In “Country Cookin’ and Cross-Dressin’: Television, Southern White Masculinities, and Hierarchies of Cultural Taste,” Greg M. Smith and Pamela Wilson (attached) present a model for analyzing the genre of the televised cooking show. On the one hand, they are interested in how a particular show has achieved success over many years by flouting the norms of the genre. On the other hand, they are interested in the tension between the global and the local. Using their general semiotic framework as your guide, analyze a successful cable show. What does this show tell you about its conceptualization of audience? What messages does it appear to be sending about gender and culture? Is it consistent in its messages? How does it differentiate the local from the global?
