TV and society Books

Book SynopsisA deliciously irreverent and humorous insider's account of 25 years working at the very top of British political televisionWhat Rob Burley doesn''t know about political interviewing isn''t worth knowing' Andrew NeilA delicious read' Emily Maitlis ''He writes beautifully'' Jeremy Paxman''Very funny' Steve Coogan''An excellent book'' James O''Brien''He writes brilliantly'' Adam BuxtonWhy Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me? is a deliciously irreverent insider's account of a career spent trying to get straight answers from politicians, offering a unique insight into the British political class during a time when no one appears to be telling the truth.This book is Rob Burley's love letter to the political interview and, with the help of exclusive conversations with TV giants from Jeremy Paxman and Andrew Neil to Andrew Marr and Emily Maitlis, it will take you inside the process like never before.

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Book SynopsisThis all-new edition of the best-selling guide The TV Showrunner's Roadmap provides readers with the tools for creating, writing, and managing your own hit streaming series.Combining his 30+ years as a working screenwriter and professor, industry veteran Neil Landau expertly unpacks essential insights to the creation of a successful show and takes readers behind the scenes with exclusive and enlightening interviews with showrunners from some of TV's most lauded series, including Fargo, Better Call Saul, Watchmen, Insecure, Barry, Money Heist, Succession, Ozark, Schitt's Creek, Euphoria, PEN15, and many more.From conception to final rewrite, The TV Showrunner's Roadmap is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to create a series that won't run out of steam after the first few episodes. This groundbreaking guide features an eResource with additional interviews and bonus materials.So grab your laptop, dig out that stalTrade ReviewSince the moment I first read The TV Showrunners Roadmap, Neil Landau has been my TV writing guru. How fortunate am I to have had his mentorship while writing the original draft of the POSE pilot and to now call him friend. - Steven Canals, Emmy award nominated co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner, Pose on FX"Neil has done more than just create a roadmap… he’s written an essential guide that breaks it all down into clear, actionable steps that are valuable whether you’re beginning your writing career or are already established. This edition is chock-full of insider tips from some of the industry’s best and brightest. If you are serious about a career in television or streaming, I urge you to READ THIS BOOK."- Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television GroupNeil is an expert storyteller with decades of experience. This book is filled with invaluable insights for everyone aspiring for a career in television, and all those already on their way. A must read for writers, directors, agents, execs and talent.- Dan McDermott, President, Original Programming, AMC Networks and President AMC StudiosThe showrunners might be providing the roadmap, but Landau couldn’t be a more impassioned and knowledgeable driver…. No one gets under the hood of what makes great television work better than he does.- Damon Lindelof, Emmy Award-winning Writer/Producer: Lost, The LeftoversFinally, a clear, concise and up-to-date book not only for aspiring TV writers but for industry professionals. Neil digs not only into the craft of creating a series, but also into the emotional journey of what it takes to find your voice as a TV writer. The interviews with current showrunners are useful, practical, and inspiring. - Cindy McCreery, Associate Professor, University of Texas at AustinPraise for TV Writing on DemandThis is like a masterclass in the art of creating television—both now and for whatever 'television' may become. Visionary, insightful and timely.- Issa Rae, Golden Globe-nominated Writer/Producer/Actress: Insecure, The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black GirlPraise for TV Outside the BoxTV Outside the Box blew my mind—and not just because I'm one of the fascinating interviews in the book. Check it out and expand your consciousness beyond the zeitgeist.- Dan Harmon, Emmy Award-winning Writer/Producer/Showrunner: Community, Rick and Morty"Since the moment I first read The TV Showrunner's Roadmap, Neil Landau has been my TV writing guru. How fortunate am I to have had his mentorship while writing the original draft of the Pose pilot and to now call him friend."- Steven Canals, Emmy Award nominated Co-Creator, Writer, Producer, Director, and Showrunner, Pose on FX"Neil has done more than just create a roadmap… he’s written an essential guide that breaks it all down into clear, actionable steps that are valuable whether you’re beginning your writing career or are already established. This edition is chock-full of insider tips from some of the industry’s best and brightest. If you are serious about a career in television or streaming, I urge you to READ THIS BOOK."- Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group"Neil is an expert storyteller with decades of experience. This book is filled with invaluable insights for everyone aspiring for a career in television, and all those already on their way. A must read for writers, directors, agents, execs and talent."- Dan McDermott, President, AMC Entertainment and Studios"The showrunners might be providing the roadmap, but Landau couldn’t be a more impassioned and knowledgeable driver…. No one gets under the hood of what makes great television work better than he does."- Damon Lindelof, Emmy Award-winning Writer, Producer, Showrunner, Watchemen, Lost, The Leftovers"Finally, a clear, concise and up-to-date book not only for aspiring TV writers but for industry professionals. Neil digs not only into the craft of creating a series, but also into the emotional journey of what it takes to find your voice as a TV writer. The interviews with current showrunners are useful, practical, and inspiring." - Cindy McCreery, Associate Professor, Head of Screenwriting, University of Texas at AustinPraise for TV Writing on Demand"This is like a masterclass in the art of creating television – both now and for whatever 'television' may become. Visionary, insightful and timely."- Issa Rae, Emmy Award-nominated Writer, Producer, Actress, Showrunner, Insecure, The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black GirlPraise for TV Outside the Box"TV Outside the Box blew my mind – and not just because I'm one of the fascinating interviews in the book. Check it out and expand your consciousness beyond the zeitgeist."- Dan Harmon, Emmy Award-winning Writer, Producer, Showrunner, Community, Rick and MortyTable of ContentsAlso by Neil Landau Foreword How To Navigate This Book Introduction 1. From Concept to Pilot Script 2. Intellectual Property and Adaptation 3. World Building, Specificity of Setting, and Revising History 4. Fueling Your Story Engine: Central Questions and Central Mysteries 5. The Power of Empathy 6. The Value of Family Dynamics 7. Get to the Heart of Your Story 8. POV and Subtext 9. Antagonists 10. Defying Formulaic Structure 11. Theme 12. Cliffhangers 13. Life on the Cringe: Comedy and Culture 14. Pitching and Selling Acknowledgments About the Author Index

