The Wow Climax

The Wow Climax
Author: Henry Jenkins
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0814742831

Whether highlighting the sentimentality at the heart of the Lassie franchise, examining the emotional experiences created by horror filmmakers such as Wes Craven, or discussing the emerging aesthetics of video games, these essays get to the heart of what gives popular culture its emotional impact.

Reality Television

Reality Television
Author: Ruth A. Deller
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2019-11-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1839090235

Reality television is shown worldwide, features people from all walks of life and covers everything from romance to religion. It has not only changed television, but every other area of the media. So why has reality TV become such a huge phenomenon, and what is its future in an age of streaming and social media?

Oprah

Oprah
Author: Kathryn Lofton
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2011-03-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520948246

"Today on Oprah," intoned the TV announcer, and all over America viewers tuned in to learn, empathize, and celebrate. In this book, Kathryn Lofton investigates the Oprah phenomenon and finds in Winfrey’s empire—Harpo Productions, O Magazine, and her new television network—an uncanny reflection of religion in modern society. Lofton shows that when Oprah liked, needed, or believed something, she offered her audience nothing less than spiritual revolution, reinforced by practices that fuse consumer behavior, celebrity ambition, and religious idiom. In short, Oprah Winfrey is a media messiah for a secular age. Lofton’s unique approach also situates the Oprah enterprise culturally, illuminating how Winfrey reflects and continues historical patterns of American religions.

Latin Numbers

Latin Numbers
Author: Brian Eugenio Herrera
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015-06-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0472052640

From the conga line to West Side Story to Ricky Martin, how popular performance prompted American audiences to view Latinos as a distinct (and distinctly non-white) ethnic group

Winter in America

Winter in America
Author: Daniel Robert McClure
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2021-10-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469664690

Neoliberalism took shape in the 1930s and 1940s as a transnational political philosophy and system of economic, political, and cultural relations. Resting on the fundamental premise that the free market should be unfettered by government intrusion, neoliberal policies have primarily redirected the state's prerogatives away from the postwar Keynesian welfare system and toward the insulation of finance and corporate America from democratic pressure. As neoliberal ideas gained political currency in the 1960s and 1970s, a&8239;reactionary cultural turn&8239;catalyzed their ascension. The cinema, music, magazine culture, and current events discourse of the 1970s provided the space of negotiation permitting these ideas to take hold and be challenged. Daniel Robert McClure's book follows the interaction between culture and economics during the transition from Keynesianism in the mid-1960s to&8239;the&8239;triumph of&8239;neoliberalism at the dawn of the 1980s. From the 1965 debate between William F. Buckley and James Baldwin, through the pages&8239;of BusinessWeek and Playboy, to the rise of exploitation cinema in the 1970s, McClure tracks the increasingly shared perception by white males that they had "lost" their long-standing rights and that a great neoliberal reckoning might restore America's repressive racial, sexual, gendered, and classed foundations in the wake of&8239;the 1960s.

Assembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Assembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Author: Julian C. Chambliss
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2018-03-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476664188

The Marvel Cinematic Universe--comprised of films, broadcast television and streaming series and digital shorts--has generated considerable fan engagement with its emphasis on socially relevant characters and plots. Beyond considerable box office achievements, the success of Marvel's movie studios has opened up dialogue on social, economic and political concerns that challenge established values and beliefs. This collection of new essays examines those controversial themes and the ways they represent, construct and distort American culture.

The Monster Always Returns

The Monster Always Returns
Author: Christian Knöppler
Publisher: transcript Verlag
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-02-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3839437350

The monsters of the horror genre never remain dead - they invariably return in new and terrifying shapes for another installment. In this study Christian Knöppler explores the phenomenon of horror film remakes. He argues that even though these derivative films typically earn little praise from critics, their constant refiguration of monsters and horror scenarios serves to access and update otherwise obscure cultural fears. With an in-depth examination of six sample sequences of films and remakes, this book aims to shed new light on a much maligned and often neglected type of film and promises fresh insights to scholars and aficionados alike.

The Oxford Handbook of Comic Book Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Comic Book Studies
Author: Frederick Luis Aldama
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 745
Release: 2020
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 0190917946

The Oxford Handbook of Comic Book Studies examines the history and evolution of the visual narrative genre from a global perspective. The Handbook brings together readable, jargon-free essays written by established and emerging scholars from diverse geographic, institutional, gender, and national backgrounds.

Digital Participatory Culture and the TV Audience

Digital Participatory Culture and the TV Audience
Author: Sandra M. Falero
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2016-07-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 113750000X

In this study, Falero explores how online communities of participatory audiences have helped to re-define authorship and audience in the digital age. Using over a decade of ethnographic research, Digital Participatory Culture and the TV Audience explores the rise and fall of a site that some heralded as ground zero for the democratization of television criticism. Television Without Pity was a web community devoted to criticizing television programs. Their mission was to hold television networks and writers accountable by critiquing their work and “not just passively sitting around watching.” When executive producer Aaron Sorkin entered Television Without Pity’s message boards on The West Wing in late 2001, he was surprised to find the discussion populated by critics rather than fans. His anger over the criticism he found there wound up becoming a storyline in a subsequent episode of The West Wing wherein web critics were described as “obese shut-ins who lounge around in muumuus and chain-smoke Parliaments.” This book examines the culture at Television Without Pity and will appeal to students and researchers interested in audiences, digital culture and television studies.

Many More Lives of the Batman

Many More Lives of the Batman
Author: Roberta Pearson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2017-10-23
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1844577678

The Many Lives of the Batman (1991) was a pioneer within cultural and comic book scholarship. This fresh new sequel retains the best of the original chapters but also includes images, new chapters and new contributions from the Batman writers and editors. Spanning 75 years and multiple incarnations, this is the definitive history of Batman.