A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
The Summer of the Superheroes
by: Jennifer Warren / Independent Scholar
When I walked out of Superman I found myself wondering about the filter Superman’s seductive mythology created, with characters clearly defined as Heroes or Villains. And how did that visual mythology affect how we viewed the world?
At the End of the Day We’re all “End Users”
by: Tim Anderson / Denison University
Reflections on audio-vidual media’s entrance into the world of the “end user.”
Seeing the Back of Berlusconi? The Current Situation of the Media in Italy
by: Hugh Kesson / Deakin University
Will Italy’s media be changed by its recent changes in leadership?
by: Mark Andrejevic / University of Iowa
Commercial broadcasting has, from its inception, been about monitoring viewers; this is why the history of the ratings industry has become entwined with that of military and police surveillance.
Strategic Liberalism and Media Reform
by John McMurria / DePaul University
Are we in for more of the same deregulatory policies and neoliberal principles that informed the 1996 Telecommunications Act?
by Amanda Lotz / University of Michigan
How today’s network television depicts (or fails to depict) the changing lives of Generation X.
Honey, We’re Killing the Kids
by: Laurie Ouellette / University of Minnesota
How does the revitalization of social work through television politicize personal choice and parental responsibility? And, what do the televisual excesses represented on Honey We’re Killing the Kids reveal about the politics of desire?
Darkness and Light: The Changing Mood of the CSI Franchise
by: Nichola Dobson / Independent Scholar
A closer look at changes in the stylistic conventions of the CSI franchise due to audience reaction.
The Dynamics of Political Re-Branding
by: John Corner / University of Liverpool
The impact of commercial marketing techniques in the political landscape.
Family, Fate and the Finale of Will and Grace
by: Kathleen Battles / Denison University and Wendy Hilton-Morrow / Augustana College
On the limitations and possibilities of imagining families in a non-heteronormative way in the finale of Will & Grace.
The Curious State of Live TV
by: John Tomasic / The University of Paris-Dauphine
With new technologies providing access to “realness,” the novelty of live television may be wearing off.
Lost in an Alternate Reality
by: Jason Mittell / Middlebury College
What can the online game “The Lost Experience” teach us about cross-media storytelling and expectations? Is this the future of television?