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Book SynopsisPeople Best New BookThe inside story of the making of Mean Girls and our enduring 20-year obsession with itReleased in 2004, iconic teen comedy Mean Girls remains as relevant now as ever. But what made an adaptation of a parenting guide by SNL writer Tina Fey so successful? And why, two decades later, can we all just not stop quoting it?Drawing on revealing interviews with the director, cast and crew, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong takes us behind the scenes of the film's genesis, production and release. From how it shaped the Millennial generation to how it has intertwined with tabloid, meme and LGBTQ+ culture, So Fetch is also the first deep dive into what makes Mean Girls such an influential phenomenon.Part love letter, part cultural commentary, this is an unmissable read for anyone who is still like, obsessed' with all things Mean Girls twenty years on.Trade Review‘The definitive story of one of the greatest teen comedies in Hollywood history. A brilliant, captivating deep dive.’ Andy Greene, author of The Office: An Oral History ‘Funny, clear-eyed, full of unexpected insights and superb reporting, and a must for any comedy fan.’ Saul Austerlitz, author of Generation Friends ‘Armstrong’s account of the shooting of Mean Girls emulates the breezy enjoyability of the film while offering thoughtful commentary on how “taking young women’s problems seriously while also being very funny” proved central to the film’s appeal. Fans will be riveted.’ Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisFor nearly 100 years, Indian boarding schools in Canada and the US produced newspapers read by white settlers, government officials, and Indigenous parents. These newspapers were used as a settler colonial tool, yet within these tightly controlled narratives there also existed sites of resistance. This book traces colonial narratives of language, time, and place from the nineteenth-century to the present day, post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Trade Review"Griffith has produced a nuanced exploration of the tensions and contradictions that not only marked the past in the form of the Residential School system, but has always existed and continues to exist in a web of related assumptions." -- Anne Lindsay * Prairie History *"[Words Have a Past] is a marvelous exploration of the language of colonialism, how the English language was cast as an innocent neutral force, and how this continues to be reflected in contemporary Canada. The book is easily accessible for all readers, well researched, and documented. It is simply a must-read that will aid in developing a deeper understanding of language, and colonialism roots and their ongoing impact in the present." -- Karl Hele, Mount Allison University * Anishinabek News *"Words Have a Past is an important contribution to the ongoing conversation on the assimilation policies of the Indigenous boarding school systems in North America, and importantly, Griffith’s message of settler responsibility and restitution for Indigenous linguicide and land loss is essential for all settlers to hear." -- Carling Beninger, University of Alberta * Canadian Journal of History *"Words Have a Past marks an important step in the study of residential school history by drawing our attention to newspapers as important historical sources, and the printing trade as an influential part of some students’ experiences. Further, in anchoring the book within critical Indigenous and Settler Colonial studies, Griffith provides a direction for scholarship on residential schooling that challenges approaches that situate the system wholly in the past; as a result of her conclusions, Griffith explicitly calls for justice and restitution—especially as it relates to language reclamation—for survivors and their communities. This is an essential read for those studying the residential school system, settler colonialism, history of media, and Canadian history." -- Natalie Cross and Thomas Peace, Huron University College * Journal of British Studies *"In this well researched and highly readable book, Jane Griffith analyzes six newspapers published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century by five Indian boarding schools." -- Shurli Makmillen, Claflin University * Discourse and Writing *Table of Contents1. Bury the Lede: Introduction 2. Printer’s Devil: The Trade of Newspapers 3. Indigenous Languages Did Not Disappear: English Language Instruction 4. "Getting Indian Words": Representations of Indigenous Languages 5. Ahead by a Century: Time on Paper 6. Anachronism: Reading the Nineteenth Century Today 7. Layout: Space, Place, and Land 8. Concluding Thoughts

