A One-Man Show? The Construction and Decontruction of a Patriarchal Image in the Reagan Era: Reading the Audio-Visual Poetics of Miami Vice

By John-Paul Trutnau

This book is a comprehensive analysis of Michael Mann's Miami Vice, with insight into the social, political and cultural mechanics. Deconstructing a Patriarchal Image not only sheds light on the series' audio-visual poetics, but also illustrates the lifestyle and trends of 1980s America. A must-have for fans of Miami Vice and readers interested in 1980s popular culture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Mar 31, 2005
• ISBN: 9781412233071

Book preview

© Copyright 2005 John-Paul Trutnau.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Note for Librarians: a cataloguing record for this book that includes Dewey Decimal Classification and US Library of Congress numbers is available from the Library and Archives of Canada. The complete cataloguing record can be obtained from their online database at:

www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html

ISBN 1-4120-5096-0

ISBN 978-1-4122-3307-1 (e)

Printed in Victoria, BC, Canada

B2_OneManShow.pdf

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Approach and Critial Angle

1.1 Approach and Critical Angle

1.2 Previous Related Research

Chapter 2

A Political Positioning of Miami Vice

2.0 Introduction

2.1 Conservatism and Neoconservatism in the Reagan Era

2.2 Conservatism, Neoconservatism and Nationalism in A New Beginning

2.3 Aspects of Politics in Miami Vice

2.3.1 Introduction

2.3.2 References to the Family

2.3.3 The Cowboy in Miami Vice

2.3.4 The Vietnam Trauma: Historical and Cultural References

2.3.5 The U.S. Flag as Special Symbol

2.4 The Reagan Dimension: Conservatism, Neoconservatism andNationalism in 1980s America

Chapter 3

A Generic Positioning of Miami Vice

3.0 Introduction

3.1 Deconstructing Miami Vice as Police Series

3.1.1 Reflections on TV Crime Series: Miami Vice as a Police Series

3.1.2 The Literary Forerunners of the Crime Series Genre

3.1.3 The TV Series Miami Vice: Production Parameters of Miami Vice

3.1.4 The Implications of Episode Titles related to the Male Protagonist in Miami Vice

3.1.5 Key Elements of the Crime Series in Miami Vice

3.2 Deconstructing Film Noir in Miami Vice

3.2.1 The Roots of Miami Vice: Film Noir

3.2.2 References to Other Film Genres: Miami Vice as Rebirth of The Maltese Falcon

3.2.3 Key Elements of Film Noir in Miami Vice

3.2.3.1 Film Noir Elements and Lighting

3.2.3.2 Lighting Variations and Mood

3.2.3.3 The Staircase in Mann’s Series

3.2.3.4 Props and Film Noir Symbolism

3.2.3.5 Lighting, Synthesizer Soundtrack, Film Noir and Impending Threats

3.2.3.6 Lighting and the Femme Fatale

3.2.4 The Implications of Film Noir Elements in Miami Vice

3.3 Cultural Aspects of Miami Vice: TV as Art; TV as Film

3.3.1 Miami Vice and its Similarities to Film

3.3.2 TV vs. Cinema

3.3.3 TV Aesthetics and Miami Vice

3.3.4 Classic Hollywood Film (CHF) and a 1980s TV Series: Miami Vice

3.4 Michael Mann as Producer And his Product,Miami Vice

Chapter 4

A Social Positioning of Miami Vice

4.0 The Deconstruction of a Patriarchal Image in Miami Vice

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Treatment of the Male Protagonist

