I Know You Are, but What Am I?

How Pee-wee and his playhouse help us reimagine our relationships to technologyI Know You Are, but What Am I? explores the cultural legacy of Pee-wee Herman, the cult television star of Pee-wee’s Playhouse. This children’s show—that was also for adults—ran on network TV from 1986 to 1990 and starred...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: McKinney, Cait
Format: Online
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: University of Minnesota Press 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:ONIX_20240702_9781452972039_3
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie das erste Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1869530913494269952
author McKinney, Cait
author_browse McKinney, Cait
author_facet McKinney, Cait
author_sort McKinney, Cait
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description How Pee-wee and his playhouse help us reimagine our relationships to technologyI Know You Are, but What Am I? explores the cultural legacy of Pee-wee Herman, the cult television star of Pee-wee’s Playhouse. This children’s show—that was also for adults—ran on network TV from 1986 to 1990 and starred comedian Paul Reubens as Herman, a queer man-boy whose playhouse, the set for the show, was tricked out with a profusion of animate computational toys and technologies. Cait McKinney shows how three defining scenes from the show inform, and even foretell and challenge, our present moment: the playhouse as an alternative precursor to networked smart homes that foregrounds caring and ethical relationships between humans and technologies; a reparative retelling of Reubens’s career-wrecking 1991 arrest for indecent exposure inside a Florida adult film theater as part of an AIDS-phobic, antigay sting operation; and worn-out, Talking Pee-wee dolls and their broken afterlives on eBay and YouTube. McKinney looks at how queer people who were children in the 1980s remember and relate to Pee-wee now, showing that the moral panic about sexuality, gender, and children from the past can help us refute anti-trans and anti-queer political movements organized today.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-139156
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Minnesota Press
publisherStr University of Minnesota Press
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1391562024-07-02T07:11:00Z I Know You Are, but What Am I? McKinney, Cait Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television How Pee-wee and his playhouse help us reimagine our relationships to technologyI Know You Are, but What Am I? explores the cultural legacy of Pee-wee Herman, the cult television star of Pee-wee’s Playhouse. This children’s show—that was also for adults—ran on network TV from 1986 to 1990 and starred comedian Paul Reubens as Herman, a queer man-boy whose playhouse, the set for the show, was tricked out with a profusion of animate computational toys and technologies. Cait McKinney shows how three defining scenes from the show inform, and even foretell and challenge, our present moment: the playhouse as an alternative precursor to networked smart homes that foregrounds caring and ethical relationships between humans and technologies; a reparative retelling of Reubens’s career-wrecking 1991 arrest for indecent exposure inside a Florida adult film theater as part of an AIDS-phobic, antigay sting operation; and worn-out, Talking Pee-wee dolls and their broken afterlives on eBay and YouTube. McKinney looks at how queer people who were children in the 1980s remember and relate to Pee-wee now, showing that the moral panic about sexuality, gender, and children from the past can help us refute anti-trans and anti-queer political movements organized today. 2024-07-02T07:10:59Z 2024-07-02T07:10:59Z 2024 book ONIX_20240702_9781452972039_3 9781452972039 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/139156 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://muse.jhu.edu/book/123486 University of Minnesota Press 3620704f-efb6-4f73-9ed8-dc20a9d550bc 9781452972039 92 open access
spellingShingle Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
McKinney, Cait
I Know You Are, but What Am I?
title I Know You Are, but What Am I?
title_full I Know You Are, but What Am I?
title_fullStr I Know You Are, but What Am I?
title_full_unstemmed I Know You Are, but What Am I?
title_short I Know You Are, but What Am I?
title_sort i know you are but what am i
topic Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
topic_facet Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
url ONIX_20240702_9781452972039_3
work_keys_str_mv AT mckinneycait iknowyouarebutwhatami