Inside Out: Men on the ‘Home Front’
Abstract
This article examines the representation of men as domestic experts in the lifestyle genre on British primetime TV. This is contextualized in relation to changing representations of the home as a space for the stylish individual and to changes in British primetime programming, where a movement towards hybrid TV forms appears to rearticulate the mission to ‘inform, educate and entertain’ and to transform private matters into public spectacle. The article aims to examine the ways in which contemporary representations of the male domestic expert struggle to negotiate perceived boundaries between the ‘inside’ of private space and the ‘outside’ of the public sphere and between the categories of femininity and masculinity, a struggle that is evident across the lifestyle genre and within individual programmes, such as BBC2’s Home Front. In Home Front, aestheticism and camp become key strategies for the redefinition of the home and masculinity as matters of lifestyle.