4.2.1 The Establishment and Visual Construction of a Male Protagonist

4.2.2 Editing – The Title Sequence

4.2.3 Action and Editing

4.3 The Name of the Male Protagonist and its Implications

4.3.1 The Names of other Characters and Squad Members

4.3.2 Undercover Names

4.3.3 Names of Criminals

4.4 The Relationship of the Male Protagonist to Members of the Squad

4.4.1 Crockett and Gina

4.4.2 Crockett and Trudy

4.4.3 Crockett and Zito

4.4.4 Crockett and Stan

4.4.5 Crockett and Tubbs

4.4.6 Crockett and Castillo

4.4.6.1 Action and Editing: Camera Movement

4.4.6.2 Eyelines

4.4.6.3 The Eyeline of the Male Protagonist

4.5 The Relationship of the Male Protagonist to Criminals and Corrupt Characters

4.6 The Relationship of the Male Protagonist to the Level of Threat and Type of Crime

4.7 The Type of Setting and the Power Position of the Male Protagonist

4.8 Deconstructing Capitalism and Consumerism in Miami Vice

4.8.1 Introduction

4.8.2 Capitalism and Consumerism in the Gangster Film and Miami Vice

4.8.2.1 Defining Capitalism and Consumerism

4.8.2.2 Little Caesar

4.8.2.3 The Public Enemy

4.8.2.4 Scarface

4.8.2.5 Gangster Film Influences on Miami Vice

4.9 Social Aspects: Patriarchal Values and Gender Issues in Miami Vice

Chapter 5

A Cultural Positioning of Miami Vice

5.0 Deconstructing Miami Vice as Art

5.1 Pop Music and Synthesized Music in Mann’s Series

5.1.1 The Use of Pop Music and Sound as Narrative Devices

5.1.2 Pop Music

5.1.3 Pop Music, Male Consciousness and Male Emotion

5.1.4 Pop Music and Love Relationships

5.1.5 Pop Music, Male Action and Male Freedom

5.1.6 Jan Hammer and Miami Vice

5.1.7 The Synthesizer Soundtrack and Action

5.1.8 The Synthesizer Soundtrack and the Male Consciousness

5.1.9 The Synthesizer Soundtrack and Ethnic Situations

5.1.10 The Synthesizer Soundtrack and Impending Threats

5.1.11 The Synthesizer Soundtrack and the Protagonist’s Emotional Side

5.1.12 Summary of Sound as Narrative Device

5.2 Miami Vice and TV Commercial Aesthetics

5.3 Aspects of Postmodernism in Miami Vice

5.4 Artistic Constructions in Miami Vice

5.4.1 Mise-en-Scène: Placement of Characters

5.4.1.1 The Double Placement

5.4.1.2 Mise-en-Scène: The Man at the Table, Women at the Pool, Geometrical Placements

5.4.1.3 Mise-en-Scène: The Triple Placement

5.4.2 Mise-en-Scène : Action and Editing

5.4.2.1 Close Ups (CU)

5.4.2.2 Big Close Ups (BCU)

5.4.2.3 Action and Editing: Freeze-Frame

5.4.3 Mise-en-scène: Color Coordination

5.4.4 Colors: Combining Colors and Props

5.4.5 Props and Symbolism: Cigars, Champagne and Others

5.4.6 Props and Symbolism: Masks

5.4.7 Props and Symbolism: Puppets and Dolls

5.4.8 Props and Symbolism: Cars and weapons

5.4.9 Props and Symbolism: Shades

5.6 The Rise and Fall of a Series: The Peak of Miami Vice

5.6.1 The Narrative: The Thematic Rise and Fall of the Series

5.6.1.1 Levels of Experimentation

5.6.1.2 Plot

5.6.1.3 Levels of Violence

5.6.1.4 Sense of Victimization

5.6.2 The Audio-Visual Poetics

5.6.2.1 Sound and Pop music

5.6.2.2 Visual Elements

Chapter 6

Evaluation

Introduction

During the 1980’s, America was in a time of political reorientation. After Vietnam, Watergate, and the Iranian hostage crisis, the need for political reform and governmental stability was urgent. Ronald Reagan was the answer. He came into power as the president and introduced a conservatism in America that accorded with his personal values. Within this climate the values that reflected Reagan’s conservatism were force-fed into society via the media. This is apparent in cinematic and televisual products made during the time and holds true for many television series running on a weekly basis that were a fixed part of the American viewer’s nightly home entertainment.

The following analysis is based on the idea that as part of the Reagan era many different social, cultural and aesthetic tendencies during the 80’s — such as postmodernism, pop culture, wealth, fashion and expensive status symbols — had an ever-present conservative tendency within the discourses of these cultural products. These conservative values are manifested partly through the seemingly dominant male image of Mann’s television series, Miami Vice. Even today, many people think that the series was merely a flashy mix of different trends knit together in a fashion that can be easily labeled postmodern. However, people overlook the conservative tendencies that powerfully reverberate throughout this series.

