#RepresentationMatters on TV: a critical textual analysis of intersectional representation at work on NBC’s Superstore

ABSTRACT

Television often depicts narratives reinforcing whiteness, cisheteronormativity, classism, and masculinity, particularly in organizations. This essay joins calls for #RepresentationMatters and feminist media scholarship on intersectional representation of difference at work. We analyze NBC’s Superstore, whose characters receive media praise for diverse representations of retail work while simultaneously depicting problematic portrayals. Our critical textual analysis reveals three themes of intersectional representation: (1) meta-representation of difference, (2) silencing intersectional voices, and (3) managing intersectional identities. We theorize difference at work on TV and invite future scholarship.

KEYWORDS:

• Intersectionality
• representation
• work
• difference
• #RepresentationMatters

Acknowledgement

We thank our Feminist Media Studies anonymous reviewers, Editors Isabel Molina-Guzmán and Cynthia Carter, and the editorial team for their feedback and labor.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tori R. Miller

Tori R. Miller (MA, Texas State University; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2822-1978) works in film and television production. She is an independent academic researcher who uses qualitative and rhetorical methods to investigate the power of communication. She focuses on critical media studies and the intersections of work and difference.

Elizabeth K. Eger

Elizabeth K. Eger (PhD, University of Colorado Boulder; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1064-1667) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State University. Her ethnographic and critical communication research, pedagogy, and service explore intersectional organizing, representations of difference in media and rhetoric, trans and queer studies, and how work shapes our lives, identities, and health. Examples of her published research appear in Management Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Cultural Economy, and Anthropology & Education Quarterly.