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Book SynopsisProposes a new perspective on the contemporary rise of mainstreamed populism by exploring features of populist-style politics through the lens of distrust

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Book SynopsisTracing the history of televised news, from the household names of the late 1940s and early '50s, like Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite, through the rise of cable, the political power of Fox News, and more, this book shows us an industry in transition, where news magazines and celebrity profiles vie with political news and serious investigations.Trade Review"As television news becomes more partisan, more emotional, and leans more toward the trivial, the blame usually falls on venal media moguls and cynical journalists. That's the Way It Is reminds us that the structure of the competitive environment, government regulation, and most importantly the preferences of the audience have always shaped the news we see on TV. This is an important book because it reminds us that even if we don't like the picture, we are actually looking in a mirror." (Jack Fuller, former editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune and author of News Values)

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Book SynopsisWhat Television Remembers explores the relationship between the medium of TV and the city of Toronto. In a close reading of CBC dramas from the 1960s to 2010, VanderBurgh explains how the city has functioned as a strategic location in CBC programming, reflecting changing ideas about Canadian identity, community, and citizenship.Trade Review“A great book to think with, an excellent contribution to the history and study of Canadian television, and an important meditation on the central problem of performing research on Canada’s media culture when there is such a paucity of archival resources, What Television Remembers is also a pleasure to read. VanderBurgh’s writing is clear, concise, and evocative.” Ira Wagman, Carleton University

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Book SynopsisWhat Television Remembers explores the relationship between the medium of TV and the city of Toronto. In a close reading of CBC dramas from the 1960s to 2010, VanderBurgh explains how the city has functioned as a strategic location in CBC programming, reflecting changing ideas about Canadian identity, community, and citizenship.Trade Review“A great book to think with, an excellent contribution to the history and study of Canadian television, and an important meditation on the central problem of performing research on Canada’s media culture when there is such a paucity of archival resources, What Television Remembers is also a pleasure to read. VanderBurgh’s writing is clear, concise, and evocative.” Ira Wagman, Carleton University