The powerful construction of a conservative male image — be it subtle or obvious, and how it stands out in Mann’s series as reflecting the conservative values of President Reagan and the 80’s is the starting point for this analysis. Namely, that the TV detective series Miami Vice, produced at the time of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, is not simply a post-modern, flashy and colorful extended MTV music clip, but rather is carefully structured around an image of patriarchy that corresponds with the conservative beliefs perpetuated by Reagan and his government.

Chapter 1 outlines the approach and critical angle for the structural analysis of Miami Vice. Mann’s series is scrutinized as ‘text,’ a media product of 1980s America. The problematic word ideology will also be tackled and subsequently replaced by the more accurate phrase, dominant value system. In order to tackle this struggle, this paper uses a combination of deconstruction and discourse analysis. The deconstruction breaks down the visual construction of the male image in the series by means of binary pairs, i.e. male versus female, male versus male, and other opposition schemes. In this way power positions are revealed that shape each individual episode. After establishing these positions, the discourses are then evaluated in a discourse analysis and placed against one another in a qualitative hierarchical order. The goal is to place the patriarchal positioning within the context of the other positionings and to find contrary points as well as entire contradictions.

In determining the value of an idea or theme and its status that relates to the male image, four positionings are deconstructed. The first positioning (chapter 2) deals with the ideological parameters as they relate to the political situation of the early and mid-1980s. The initial segment examines the phenomenon neoconservatism, its main thinkers, influential treatises, its key players and how it came into power with Reagan. In analyzing neoconservatism – as it coincides with neo-liberalism, the main focus is on consumerism, with its strong capitalistic orientation and emphasis against socialist ideas. This is followed by an analysis of conservatism and neoconservatism in Reagan’s 1984 campaign film A New Beginning, in Mann’s series Miami Vice, with a thorough scrutiny of Reaganite nationalism as part of the socio-historical analysis. Ultimately, if a dominant value system exists in Mann’s series, its force will be felt through patterns reflecting values related to the culture, society and politics of Reagan’s 1980s America. This holds true for opposition to such a system, which calls for making contradictions within it visible. As a result of the findings in the opening chapter – the political positioning in the series — a first step is taken towards understanding the circumstances of the time in which Miami Vice was created. If a main value system existed, how was it expressed?

The implications to the above question leads to the generic positioning of Miami Vice (chapter 3) as a police series and as influenced by film noir. Since this is film-related there is also a relationship between cinematic film and television – with a differentiation of TV. Finally there will be a close look at Mann as author, since, as a powerful executive producer, he oversaw the entire conception of every episode. This opens up the positioning of Miami Vice as a text. It is appropriate to start off by laying out past tendencies that have found their way into the text, thus making it easier to point out what can be seen as traditional elements and what can be seen as new ones.

After establishing the generic framework for the social positioning Mann’s series, chapter 4 will examine the patriarchal positioning in Miami Vice. There are definite parallels between the series’ patriarchal image and neoconservative values. This is related to the iconography of the male image, since iconography also points to social and sexual changes. If there appears to be no change, that too merits investigation.¹ Here the concept of family is significant, because family and related issues in the series are based on a neoconservative ideology, which runs counter to already existing neo-liberalist trends. This social positioning opens up broader implications of patriarchal values relating to gender.

The last segment (chapter 5), deals with the cultural positioning of Mann’s series. It begins with a technical analysis of the use of pop and synthesized music in Miami Vice, followed by an examination of the TV commercial aesthetics in the series, which later leads to a discussion on consumerism and capitalism in the evaluation. An important aspect in this chapter is the artwork in Mann’s series — a postmodern component — which can be interpreted as a strategy of TV to renew its inherent value.

Finally in the evaluation (chapter 6), cultural values and trends will be examined and related to recurring patterns of certain power positions in Miami Vice. Here the patriarchal image will be placed within neoconservatism and its ties to consumer society. The resulting contradictions in values introduces the question as to what can be drawn from the socio-economical approach visible in the series. Is Miami Vice indirectly criticizing unrestrained capitalism and consumerism or does it invite the viewer to indulge in a similar materialistic way of life? Breaking down the series as text and ordering it into various positionings according to the stability of a patriarchal image help to place the series within a greater system of meaning: namely, the politics, society and culture of 1980s America under President Reagan.

