Evil Media

Evil Media
Author: Matthew Fuller
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2012-08-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0262304406

A philosophical manual of media power for the network age. Evil Media develops a philosophy of media power that extends the concept of media beyond its tried and trusted use in the games of meaning, symbolism, and truth. It addresses the gray zones in which media exist as corporate work systems, algorithms and data structures, twenty-first century self-improvement manuals, and pharmaceutical techniques. Evil Media invites the reader to explore and understand the abstract infrastructure of the present day. From search engines to flirting strategies, from the value of institutional stupidity to the malicious minutiae of databases, this book shows how the devil is in the details. The title takes the imperative “Don't be evil” and asks, what would be done any differently in contemporary computational and networked media were that maxim reversed. Media here are about much more and much less than symbols, stories, information, or communication: media do things. They incite and provoke, twist and bend, leak and manage. In a series of provocative stratagems designed to be used, Evil Media sets its reader an ethical challenge: either remain a transparent intermediary in the networks and chains of communicative power or become oneself an active, transformative medium.

Media and Conflict

Media and Conflict
Author: Cees Jan Hamelink
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2015-11-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317256204

The world faces explosive conflicts about the distribution and scarcity of resources, about ethnicity and religion, and about the risks of urban life. These conflicts can easily spiral out of control toward mass slaughter-an evil of huge proportions that is often escalated by the media. What should be done to prevent this lethal trend? We need to understand how the 'spiral of escalation' works. How do media create anxiety, provide space for agitation, and disconnect people? Three approaches to the prevention of mass mediated aggression are proposed in this book: an early warning system for incitement to mass destruction, the invitation to disarming conversations in urban space, and the teaching of 'compassionate communication' to children and others. Alertness to the recurrence of collective violence is urgently needed not only in unstable and poor societies, but also in established democracies. Ordinary people can be incited to the mass slaughter of other ordinary people anywhere. Understanding the media's role in this and acting to prevent it are key goals of this book.

Evil Influences

Evil Influences
Author: Steven Starker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351521373

Each new development in the mass media has elicited highly charged criticism from alarmed observers. Comics, romance novels, music videos, and even movies, radio, and television have all been denounced as threats to children, teenagers, adults, and even the stability of civilization itself. Organized into community groups, citizens have repeatedly taken militant action against the media, ranging from book burnings to blacklisting and from harassment of individual publishers to attempts to regulate entire industries. Investigative committees and commissions are not uncommon. What is it about the media that generates such attacks? 'Evil Influences' examines the historical, sociological, and psychological background of current controversies regarding the media. Starker finds that even though it is couched in logic or scientific theory, such hostility is almost always a byproduct of fear--fear of imagination and fantasy, fear of change, fear of human aggression and sensuality. Successive media developments have challenged traditional perceptions and habits by introducing powerful visual and emotional elements into mass communication. Because they frighten and threaten a part of the audience, new forms of mass media engender public outrage and become easy scapegoats, accused of everything from stimulation of violence to promotion of conformity. This book is addressed to those who inevitably participate in media debates--social scientists, educators, communications professionals, the clergy, and educated parents. Its intention is to prepare us for the arrival of new media forms and their associated threats.

International Perspectives on Rethinking Evil in Film and Television

International Perspectives on Rethinking Evil in Film and Television
Author: Tüysüz, Dilan
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2020-12-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1799847799

Aestheticization of evil is a frequently used formula in cinema and television. However, the representation of evil as an aesthetic object pushes it out of morality. Moral judgments can be pushed aside when evil is aestheticized in movies or TV series because there is no real victim. Thus, situations such as murder or war can become a source of aesthetic pleasure. Narratives in cinema and television can sometimes be based on a simple good-evil dichotomy and sometimes they can be based on individual or social experiences of evil and follow a more complicated method. Despite the various ways evil is depicted, it is a moral framework in film and television that must be researched to study the implications of aestheticized evil on human nature and society. International Perspectives on Rethinking Evil in Film and Television examines the changing representations of evil on screen in the context of the commonness, normalization, aestheticization, marginalization, legitimization, or popularity of evil. The chapters provide an international perspective of the representations of evil through an exploration of the evil tales or villains in cinema and television. Through looking at these programs, this book highlights topics such as the philosophy of good and evil, the portrayal of heroes and villains, the appeal of evil, and evil’s correspondence with gender and violence. This book is ideal for sociologists, professionals, researchers and students working or studying in the field of cinema and television and practitioners, academicians, and anyone interested in the portrayal and aestheticization of evil in international film and television.