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Book SynopsisJennifer Saunders'' comic creations have brought joy to millions. From Comic Strip to Comic Relief, from Bolly-swilling Edina in Ab Fab to her takes on Madonna or Mamma Mia, her characters are household names.But it''s Jennifer herself who has a place in all our hearts. This is her funny, moving and frankly bonkers memoir, filled with laughter, friends and occasional heartache - but never misery.BONKERS is full of riotous adventures: accidentally enrolling on a teacher training course with a young Dawn French, bluffing her way to each BBC series, shooting Lulu, trading wild faxes with Joanna Lumley, touring India with Ruby Wax and Goldie Hawn.There''s cancer, too, when she becomes ''Brave Jen''. But her biggest battle is with the bane of her life: the Laws of Procrastination. As she admits, ''There has never been a Plan. Everything has been fairly random, happened by accident or just fallen into place. I''m off now, to do some sweeping...''Prepare to chuckle, whoop, and go BONKERS.Trade ReviewFabulous? Yes. Funny? Absolutely * Mail on Sunday *Beautifully written and frequently hilarious * Guardian *Delightfully funny... she writes with moving honesty * Hello! *Her account of battling breast cancer is as honest as it is uplifting * Daily Mail *'Hilarious and brilliant' -- Kirsty Young * BBC Radio 4 *Endearing and hilarious. If only all celebrity biographies were this funny * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFrom Twin Peaks (including the 2017 return) to Girls, a veteran critic and scholar draws on decades of industry expertise and exclusive interviews with renowned creators to examine the rise of art television.Trade ReviewNochimson's book is well worth reading not only for its insights but for the dialogue and reflection it opens up among readers. * Lost in the Movies *Television Rewired is an essential contribution to the still-crystallizing critical definition of auteur television…from the unique perspective of a critic who has engaged with the medium in profound ways. * 25 Years Later *This book details the creative process of each of the series [that developed the concept of the television auteur], based on interviews and detailed research by the author…Recommended. * CHOICE *A lively and fascinating book...Throughout Nochimson is thoroughly consumed by the question of what constitutes television art, and what plausibly counts as a defense of its achievements; her prose is utterly compelling in its gentle unfolding of such complex and challenging questions. * New Review of Film and Television Studies *[Nochimson provides] solid, but accessible, insights into the process of auteur television expression....After reading Television Rewired, I learned a new vocabulary for television viewing. The book is not a judgment of what is good or bad. Nochimson expanded my appreciation for television by explaining exactly what it is I am watching. * Popular Culture Studies Journal *Table of Contents Introduction: The David Effect The Founding Titans: Men without Formula Chapter 1. David Lynch, Twin Peaks Chapter 2. David Chase, The Sopranos Chapter 3. David Simon, The Wire The Legacy: New Options, New Questions, Retooled Formulas Chapter 4. David Simon and Eric Overmyer, Treme Chapter 5. Matt Weiner, Mad Men Chapter 6. Lena Dunham, Girls Chapter 7. Backlash! Formula 2.0 Coda: The Return of David Lynch Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA leading film critic on the evolving world of streaming media and its impact on societyTrade Review“Thomson is the greatest writer on movies there’s ever been.”—Christopher Bray, TheSpectator “Our greatest film historian, critic, and writer about movies turns his peerless eye to TV, from I Love Lucy to Succession, Seinfeld to Ozark, The West Wing to Babylon Berlin; offering a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes bleak—and always brilliant—personal essay on the medium that has seemingly swallowed our world, fractured the way we view content, and forever altered whatever sense of reality we once shared.”—Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho“This book is like no other. David Thomson is television’s great demystifier, but one who nevertheless retains the power to fall in love, then fall out of love, become enchanted, then disillusioned almost in same breath. Both detached and partisan, enthusiast and skeptic, Thomson is at his paradoxical best in this book.”—Molly Haskell, author of Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films“That David Thomson writes brilliantly about the big screen is not news. What is news: that he’s every bit as insightful, every bit as penetrating, every bit as enthralling on the small screen. Pure rapture.”—Lili Anolik, author of Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A.“In these pages, we join David and Lucy, sometimes almost imagining themselves Ricky and Lucy, watching alongside them, and then we’re arguing with them, doubting, quarreling as they do, making connections from the show on the screen to the world at large and then backing off, as trapped in the show as they are. ‘The night is young,’ Thomson says. ‘Or younger than we are.’”—Greil Marcus, author of Folk Music“In our time David Thomson is the supreme authority on filmic experience, period. Now he trains his vast powers of observation, analysis, erudition, and wit on the ‘golden age of television.’ Every golden age needs an honest man, and this golden age finds its honest man in these pages.”—Leon Wieseltier, editor of Liberties “Thomson’s brilliant writing about the experience of viewing film and television is informed by his deep knowledge of both media, his scholarship, and his unmatchable wit.”—Diane Johnson, author of Lorna Mott Comes Home “David Thomson is our greatest living writer on film, and in Remotely he takes on the wonders of the smaller screen to dazzling effect. His piercing eye shows us television for what it really is: the mirror of our deepest intimacies.”—Matthew Specktor, author of Always Crashing in the Same Car

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Book SynopsisIn Valparaiso, a breathtaking play from Don DeLillo, a man sets out on what he imagines will be an ordinary business trip to Valparaiso, Indiana. It proves to be anything but run-of-the-mill, turning instead into a mock-heroic journey toward identity and transcendence. Valparaiso is a funny, sharp and deeply satirical look at our information age. This is the way we talk to each other today. This is the way we tell each other things, in public, before listening millions, that we don't dare say privately. Nothing is allowed to be unseen. Nothing remains unread. And everything melts repeatedly into something else, as if driven by the finger on the TV remote. This is also a play that makes obsessive poetry out of the language of routine airline announcements and the flow of endless information.Trade ReviewValparaiso is art at its finest. * Boston Globe *A play that crawls into the most carefully protected corners of one’s consciousness—gorgeous, frightening, stunningly poetic, wickedly funny, surprisingly voluptuous and poetic. * Chicago Sun-Times *