Chapter 1

Approach and Critial Angle

1.1 Approach and Critical Angle

Television programs are polysemic, i.e. they carry many meanings which, can be broken up into individual positionings. This is valid on a narrative, as well as an aesthetic level. Since the heart of this analysis deals with audio-visuals that relate to aesthetics, Mann’s series is looked at as a ‘text’ — meaning a product of its time. In this respect, considerations of the ‘audio-visual poetics’ explaining the redundancy of dialogue and the function of the employed sequence analysis are presented. Since the sequence analysis relates to an ideological analysis, the term dominant value system will be used instead of ideology. What follows is an outline of the ‘reading’ method, namely, a preferred reading that questions certain aspects of gender. Finally, the organizational steps in the main body of this paper are delineated, with four main placements – a political, a generic, a social and a cultural positioning. Having dealt with these considerations, the use of the evaluation segment (the final part) is explained.

For a scrutiny of Mann’s series as a text the examination of details is important to be further outlined, since: What we need is an understanding of how the televisual text functions as a meaning-producing text and how we understand that text.² Butler suggests that film³ in general offers a multitude of underlying aspects that deserve critical attention. The main part of this analysis will deal with the use of lighting, color and other important aesthetic aspects that help to create a specific male image. The text, is the entire body of Miami Vice, which is comprised of 111 episodes. The aesthetics underlying a visual text can most easily be distinguished by segmenting the text into visual and aural units. The interaction of these units shapes the structure and the content of a visual text as a whole. The first step is to view all the units within an established context. This is crucial, since: "the order and context in which particular shots and slices of the action are presented has [sic] long been known to be of prime importance in the manner in which it is interpreted.⁴ More specifically, it is the poetics that are of interest to this analysis; namely, the audio-visual poetics that relate to cinematography, editing, sound and design. Obviously these poetics must be viewed differently from poetics in literary texts. For instance, filmic poetics do not have an equivalent to syntax. Therefore the text" in film and TV is more complex than generally understood. Specifically, Mann’s series is unique in its complexity, due to the rapidly paced editing. This presents difficulties when trying to analyze a media text, since television uses separate technologies and positionings of cinematography.

The audio-visual focus of this critical approach can be further narrowed, by excluding the dialogue. Since any message, in order to be communicated effectively by television, must be couched in terms that attract interest; and the techniques employed for this purpose in human communication generally are in no way exclusively verbal,⁵ This analysis, therefore, deals with audio aspects, especially the background music and sound effects. Dialogue must be crafted to create the illusion that this is what characters would say within the context of this conflict. But film is a visual medium; dialogue should be kept to a minimum.⁶ The practice of keeping the dialogue to a minimum is defended by producer Mann himself: Furthermore, it’s not always what the characters say that is intriguing, but the underlying fabric of the scene. ‘The dialogue is all plastic.’⁷ Taking the pilot episode of Miami Vice as an example, Blum considers the reduction of dialogue: "The entire script for the Miami Vice pilot is 85 pages. In the script, the characters are integrally related to the environment and to each other. In later episodes, dialogue is clipped considerably to bolster the impact of visual sequences."⁸ What follows from Blum’s assertion is that dialogue in Miami Vice is not that important, since from a critical point of view, the essential underlying power rests in image and sound. Related to these aspects, dialogue assumes only minor importance.

The aforementioned sequence analysis consisted of viewing Miami Vice’s 111 episodes in order to disclose themes and recurring ordering principles. And since the specific details considered important to a reading of the audio-visual poetics of Miami Vice became so numerous most of the scenes are catalogued⁹ by their running time (0:00:00, hours: minutes: seconds), based on the entire net running time of each episode (generally 42 minutes), including the pre-credit sequence (the teaser) and title sequence. For the rigorous analysis demanded by research, many viewings of a single episode are mandatory in order to disclose the recurring patterns, motifs and symbols that construct a male image. Every episode must be broken down into sequences and individual frames within these sequences. Thus, an analysis sheet specifically designed for this purpose¹⁰ is needed.

