30 Rock and Philosophy: We Want to Go to ThereISBN: 978-0-470-57558-1
Paperback
240 pages
August 2010
|
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