themed games, and the creation of webisodes, the girls strengthen, maintain, and diminish previously established bonds. I show how characters, narratives, and shows create a shared televisual lexicon the girls use to challenge and support each other, (re)aligning with and separating from friends to fulfill individual wants. I found that before television could be discussed, the girls negotiated their social relationships, and once established, conversation about televisual material is filtered through their friendships.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Childhood Studies
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Preteens
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Teenage girls
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Friendship
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_7327
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (vi, 192 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = vita)
Includes vita
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Cynthia Michielle Maurer
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Camden Graduate School Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10005600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
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