Before dealing with a preferred reading, the term ideological analysis -as it relates to a socio-political analysis – has to be narrowed down, since the series establishes in its texture political aspects of the time in which Miami Vice was produced. McQueen links ideology and politics in his definition:

Ideological analysis – in the sense of analysis, which is designed to uncover those more or less coherent sets of values and beliefs, which are thought to underpin a text – consists of piecing together the text’s connotative fragments. […] Ideological analysis will tease out the assumptions, myths and dominant positionings that lie behind a text.¹¹

Ideology is defined as a dominant value system and is derived from a theoretical position elucidated by Butler: Viewers who fully subscribe to ruling-class positioning interpret television according to the preferred reading that is encoded on the text by the television apparatus.¹² This analysis views the ruling-class positioning in interpreting television, as a logical starting point for a TV producer. In trying to hit a 1980s nerve, or Zeitgeist, Mann created a series that initially appealed to a mass audience. In the context of this analysis, Mann’s series is seen as the expressed voice of a ruler – a member of the ruling class. His cleverly constructed product employs underlying codes of mass appeal, in order to cater to the audience of the day. As will be seen in the cultural positioning, this also holds true for the commercial aesthetics (5.2) infused into the series. McQueen takes this notion a step further: A dominant ideology [is] a system of beliefs about the world that benefits and supports a society’s ruling class. In the contemporary United States, the ruling class is the bourgeoisie; and its ideology is the dominant ideology.¹³

This definition, in combination with the previous two definitions, is used as a synthesized concept for reading the audio-visual poetics in Miami Vice. In order to avoid confusion created by the term ideology, this analysis uses dominant value system in its place.¹⁴ Additionally, to avoid confusion – and the inevitable Marxist implications – this analysis defines the dominant value system as a function of ideology.

One of the most important functions of the dominant ideology of a country is to establish and maintain a national identity which citizens can feel part of. This is important to maintain because it creates a sense of social cohesion, gives people common reference points, may build loyalty and patriotism and can be accessed in times of national crisis. There are many things of which we are a part and that we may feel are part of ourselves. We do not question or even think about some of these things much, because they have been naturalized through ideological processes.¹⁵

Generally the mass media perform an ideological role, in securing the consent of the population for the continuation of a male-oriented capitalism. Consequently, patriarchal ideology places men as more powerful than women. This analysis identifies textual and sociological tendencies when referring to ideology, reading them as dominant positioning strategies encoded within a media text.

In terms of images, this analysis emphasizes what is visible to a single character—a male protagonist. These results in turn help foster understanding of how Miami Vice constructed a particular, essentially patriarchal, male image.

A single shot (i.e., the length of film exposed at one time, without interruption, by one camera), makes a visual and aural record of some segment of the physical world; by effective editing, this record can be taken apart, restructured, and shaped into an imaginative world or a positioning about the world.¹⁶

For this analysis, the single shot is deconstructed in order to disclose filmic elements pertaining to the construction of a male image. The effective editing referred to above is also under scrutiny in the investigation of how specific image building is achieved. In order to put the deconstructed elements back together, an interpretation, or ‘reading’ is necessary. The type of reading used for interpreting the construction of a male image in this critical investigation is an analysis of the potential for social meaning in Miami Vice. There is no single ultimate way of analysing a television series. Each viewing experience is unique and culturally specific. Interpreting a TV text depends on one’s cultural surroundings:

[…] Audiences in Italy may read Miami Vice differently than audiences in the United States, not because Italian audiences are better or worse at following U.S. television than are U.S. audiences, but because their popular culture is comprised of its own (though perhaps shared in some respects) ways of making, its own narrative practices and logic.¹⁷

Relative to his or her cultural background, each individual is limited—or biased—in their response to a TV series. This analysis employs a reading from a socio-political viewpoint, relating the narrative practices and logic inherent in the series’ audio-visual aesthetics to significant cultural, social and political issues in the U.S. at the time of Miami Vice. One must avoid reading too much into a scene. Rather, a sophisticated—preferred—reading is necessary, since:

[…] films as a whole are encoded in such a way as they are given a preferred reading. They are meant to mean what they say. The narrative triad (order/disorder/order), the filmic codes and conventions germane to a particular genre, characterization, the iconography of the image—all these become just so many ideological operations of the cinematic apparatus, the internal workings of the film text which create a closed text, one where the meaning is encoded from the outset.¹⁸

Following Hayward, a TV product—like film—has ideological operations resting within it. To uncover these operations, Miami Vice is scrutinized as a text by applying a preferred reading. In accordance with the iconography of the image, this analysis examines the depiction of a male protagonist by reading it against the codes and conventions germane to, in this case, the police series genre.

