ACL1001
Lecture 2: Reading Contemporary Fiction
Screening: ‘Are We Not Men?’ (The IT Crowd)
 While watching the program (Season Three, Episode
Two) , please bear in mind the following questions:
What is a man?
How do we define manhood in our culture?
Who are the men in this episode?
Let’s refresh our memories
 In last week’s lecture I used this definition:
 Ideology, for the purposes of this unit, ‘is used to
refer to our ideas and beliefs, the collective and
common beliefs of the whole culture. To put it
more forcefully, cultural studies understands
ideology as the network of ideas and beliefs
through which culture and its members, order,
represent and make sense of reality’ (Farmer,
2003, p.17).
Ideology and Masculinity
 What, then, are the ideologies about masculinity in
this program?
 For example, complete this phrase ‘Real men . . .’
 Or, ‘Real men don’t . . .’
Men in the IT Crowd
 What characteristics are
displayed by:
 What characteristics are
displayed by:
 Moss
 The postman
 Roy
 The men in the pub
 (and to some extent
 (and to some extent,
Michael and the
magnificent)
maybe also the
policeman)
The IT Crowd and the Subversion of
Ideology
 In many ways, this episode of the IT Crowd can be
read as a subversive text.
 How are the ideologies about masculinity subverted
by the END of the program?
 Do any ideologies about the male characters remain
intact? For example, do Moss and Roy transcend
their geek status? Are the men in the pub still viewed
as ‘proper men’ (to use Roy’s phrase) at the end of the
episode?
Don Draper