30 Rock and Philosophy: We Want to Go to There

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks for Helping Us

Go to There ix

Introduction: Platonic Fantasies and Tina Fey-losophy 1

PART ONE WHAT WOULD OPRAH DO?: ETHICS AND THE GOOD LIFE AT 30 ROCK

1 Being Kenneth: Some Moral Lessons 7
P. Sue Dohnimm

2 Sour Lemon: Liz’s Workaholism and the Meaning of Life 16
Jeffrey A. Hinzmann

3 Friendship on 30 Rock: What a Greek Philosopher Can Teach Us about Companionship 28
Dan Yim

4 A Confucian-Aristotelian Critique of 30 Rock’s “Semi-Virtuous Path” 43
Adam Barkman

PART TWO THE GIRLIE SHOW: GENDER, RACE, AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION AT 30 ROCK

5 Race at the Rock: Race Cards, White Myths, and Postracial America 57
J. Jeremy Wisnewski

6 Getting Gay: How 30 Rock Helps Us Understand Sexuality 75
J. Jeremy Wisnewski

7 And the Followship Award Goes to . . . Third-Wave Feminism? 89
Ashley Barkman

PART THREE DEALBREAKER!: CORPORATIONS, PROFESSIONS, AND POLITICS

8 Medicine’s Not a Science: Dr. Leo Spaceman and the Role of the Incompetent Professional in Today’s America 101
Kevin S. Decker

9 Is There a Difference between East Coast Television and Microwave Ovens?: Moral Questions about Corporate Management 114
Andrew Terjesen

10 The Emancipation Corporation: Loving and Loathing the Shinehardt Wigs of the World 130
Nicolas Michaud

11 Liz and Jack Can’t Be Friends!: Communitarianism, Libertarianism, and Politics at 30 Rock 138
Nicolas Michaud

PART FOUR MIND GRAPES (TO NOURISH YOUR THINKING)

12 “The Bubble,” the Cave, and Samsara: Being Deluded at 30 Rock 149
Adam Barkman

13 Of Cookie Jars and CEOs: Time and Self on 30 Rock 161
Tyler Shores

14 One City’s Cheese-Curl Addict Is Another City’s Model: A Question of Taste 174
Michael Da Silva and Melina Found

15 “I’m Straight-Up Mentally Ill”: Tracy Jordan and True, Justified Belief 186
Robert Arp

16 Performing at 30 Rock (and Everywhere Else) 195
Marc E. Shaw

APPENDIX 1 : Frank’s Hat Store 209

APPENDIX 2 : The Wisdom of the Page: Meet Kenneth Ellen Parcell 211

CONTRIBUTORS: Cast Members of 30 Rock and Philosophy 217

INDEX: Shinehardt Wig Company Filing System 221