Connected to this approach is the preferred reading of the construction of a male image in Miami Vice, uncovering the smallest units in the text, relating them back to issues between males and females (gender aspects), society (cultural aspects), ideology and politics (Reagan and his time) and then finally with parallels to the perpetuation of a dominant value system. In addition, mythical qualities can be discerned in the audio-visual poetics that shape the male image relating to Reagan and his government, as well as to a neoconservative base, with a multitude of values being perpetuated in American society. As one of its main positionings, Miami Vice constructs a patriarchal male image reflective of the values of the times in which it was produced, only to have it weakened again by influences of other positionings.

For this critical approach, a tool is needed to interpret the sequence analysis. The following delineates this tool, a deconstruction, which is not derived¹⁹ from structuralism. In employing a deconstruction as part of the method (as defined below), this paper restricts itself to the positionings that are evident and partially contradictory. These positionings can be viewed as constructions and are the main focus of an iconographic analysis.

Important here is term iconography, which, as Barnet points out is the identification of images with specific symbolic content or meaning.²⁰ However, if one also associates aural signs with a specific genre, then, as Lacey explains iconography is both ‘sight and sound.’²¹ Depending on whether one chooses a broader or a more detailed approach iconography can study the smallest unit of meaning of a film, the image, as well as the largest: the generic qualities of the whole film.²² For this project then, the goal is to move from the smaller units to the greater units of meaning that relate to the time in which Miami Vice was conceived. As Barnet reveals: To make the proper identification of an image, one must understand how the image relates to its contemporary context.²³ This identifying of images lies at the heart of this analysis, since "producers of genre texts have to be knowledgeable about the appropriate genre and, if they successfully offer a substantial variation on conventions, they are likely to be ‘clued’ – accidentally or otherwise – into the particular Zeitgeist.²⁴ In the series, there is a particular iconography that corresponds to neoconservative values; the focus here is on the pictorial and graphic qualities of this iconography. The second part of the analysis points to the contradictions and problems in the text."²⁵ Here a male iconography with a focus on binary structures male/male, male/young male as well as male/female will be examined, all with respect to the male protagonist to see who is in power and who is not.

The first positioning (chapter 2) deals with the ideological parameters outlined above, as they relate to the political situation of the early and mid-1980s. The initial segment examines neoconservatism, its main thinkers, influential treatises, its key players and how it came into power with Reagan. In analyzing neoconservatism – as it coincides with neo-liberalism, the main focus is on consumerism, with its strong capitalistic orientation and emphasis against socialist ideas. This is followed by an analysis of conservatism and neoconservatism in Reagan’s 1984 campaign film A New Beginning, in Mann’s series Miami Vice, with a thorough scrutiny of Reaganite nationalism as part of the socio-historical analysis. Ultimately, if a dominant value system exists in Mann’s series, its force will be felt through patterns reflecting values related to the culture, society and politics of Reagan’s 1980s America. This holds true for opposition to such a system, which calls for making contradictions within it visible. As a result of the findings in the opening chapter – the political positioning in the series — a first step is taken towards understanding the circumstances of the time in which Miami Vice was created. If a main value system existed, how was it expressed?

The answer to the above question leads to the generic positioning of Miami Vice (chapter 3) as a police series (3.1) and as influenced by film noir. Since this is film-related there is also a relationship between cinematic film and television (3.3) – with a differentiation of TV (3.3.2). Finally there will be a close look at Mann as author (3.4), since, as a powerful executive producer, he oversaw the entire conception of every episode. This opens up the positioning of Miami Vice as a text. It is appropriate to start off by laying out past tendencies that have found their way into the text, thus making it easier to point out what can be seen as traditional elements and what can be seen as new ones.

In this context, genre is defined as a type or category of text.²⁶ Likewise, by scrutinizing the main elements of the Western, film noir and Classic Hollywood Film (CHF), further differentiation is added. Thus the series is scrutinized to disclose themes, narrative, and aesthetic elements that relate to other genre, while focusing on a male protagonist. The genre positioning, then, should clarify some of the underlying main stylistic currents of the series, which is often exclusively labeled postmodern, flashy, and on the surface. Marshall comments on this oversimplification:

Miami Vice is one show that will take critics time to digest, in spite of its visceral demands: in several years it is bound to seem too tied to contemporary minutiae and will be passé, but may very well, a generation hence, be viewed as a classic reflection of the times or at least how a talented ensemble of creators and actors responded to the times. Therein may be the ultimate creative use of television, and the criticisms of Miami Vice’s hipness, flashiness and obsession with ‘superficials’ may not be valid criticisms at all.²⁷

