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This unique textbook provides a fresh interpretation of media analysis and cultural studies. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of American popular culture - including Hollywood cinema, presidential elections and the Super Bowl - to demystify complex concepts such as ritual, postmodernism and political economy. This use of popular culture texts, narratives and interpretations will enable readers to understand more about this important yet esoteric debate.
Exploring Media Culture synthesizes a wealth of current information and research and presents this in an engaging and accessible format.
`Exploring Media Culture is a beautifully written, intellectually challenging, and highly readable exploration of the mysteries of contemporary mass media and popular culture. Michael R Real does a masterful job of empowering his readers - teaching them how to make sense of everything from Madonna to postmodernism. Students will find this book - which deals with texts that many of them are familiar with - fascinating, and in some cases terrifying' - Arthur Asa Berger, San Fransisco State University
List of contents
Introduction
A Guidebook for Media Study
Culture, Media, and Identity
My Music
Ritual Participation
Towards an Ethnography of Fans, Hackers, and Jumpers
Reception Theory
Sex, Violence, and (Ms)Interpreting Madonna
Textual Analysis
Light against Darkness in Disney and
Film NoirProduction/Hegemony
`And the Winner Is... Hollywood!¿
Gender Analysis
Patriarchy, Film Females, and The Piano
Historical/Ethical Interpretation
Reconstructing The Quiz Show Scandal
Postmodern Aesthetics
MTV, David Lynch, and the Olympics
Conclusions
Navajos and `Co-Authoring¿ Media Culture
About the author
Michael Real is a professor at Royal Roads University in Canada. Previously, he was Director of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and prior to that Director of the innovative School of Communication at San Diego State University, where he taught for twenty years.
His books include Exploring Media Culture, Super Media, The Olympics as Global Ritual, and Mass-Mediated Culture. He is the editor for UNESCO. His writings on journalism, media events, sports, popular culture, and communication theory have appeared in dozens of scholarly and general publications (Studies in Mass Communication, American Quarterly, Journal of Communications, Media Development, Journalism Quarterly, Journal of Popular culture, TV Quarterly, Quest). He holds a Ph. D. from the University of Illinois and served for nine years on the faculty of the University of California at San Diego. He has directed a variety of local, national, and international research and journalism projects, as well as hosted television and radio programs and teleconferences. The focus of his work is media, culture, and social responsibility.
He is a member of the ICA, the IAMCR, and other professional organizations.
Summary
'A beautifully written, intellectually challenging, and highly readable exploration of the mysteries of contemporary mass media and popular culture. Real does a masterful job of empowering his readers. Students will find this book fascinating, and in some cases terrifying' - Arthur Asa Berger, San Francisco State University