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Book SynopsisIn this critical primer, Michael Z. Newman introduces newcomers to the key concepts, issues, and vocabulary of media studies. Across ten chapters, Newman examines topics from text and audience to citizenship and consumerism, drawing on a myriad of examples of media old and new. Film and TV rub shoulders with mobile games and social media, and popular music and video sharing platforms with journalism and search engines. While the book takes a critical, cultural approach, it covers topics that apply across many kinds of media scholarship, bridging the humanities and the social sciences and looking at media as a global phenomenon. It considers media in relation to society and its unequal structures of power, and relates media representations to their conditions of production in media industries and consumption in the everyday lives of audiences and users. Spanning the historical periods of mass media and online participatory culture, it also probes assumptions about media that wTrade Review"Bravo to Michael Newman for expertly rendering the dense and sometimes unwieldy discipline of media studies into an approachable and useable form for instructors and students. Having studied and taught media studies for a quarter of a century, this is the first book I have encountered that adequately captures and explains a media studies approach for undergraduate students. Deeply grounded in key classic and contemporary work of the field, Newman deftly explores the broad range of media with which today’s students engage. Critical questions related to race, gender, and sexuality are impressively integrated throughout the book. Finally, the ‘toolkit' approach makes this an infinitely flexible text for instructors and students."Kathleen Battles, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations, Oakland University, USA"The Media Studies Toolkit skillfully breaks down its many approaches and concepts, producing always accessible, smart and up-to-date discussions. Keeping in mind the politics of media, Michael Z. Newman demystifies and brings alive the critical complexities of media studies, whether focusing on "‘legacy"’ media, the buzz of participatory culture, or doing a textual analysis. Ranging from the classic model of industry-text-audience, to key issues of media regulation, representation and globalisation, this accomplished book really is a one-stop source of clear-headed wisdom, analysis and ‘how-to’ guidance."Matt Hills, Professor of Journalism and Media, University of Huddersfield, UK "Michael Z. Newman's The Media Studies Toolkit is a welcome addition to the field of film and media studies. Newman's accessible and engaging writing in addition to the many varied examples that assist in explaining the foundational concepts of the field make this text a valued contribution to training up students to become more critically literate consumers and creators." Kristen J. Warner, Associate Professor of Journalism and Creative Media, University of Alabama, USA"Michael Newman accomplishes the seemingly impossible: offering an accessible, engaging, and inclusive overview of media studies. Skillfully blending classic concepts with contemporary examples drawn across a wide range of media forms, The Media Studies Toolkit provides students with a welcoming introduction to where the field has been and where it is going. Equally important, Newman shows how to research, apply, and connect ideas drawn from both humanistic and social scientific studies of media."Alisa Perren, Associate Professor of Radio-Television-Film and Co-Director of the Center for Entertainment and Media Industries, The University of Texas at Austin, USATable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Industry 3. Text 4. Audience 5. Representation 6. Ideology 7. Policy and Regulation 8. Citizenship 9. Consumerism 10. Technology 11. Global and Local

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Book SynopsisCreating TV Formats: From Inception to Pitch takes the reader through a step-by-step process of how to generate ideas, develop story lines and characters and hook an audience, whilst staying aware of the realities of the media landscape.Beginning with a discussion about what a TV format is, each chapter then introduces a key aspect of the development process, such as looking for ideas, shaping the underlying story and thinking about participants. Practical exercises guide the reader through each stage of turning an initial idea or subject matter into a hook or insight; the importance of incorporating storytelling principles and techniques for designing and populating a story world. Examples from successful television formats such as First Dates and The Great British Bake Off are interwoven throughout the book alongside exclusive insights from the key industry professionals who brought them to the screen. From short-form digital content to lonTable of ContentsChapter 1 – What is a format?Chapter 2 – Be CreativeChapter 3 – Do CreativeChapter 4 – Shape ItChapter 5 – Build ItChapter 6 – Design ItChapter 7 – Populate ItChapter 8 – Drive ItChapter 9 – Get Out There!Appendix