See No Evil

See No Evil
Author: Madeline Levine
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1998-09-11
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN:

Select the Right Movies and TV Shows for Your Kids "An intelligent guide for parents in their ever greater concern for children viewing violence."?Richard D. Heffner, producer/moderator The Open Mind and professor of communications and public policy, Rutgers University "Addresses questions every parent asks (or should ask) about media violence, and leads simply and clearly to conclusions that every parent can use to cope with one of the great cultural hazards of our time."?George Gerbner, dean emeritus, the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania See No Evil is a completely revised and updated version of Madeline Levine?s classic book Viewing Violence. Untangling the thicket of research on media?s effect on this country?s children, Levine contends that most research data have either been misrepresented or withheld from the public. Levine presents compelling evidence that media violence encourages aggression, desensitization, and pessimism in children. Step by step Levine shows how media violence affects each stage of a child?s development and helps parents in their search for healthy and age-appropriate television programs and movies. Written in a clear and parent-friendly manner, this hands-on guide is filled with useful checklists that can help parents make informed decisions about media viewing and what?s best for their kids. See No Evil is an important contribution for all those concerned with the welfare of children and creating a healthy cultural environment for this country?s youth.

The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil, Book 1)

The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil, Book 1)
Author: Soman Chainani
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2013-06-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0007492944

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL is now a major motion picture from Netflix, starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, and many more! A dark and enchanting fantasy adventure for those who prefer fairytales with a twist. The first in the bestselling series.

Evil Librarian

Evil Librarian
Author: Michelle Knudsen
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2014-09-09
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0763670871

He’s young. He’s hot. He’s also evil. He’s . . . the librarian. When Cynthia Rothschild’s best friend, Annie, falls head over heels for the new high-school librarian, Cyn can totally see why. He’s really young and super cute and thinks Annie would make an excellent library monitor. But after meeting Mr. Gabriel, Cyn realizes something isn’t quite right. Maybe it’s the creepy look in the librarian’s eyes, or the weird feeling Cyn gets whenever she’s around him. Before long Cyn realizes that Mr. Gabriel is, in fact . . . a demon. Now, in addition to saving the school musical from technical disaster and trying not to make a fool of herself with her own hopeless crush, Cyn has to save her best friend from the clutches of the evil librarian, who also seems to be slowly sucking the life force out of the entire student body! From best-selling author Michelle Knudsen, here is the perfect novel for teens who like their horror served up with a bit of romance, plenty of humor, and some pretty hot guys (of both the good and evil variety).

Vader, Voldemort and Other Villains

Vader, Voldemort and Other Villains
Author: Jamey Heit
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0786485108

What is evil? How do we understand it in our culture? The thirteen essays in this critical volume explore the different ways in which evil is portrayed in popular culture, particularly film and novels. Iconic figures of evil are considered, as is the repeated use of classic themes within our intellectual tradition. Topics covered include serial killers in film, the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series, Star Wars, and more. Collectively, these essays suggest how vital the notion of evil is to our culture, which in turn suggest a need to reflect on what it means to value what is good.

Christianity and the Mass Media in America

Christianity and the Mass Media in America
Author: Quentin J. Schultze
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2005-11-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0870139525

The mass media and religious groups in America regularly argue about news bias, sex and violence on television, movie censorship, advertiser boycotts, broadcast and film content rating systems, government regulation of the media, the role of mass evangelism in a democracy, and many other issues. In the United States the major disputes between religion and the media usually have involved Christian churches or parachurch ministries, on the one hand, and the so-called secular media, on the other. Often the Christian Right locks horns with supposedly liberal Eastern media elite and Hollywood entertainment companies. When a major Protestant denomination calls for an economic boycott of Disney, the resulting news reports suggest business as usual in the tensions between faith groups and media empires. Schultze demonstrates how religion and the media in America have borrowed each other’s rhetoric. In the process, they have also helped to keep each other honest, pointing out respective foibles and pretensions. Christian media have offered the public as well as religious tribes some of the best media criticism— better than most of the media criticism produced by mainstream media themselves. Meanwhile, mainstream media have rightly taken particular churches to task for misdeeds as well as offered some surprisingly good depictions of religious life. The tension between Christian groups and the media in America ultimately is a good thing that can serve the interest of democratic life. As Alexis de Tocqueville discovered in the 1830s, American Christianity can foster the “habits of the heart” that ward off the antisocial acids of radical individualism. And, as John Dewey argued a century later, the media offer some of our best hopes for maintaining a public life in the face of the religious tribalism that can erode democracy from within. Mainstream media and Christianity will always be at odds in a democracy. That is exactly the way it should be for the good of each one.

Media Resistance

Media Resistance
Author: Trine Syvertsen
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2017-04-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 331946499X

This book is open access under a CC BY license. New media divide opinion; many are fascinated while others are disgusted. This book is about those who dislike, protest, and try to abstain from media, both new and old. It explains why media resistance persists and answers two questions: What is at stake for resisters and how does media resistance inspire organized action? Despite the interest in media scepticism and dislike, there seems to be no book on the market discussing media resistance as a phenomenon in its own right. This book explores resistance across media, historical periods and national borders, from early mass media to current digital media. Drawing on cases and examples from the US, Britain, Scandinavia and other countries, media resistance is discussed as a diverse phenomenon encompassing political, professional, networked and individual arguments and actions.