‘The Media Swirl’ and the Glitter in Your Eyes
In this excerpt from The Media Swirl, Carol Vernallis peers through the glitter of the stunning party scene in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and exams its sparkling layers of meaning.
media studies
‘Uncomfortable Television’ and the Postmillennial Spectator
Academic Hunter Hargraves’ Uncomfortable Television considers the postmillennial spectator an active participant and contributor to the neoliberal society that is shaped by today’s television.
‘The New Female Antihero’ (excerpt)
The New Female Antihero explores how misogyny undermines television’s strong female antiheroes and how that, in turn, stunts our culture’s ability to embrace feminism.
The Elites Who Are Just So Over Humanity
The depth of anti-humanist sentiment related by Douglas Rushkoff in his latest book, Survival of the Richest, is harrowing and illuminating.
The Russo-Ukraine War Is a Mediated War – Not Just a War on the Media
How the Russo-Ukraine War generated a media dimension of its own and how it linked the myths of the past century to the challenges of our own.
Amanda Lotz Dismantles Mythologies in ‘Media Disrupted’
Did the internet kill the music industry? Is cable television dead? Media scholar Amanda D. Lotz explores these concepts and their misconceptions in Media Disrupted.
The Art of Advertising (excerpt)
The Art of Advertising invites us to consider both the intended and unintended messages of the advertisements of the past.
When British Advertising Became Ubiquitous and Beautiful
Lambert tracks British social history through posters, cards, and other ephemera in the vividly illustrated The Art of Advertising.
Television and Women’s History through the Lens of Soap Operas
Media critic Elana Levine's Her Stories explores television history and the conflicts of generation, gender, and race in the heyday of "women's" soap operas.
Abjection Incorporated: Mediating the Politics of Pleasure and Violence (By the Book)
Escaping abjection's usual confines of psychoanalysis and aesthetic modernism, the contributors to Abjection Incorporated examine a range of media, including literature, photography, film, television, talking dolls, comics, and manga. Enjoy this generous excerpt, courtesy of Duke University Press.
‘The View from Somewhere’ Exposes the Dangerous Myth of ‘Objective’ Reporting
'Objectivity' in journalism has become a shield for privilege and a weapon for right-wing pundits, argues Lewis Raven Wallace in his work, The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity.
Adjusting the Focus on Somali-Americans: ‘First Person Plural’ and ‘Muslim Youth Voices’
Eric Tretbar's First Person Plural and PBS' shorts Muslim Youth Voices both offer new representations of Somali-Americans. A significant contribution, given the Islamophobic frameworks that structure most cinema, television, and popular culture in general.