{"id":17631,"date":"2011-11-01T00:55:10","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T00:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=17631"},"modified":"2011-11-14T01:06:13","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T01:06:13","slug":"signifying-the-tragic-mulatto-a-semiotic-analysis-of-alex-haleys-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=17631","title":{"rendered":"Signifying the tragic mulatto: A semiotic analysis of Alex Haley’s Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Signifying the tragic mulatto: A semiotic analysis of Alex Haley’s Queen<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Howard Journal of Communications<\/a>
\nVolume 7, Issue 2<\/a> (1996)
\npages 113-126
\nDOI: 10.1080\/10646179609361718<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark P. Orbe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Karen E. Strother<\/strong><\/p>\n

Employing a semiotic<\/a> framework, this article explores the signification process of the lead character in Alex Haley’s Queen<\/em><\/a>. This popular miniseries is significant because a bi\u2010ethnic person is the focal point of its storyline. However, instead of transcending the traditional stereotypes associated with bi\u2010ethnicity, the program does little more than portray Queen<\/em> as a \u201ctragic mulatto<\/a>.\u201d; Specifically, three signifiers are discussed: bi\u2010ethnicity as (a) beautiful, yet threatening, (b) inherently problematic, and (c) leading to insanity.<\/p>\n

For three days in mid-February 1993, millions of television viewers watched Alex Haley’s Queen<\/em>, the epic miniseries that follows the life of a woman born in the 1840s of a European master and an enslaved African (Fein, 1993). Promoted as the third and final project featuring the story of Alex Haley’s multi- generational family, Alex Haley’s Queen<\/em> extends his earlier docudramas. Roots<\/a><\/em> and Roots: The Next Generation <\/em>(Zoglin, 1993). Described as “Big Event television” (Goldberg, 1993), the miniseries was lauded as compelling and “of uncommon passion and substance” (O’Connor, 1993, p. C34). Each of the three two-hour segments of Queen<\/em> was rated among Nielsen’s<\/a> top ten television programs for the week, and the epic garnered an Emmy<\/a> nomination for best miniseries.<\/p>\n

As with Haley’s<\/a> earlier works, some controversy arose regarding the accuracy…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read or purchase the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Signifying the tragic mulatto: A semiotic analysis of Alex Haley’s Queen Howard Journal of Communications Volume 7, Issue 2 (1996) pages 113-126 DOI: 10.1080\/10646179609361718 Mark P. Orbe Karen E. Strother Employing a semiotic framework, this article explores the signification process of the lead character in Alex Haley’s Queen. This popular miniseries is significant because a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1196,8,6940],"tags":[8118,8119,8113,8116,8117,8115,8114],"class_list":["post-17631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-slavery","tag-alex-haley","tag-alex-haleys-queen","tag-howard-journal-of-communications","tag-karen-e-strother","tag-karen-strother","tag-mark-orbe","tag-mark-p-orbe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}