Reading oil (back) into media history: The case of postwar television

Abstract

This article extends recent research about the material impact of energy-consuming media technologies by describing the role of oil and its derivatives in the production and consumption of television in the United States after the Second World War. It starts by exploring reasons why the material dimensions of oil have received limited scholarly attention in media history. Then it examines television by describing how the component parts of a TV receiver—the cathode ray tube, the chassis into which it was set, and the cabinet housing the chassis—incorporated elements made with oil. Finally, interpreting prior historiography through the lens of oil, it describes the role these different components played in conflicting discourses about the space of the home, especially the living room, in postwar America.