Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 Dramatis Personae: The Cast and Casting 5
2 A Mosaic of Quotations: Intertextuality in The West Wing 13
3 Historical Fictions: A Parallel Universe 22
4 Death of the Author: Aaron Sorkin as Auteur? 31
5 On a Wing and a Prayer: Bartlet Deconstructs the Old Testament 40
6 Cinematic Television: The Mise-en-Scène of The West Wing 49
7 The Signifier and the Signified: Structuralist Readings 54
8 This "pitiful exercise": Temporal Rupture in the "Isaac and Ishmael" Episode 67
9 Bourgeois Wing: Marxist Readings 78
10 "The greatest country in the world": Misconstrued Politics 86
11 "It's turtles all the way down": The West Wing and Religion 92
12 Playing in the Dark: Racist Discourses 100
13 Potus Interruptus: Gender and Queer Theory 109
14 Hollywood MS: The Portrayal of Disabilities 121
15 The Politics of Maryland: The Wire and The West Wing 128
16 Nostalgia for the Present: Postmodern Readings 135
17 Cellmates in The Hague: Bartlet Flouts International Law 146
18 The Crackpots and These Women: Misogynist Discourses 152
19 Cultural Differences: Postcolonial Readings 162
20 "Education is the silver bullet": Pedagogy in The West Wing 169
21 A Valentine to Washington: Narrative Authenticity 176
22 "Your father was a prick": Psychoanalytical Readings 182
23 Unearned Emotion and the "Plaintive Oboe:" W.G. Snuffy Walden's Music to The West Wing 191
24 Society Must Be Defended: Poststructuralist Readings 197
Conclusion 205
Appendix A Seasons 1-7: A Synopsis 211
Appendix B Episodes 1-155: Broadcast Credits 215
Appendix C Directors and Writers 224
Chapter Notes 227
Bibliography 261
Index 269
