'Walking the line between saint and sinner': Care and Nurse Jackie. Issue 2 (July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gorton, Kristyn
• Other Names: Hallam Julia guest-editor.; Hamad Hannah guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Critical studies in television. Volume 11:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 151
• Page End: 163
• Publication Date: 2016-07
• Subjects: Care -- Nurse Jackie -- emotional labour -- hospital drama -- 'having it all'; Television -- Periodicals; Television criticism -- Periodicals; 384.5505
• DOI: 10.1177/1749602016645555
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1749-6020

Abstract

This article considers how the notion of care, whether as an act of kindness or as a moral ethics, is reflected and worked through in the contemporary American television series, Nurse Jackie (2009–2015). Nurse Jackie, a comedy drama set in a fictional Catholic New York City Hospital, explores the 'line between saint and sinner', in the life of an emergency room (ER) nurse. This article considers how Jackie's character negotiates moral boundaries in a way that allows for a reconsideration of both the complexity of care practices in contemporary society and the gendered nature of these practices.