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Book SynopsisThis volume addresses the relationship between irony and popular culture and the role of the consumer in determining and disseminating meaning. Arguing that in a cultural climate largely characterised by fractious communications and perilous linguistic exchanges, the very role of irony in popular culture needs to come under greater scrutiny, it focuses on the many uses, abuses, and misunderstandings of irony in contemporary popular culture, and explores the troubling political populism at the heart of many supposedly satirical and (apparently) non-satirical texts. In an environment in which irony is frequently claimed as a defence for material and behaviour judged controversial, how do we, as a society entrenched in forms of popular culture and media, interpret work that is intended as satire but which reads as unironic? How do we accurately decode works of popular film, literature, television, music, and other cultural forms which sell themselves as bitingly ironic commentaries on Table of ContentsIntroduction: Isn’t it Ironic?: Irony in Contemporary Popular Culture 1. Peeling The Onion: Pop Culture Satire in the Writing Classroom 2. For Your Eyes Only?: Brexit, Bond, and British Meme Culture 3. ‘About 136’: Bob Dylan’s Democratic Irony 4. New Irony and Old Sincerity: How the Metamodern and the Post-secular Meet in Indie Rock 5. Sarcastic Turbulence: Irony, Seriousness, and Ambiguity in Black Metal Music Culture 6. Funny People: Comedic Performance and Irony in Knocked Up and This is 40 7. Irony and Iron Man: The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Postmodern Rejection of Values 8. ‘We Could All Do with Some School’: The Miseducation of Elizabeth and Charles in Netflix’s The Crow 9. Human After All: The Irony of Black Mirror

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Book SynopsisThis book explores how British culture is negotiating heroes and heroisms in the twenty-first century. It posits a nexus between the heroic and the state of the nation and explores this idea through British television drama.Drawing on case studies including programmes such as The Last Kingdom, Spooks, Luther and Merlin, the book explores the aesthetic strategies of heroisation in television drama and contextualises the programmes within British public discourses at the time of their production, original broadcasting and first reception. British television drama is a cultural forum in which contemporary Britain's problems, wishes and cultural values are revealed and debated. By revealing the tensions in contemporary notions of heroes and heroisms, television drama employs the heroic as a lens through which to scrutinise contemporary British society and its responses to crisis and change. Looking back on the development of heroic representations in BTrade ReviewThis timely, vigorous, and wide-ranging book is a welcome addition to the scholarship. Korte and Falkenhayner demonstrate an illuminating depth and breadth of understanding of the texts and their contexts that contributes new insights on both.- Michael Goodrum, Canterbury Christ Church University, UKIt has been a true pleasure reading this book. It offers a rich and engaging discussion of the ambiguous hero and the contested heroic in contemporary British TV culture. Moreover, it presents a range of deeply fascinating and thought-provoking analyses of contemporary series – military, espionage, detective and fantasy - and scrutinizes the protagonist – mostly male - as a figure whose actions raise the broad and important questions what counts as heroic and who can be represented as heroic. Thereby it includes a clever and critical discussion on TV series and (the lack of) diversity. It is highly recommendable to anyone interested in contemporary British TV culture and how TV fiction can contribute to our understanding of contemporary societies. - Anne Jerslev, University of Copenhagen, DenmarkTable of ContentsIntroduction: Heroes, television drama and a nation in change. Concepts and contexts 11 The hero’s journey and the state of the nation 212 British soldier heroism in the War on Terror era 443 The heroic TV detective in the twenty-first century: Transforming archetypes 644 Secret service TV drama: Dubious ethics, dubious heroism 905 Merlin versus Misfits: Heroic British youth telefantasy 110Summary and Outlook 135

