For almost eight seasons, the hit television show Two and a Half Men dominated the network ratings among every segment of the night-time viewing audience. The series reinforced conventional notions of masculinity by pitting brothers Charlie and Alan Harper in a continuous struggle of sexual competition, financial success, and familial conflict. The traditional framework of binary masculinity was disrupted during the eighth season with the noisy public departure of Charlie Sheen. His replacement, Ashton Kutcher, changed not only the personality of the leading character, but also the relationships with other characters, and subsequently, the portrayal of masculinity within the television series. This presentation investigates this rupture in understanding masculinity.
About the presenterKathleen German
Kathleen German received her Ph.D. degree in Rhetoric from the University of Iowa in 1974. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of rhetorical criticism, political communication, media aesthetics, and documentary film. She has also published work on American Indian and African American images in film as well as co-authored a leading textbook on public speaking. Among other journals, her previous work has appeared in Communication Education, Western Journal of Communication, Communication Studies, Women’s Studies in Communication, The Newspaper Research Journal, The Howard Journal of Communication, and other regional journals.