This point must be kept in mind, because often people refer to the style of Miami Vice, without further elaboration of the term. However, style is the key element, by which we understand the series. Buxton asserts: Most of the attention attracted by Miami Vice has focused on its style, and there is no denying that its ‘tropical’ lighting, locations, set design, figure-framing and camera technique all display an overt formal force that seems extravagant in comparison to the traditional television series.²⁸ Yet this extravagance is just as vital to this analysis as the formal force. This force can be defined as the sum of all the technical factors mentioned above, that contribute to a construction of an image. The goal is to examine the said extravagance in detail and to scrutinize the formal force in order to reach an understanding of how a male image is constructed.

After establishing the generic framework for the social positioning Mann’s series, chapter 4 will examine the patriarchal positioning in Miami Vice. There are definite parallels between the series’ patriarchal image and neoconservative values. This is related to the iconography of the male image, since iconography also points to social and sexual changes. If there appears to be no change, that too merits investigation.²⁹ Here the concept of family is significant, because family and related issues in the series are based on a neoconservative ideology, which runs counter to already existing neo-liberalist trends. This social positioning opens up broader implications of patriarchal values relating to gender (4.9).

The last segment (chapter 5), deals with the cultural positioning of Mann’s series. It begins with a technical analysis of the use of pop and synthesized music in Miami Vice (5.1), followed by an examination of the TV commercial aesthetics in the series (5.2), which later leads to a discussion on consumerism and capitalism in the evaluation. An important aspect in this chapter is the artwork in Mann’s series — a postmodern component — which can be interpreted as a strategy of TV to renew its inherent value.

Finally in the evaluation (chapter 6), cultural values and trends will be examined and related to recurring patterns of certain power positions in Miami Vice. Here the patriarchal image will be placed within neoconservatism and its ties to consumer society. The resulting contradictions in values introduces the question as to what can be drawn from the socio-economical approach visible in the series. Is Miami Vice indirectly criticizing unrestrained capitalism and consumerism or does it invite the viewer to indulge in a similar materialistic way of life? Breaking down the series as text and ordering it into various positionings according to the stability of a patriarchal image help to place the series within a greater system of meaning: namely, the politics, society and culture of 1980s America under President Reagan.

1.2 Previous Related Research

This chapter provides an overview of previous research relating to Michael Mann’s series, Miami Vice. The body of research is relatively modest considering that the show ran for five consecutive years from 1984 to 1989. This applies to the amount, focus and the depth of the research. Likewise, in terms of analyzing a male image, relatively little research has been done apart from work in gender studies dealing with masculinity.

As part of an investigation into gender studies, Butler³⁰ tackles the aesthetic interrelationship between TV and cinema. In his view, Mann’s series operates within both media in a context of genre and style.³¹ According to Butler, film noir establishes a base for a cross-operation between both media as genre defined as much by style as by content.³² As a result, Butler’s insights link film noir characteristics to Miami Vice by placing them in a context of gender studies. The major problem Butler identifies is the ever-changing identity of the male protagonist. In his view, values pertaining to the male image are difficult to pinpoint in Mann’s series due to diffusion. This diffusion is a result of masquerade, identity switches and moral ambiguity.³³ To provide proof for his assertion, Butler supplies some concrete examples from individual episodes. However, he neither considers the sum total of episodes, nor their implications. Butler asserts that no femme fatale, or duplicitous woman"³⁴ operates in Mann’s series. However, it should be noted that this assertion does not hold, since, in fact, there are instances of a female character operating as a femme fatale.

In an article entitled Critical and Textual Hypermasculinity (1990) Joyrich follows Butler’s earlier observations on Mann’s series as they apply to cinematic visuals employing film noir conventions. Joyrich shows how Miami Vice differs from film noir. Like Butler she states that no extension of a femme fatale exists in the series, and arguing the motivating forces in Miami Vice are all men.³⁵ The most significant assertion Joyrich makes is that the dream of male bonding that supposedly embodies a hypermasculine defence against a feminization associated with TV.³⁶ However, her hypermasculinity theory limits her reading of Miami Vice.