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection is the first book to offer a wide-ranging examination of the interface between American independent film and a converged television landscape that consists of terrestrial broadcasters, cable networks and streaming providers, in which independent film and television intersect in complex, multifaceted and creative ways.The book covers the long history of continuities and connections between the two sectors, as seen in the activities of PBS, HBO or Sundance. It considers the movement of filmmakers between indie film and TV such as Steven Soderbergh, Rian Johnson, the Duplass brothers, Joe Swanberg, Lynn Shelton and Gregg Araki; details the confluence of aesthetic and thematic elements seen in shows such as Girls, Breaking Bad, Master of None, or Glow; points to a shared interest in regional sensibilities evident in shows like One Mississippi or Fargo; and makes the case for documentaries and web series as significaTrade Review"Indie TV is a fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of the interrelationships between media industries. Lyons and Tzioumakis have assembled a formidable group of scholars to make the powerful collective argument that cinema and television are, and always have been, inseparable. The many layers of indie TV revealed within will inspire film and TV historians, as well as those analyzing contemporary digital media and production cultures."Jennifer Holt, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA"When I praised this book to a non-academic friend, he readily and enthusiastically rattled off titles of multi-season and limited-episode series that immediately came to mind as cutting-edge examples of 'indie TV' and its cultural reach and resonance. Clearly, 'indie TV' has public purchase, and this far-ranging anthology, strong equally in conceptualization and industrial and aesthetic analysis, pinpoints why. The volume offers rich examples, sharp and smart insight, and welcome attention to diversity, on-screen and behind, around gender, race, ethnicity."Dana Polan, Cinema Studies, NYU, USATable of ContentsPart 1: Indie Film and Television: Historical Relationships 1. Indie (Film on) TV: A Tale of two very Close Friends 2. Same Word, Different Medium: The Evolution of Indie TV since the 2000s’ Part 2: Indie Film and Television: Industrial Continuities 3. (Re-)Branding Sundance: Entering the Indie TV Market 4. Packaging the 'Purest' form of Indie TV: Michael Sugar, Talent Management and Indie-Auteur Clients’ 5. ‘The Things That Keep Us Up at Night’: Blumhouse Television and Indie Horror’s Small Screen Dispersal Part 3: Filmmakers Migration from Indie Film to TV (and back) 6. From Brick to Breaking Bad: ‘Quality’ Television Style, Authorship and ‘Cinematic’ Status 7. Mumblecore’s Second Act: Millennial Indie Moviemaking’s Migration to Television 8. Apocalyptic Visions and Commercial Constraints: Gregg Araki’s Negotiation of Emerging Modes of Indie TV Auteurship Part 4: Indie TV: Aesthetic and Institutional Trajectories 9. Prestige TV, Comedy, and the Indie Aesthetic 10. Netflix, Race and Cinephilia: Master of None and Indie TV 11. 'It may Be Where the Future of Independent Production Is Happening': Netflix and Indie Aesthetics in GLOW 12. Affect, Tabloid Reality TV and Indie Cinema Part 5: Indie TV and Regional Sensibilities 13. Fargo (2014-2020): Indie Cinema, Midwest Mobsters, and Indie TV 14. Gender, Family, and Therapeutic Regionalism in One Mississippi Part 6: Indie TV and Alternative Practices 15. Indie TV in the Streaming Era 16. Web Series as Indie TV: Intersectional Identities and Intersecting Media 17. ‘A Decade of Distinction’: A&E IndieFilms and the Channelling of Documentary

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Book SynopsisThis volume examines the shift toward positive and more accurate portrayals of mental illness in entertainment media, asking where these succeed and considering where more needs to be done. With studies that identify and analyze the characters, viewpoints, and experiences of mental illness across film and television, it considers the messages conveyed about mental illness and reflects on how the different texts reflect, reinforce, or challenge sociocultural notions regarding mental illness. Presenting chapters that explore a range of texts from film and television, covering a variety of mental health conditions, including autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and more, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, cultural and media studies, and mental health.Table of Contents1. Introduction: Why depictions of mental illness matter 2."Remember what Dr. Lopez said": Portrayals of mental health care in Nickelodeon’s The Loud House 3."And I suffer from short-term memory loss": Understanding presentations of mental health in Pixar’s Finding Nemo and Finding Dory through communication theory of identity 4.Family narratives and mental illness in This is Us 5.Cognitive differences in Star Trek: The case and evolution of Reginald Barclay 6.Popular culture and the (mis)representation of Asperger’s: A study on the sitcoms Community and The Big Bang Theory 7.Psychopath, Sociopath, or Autistic: Labeling and framing the brilliance of Sherlock Holmes 8.When Saga Norén meets neurotypicality: A liminal encounter along The Bridge 9.The Girl on the Swing: An analysis of cues and depression in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (2005) 10.Depictions of depression and eating disorders in My Mad Fat Diary 11."Portraying real feelings with comedy on top": Postpartum depression storylines and domestic sitcoms 12.Ruby Wax: Comedy, celebrity capital, and (re)presentations of mental illness 13.Post-traumatic stress disorder in the films Taxi Driver and You Were Never Really Here: A comparative progressive approach 14.Bipolar and Shameless: Showtime’s portrayal of living and working with bipolar disorder 15.Wrestling with eating disorders: Transmedia depictions of body issues in WWE’s women’s professional wrestling 16.Conclusion: Destigmatizing mental illness and neurodiversity in entertainment media

