Abstract
In this interview Hunter Hargraves, Brown University class of 2015, discusses his experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, California.
Hargreaves begins by discussing where he was when he first heard about the COVID-19 virus and talks about how it affected his teaching at California State University Fullerton (CSUF). He explains the effects the stay at home order had on his students and himself. He describes how social distancing changed the way people gathered outside and in nature in the Los Angeles area. He speaks to how the pandemic changed people’s media consumption and how shows, movies, and streaming services were helping to create cultural connections despite social distancing. He addresses the news media culture and how he sees overlap between media scandals and the melodrama of reality television shows. Hargreaves also discusses how social distancing affected perspectives on intimacy and sex. He describes what about the pandemic has been most difficult for him and how he hopes future generations will look back on the pandemic.
Part 1
Part 2
Recorded on April 29, 2020 via Zoom
Interviewed by Amanda Knox
Suggested Chicago style citation: Hunter Hargraves, class of 2015 Ph.D.. Interview. By Amanda Knox. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. April 29, 2020.
Biography
Hunter Hargraves received his Ph.D in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University in 2015 and is currently a Professor at California State University Fullerton (CSUF). His research and teaching traverses the intersections of affect, performance, and representation within television and digital pop cultural studies including queer film and television. Hargraves’ first book, Uncomfortable Television (Duke University Press, 2023), explores the turn to discomfort in early-21st Century American television.