Following Butler and Joyrich in the gender studies vein is Ross. In his article Masculinity and Miami Vice: Selling In, he dwells on gender issues that relate to the male image in Mann’s series. Ross identifies a mainstream male image in 1980s media by decoding these images within a discourse of masculinity. In his argument an ambivalence arises from the blending of the on-screen with the off-screen identity of the TV star.³⁷ He bases this ambivalence on various magazines portraying the actor Don Johnson, who portrays detective Sonny Crockett. Ross stresses the series’ superficial look. This specific look can be pinpointed in Miami Vice since, according to Ross, the male body is used as mere commodity in the series. He sums up his observations by stating that Miami Vice rejects formalistic complexity and psychological depth.³⁸ He gives no specific examples from episodes to support his claim.

A different gender studies approach can be found in Hanke’s article Hegemonic Masculinity in thirtysomething, where he gives a brief summary of the difficulties surrounding the male image of 1980s mainstream TV. He organizes his article into segments that deal with men at work, male friendship and men’s sexuality. According to his reading of Miami Vice, critics such as Fiske and Ross are only partly successful in arguing that the male image in Mann’s series redefines masculinity. He re-evaluates Fiske and Ross’s remark that Miami Vice’s challenge to the meaning of masculinity may be the most insidious and politically effective, because it occurs not at the level of what is represented but how it is represented.³⁹ As a result of Hanke’s critique, Fiske and Ross end up unconvincing.

In contrast to the gender studies approach is the historical approach to the series. In their article From the Keystone Cops to Miami Vice, Inciardi and Dee offer an overview of how depictions of law enforcement developed within popular American culture and this links Miami Vice to film and television within this framework. They claim that in terms of character portrayal, cop shows such as Starsky and Hutch and Hooker are more realistic than Miami Vice. They base their claim on the fact that to find real-life cops able to afford a white Ferrari and silk t-shirts is improbable.⁴⁰ However, by not expanding on this finding and not taking the sum of episodes into consideration, Inciardi and Dee do not offer an in-depth analysis of the series’ narrative.⁴¹ Thus they fall into the trap of being guided only by the series’ surface qualities. That limits their analysis to simplistic conclusions, which fail to reveal underlying ideas and values.

Winship shares a similar historical focus in his approach by tackling Miami Vice in his anthology on the history of television. Winship’s most significant discovery is that Mann, who started off as a writer, decided to take on simultaneously the tasks of writer and producer. Winship carefully outlines the consequences of this combination. At the same time he describes how, in terms of setting, the look of the series⁴² came about. Winship’s analysis sheds light on how artfully constructed the series is. For example, how the use of Art Deco juxtaposed with postmodern architecture, works well when establishing a given environment’s atmosphere.

Apart from television history approaches to the series, another focus of critical investigation can be distinguished – namely, inquiries into the police series genre. Caldwell explores how Miami Vice influenced other series of the police genre. He starts by disclosing complementary features of MTV and Mann’s series. In his view, both products have a similar impact as ‘text’ on subsequent series, without distinguishing between the two: MTV and Miami Vice had established highly visual arenas for narrative, music and drama.⁴³ On a similar note, he claims that Miami Vice influenced other series, such as Crime Story, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, in that these series employ identifiable visual styles. He gives a few examples of stylistic devices such as lighting and music. Overall, however, Caldwell’s insights are very broad, as the stylistic attributes to which he refers are not supported by examples.

In the same vein as Caldwell, McQueen offers insight into the history of the police series genre. McQueen defines the police series as such by means of contrasting it with the serial. His analysis starts with the origins of the series and ends with its development in the 1990s. McQueen’s insistence on overt surface qualities does not match his initial observation of previous research on the viewing process conducted by the University of Michigan before Miami Vice aired. Yet in terms of aesthetics, McQueen does mention the series’ similarity in visual style to clips airing on MTV, and he links the two to postmodernism, with its insistence on surface and style and self-conscious references to popular culture.⁴⁴

A different stream of critical thought centers on postmodern tendencies in the series, as can be seen in Gitlin’s⁴⁵ 1986 article entitled Car Commercials and Miami Vice. He presents an introductory overview of the series’ similarities to certain car commercials and he discloses parallels in terms of visual style, such as editing principles. Gitlin associates the series’ visual style with the commercials’ style and relates the implications back to the historical period in which both were made. As a result, he isolates values such as