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Book SynopsisHow can we queerly theorise and understand television? How can the realms of television studies and queer theory be brought together, in a manner beneficial and productive for both? Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics is the first book to explore television in all its scope and complexity â its industry, production, texts, audiences, pleasures and politics â in relation to queerness. With contributions from distinguished authors working in film/television studies and the study of gender/sexuality, it offers a unique contribution to both disciplines.An introductory chapter by the editors charts the key debates and issues addressed within the book, followed by three sections, each central to an understanding of the relationships between queerness and television: 'theories and approaches', histories and genres', and 'television itself'. Individual essays examine the relationships between queers, queerness, and television across the multiple sites of productioTrade Review'In examining the complexity of television - more than simply queer television - then the book is well placed in terms of the important contributions it makes to debates about industry, production, audiences and politics' - Times Higher Education Supplement, 6th August 2009 (Reviewer: Tony Purvis, University of Newcastle, UK)Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Pleasures of the Tube Glyn Davis and Gary Needham Part I: Theories and Approaches 1. Epistemology of the Console Lynne Joyrich 2. Ethereal Queer: Notes on Method Amy Villarejo 3. Towards Queer Television Theory: Bigger Pictures sans the Sweet Queer-After Michele Aaron Part II: Histories and Genres 4. One Queen and His Screen: Lesbian and Gay Television Andy Medhurst 5. ‘We’re Not All So Obvious’: Masculinity and Queer (In)Visibility in American Network Television of the 1970s Joe Wlodarz 6. ‘Something for Everyone’: Lesbian and Gay ‘Magazine’ Programming on British Television, 1980-2000 Greg Woods 7. Guy Love: A Queer Straight Masculinity for a Post-Closet Era? Ron Becker Part III: Television Itself 8. Scheduling Normativity: Television, The Family, and Queer Temporality Gary Needham 9. Cruising the Channels: The Queerness of Zapping Jaap Kooijman 10. Hearing Queerly: Television’s Dissident Sonics Glyn Davis

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Book SynopsisCritically examines two interpretations of government. The first comes from pop culture fictions about politics, the second from academic political science. Stephen Benedict Dyson argues that televised political fictions and political science theories are attempts at meaning-making, reflecting and shaping how a society thinks about its politics.Trade ReviewImagining Politics is a first-rate work of scholarship. Popular culture as conveyed through television shows, such as The West Wing and Yes, Minister, can help to explain the political world. The study provides an innovative account of the populist turn in multiple locations around the world. This is essential reading." - Patrick James, University of Southern California"This is an important and engaging resource for scholars and researchers because of the way that Dyson weaves understandings of fictional narrative into an understanding of the embedded narrative that constructs an entire academic discipline. Dyson integrates popular culture and narratives while analyzing the narratives that shape and form political science as a discipline, exploring the connections between stories told in different contexts." - Imagining Politics: Interpretations in Political Science and Political Television guides the reader through a fascinating interpretation of politics, from diverse vantage points, but through an understanding of the role of narratives." - Lilly Goren, Carroll University"Imagining Politics makes an interesting, novel, and important intervention into the political science literature. The book is crafty—it gets readers to learn about some particularly dry areas of political science by enticing us with Scandal and House of Cards—nicely done." - Renée Ann Cramer, Drake University "When a reality television personality becomes the President of the United States, it's time to pay attention to what television can tell us about politics. Stephen Benedict Dyson has the unusual ability to bridge political science and popular culture and find the 'useful fictions' in both." - John Sides, George Washington University

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Book SynopsisIn 1964, Mary Whitehouse launched a campaign to fight what she called the ''propaganda of disbelief, doubt and dirt'' being poured into homes through the nation''s radio and television sets. Whitehouse, senior mistress at a Shropshire secondary school, became the unlikely figurehead of a mass movement for censorship: the National Viewers'' and Listeners'' Association, now Mediawatch-uk.For almost forty years, she kept up the fight against the programme makers, politicians, pop stars and playwrights who she felt were dragging British culture into a sewer of blasphemy and obscenity. From Doctor Who (''Teatime brutality for tots'') to Dennis Potter (whose mother sued her for libel and won) to the Beatles - whose Magical Mystery Tour escaped her intervention by the skin of its psychedelic teeth - the list of Mary Whitehouse''s targets will read to some like a nostalgic roll of honour.Caricatured while she lived as a figure of middle-brow reaction, Mary Whitehouse was held in contempt by the country''s intellectual elite. But were some of the dangers she warned of more real than they imagined? Ben Thompson''s selection of material from her extraordinary archive shows Mary Whitehouse''s legacy in a startling new light. From her exquisitely testy exchanges with successive BBC Directors General, to the anguished screeds penned by her television and radio vigilantes, these letters reveal a complex and combative individual, whose anxieties about culture and morality are often eerily relevant to the age of the internet. ''A fantastic read . . . I can''t recommend it highly enough.'' Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6 Music

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Book SynopsisInterviews with over forty of the most iconic entertainers, broadcasters, writers and stars of British Television.Trade Review"I so enjoyed being interviewed by someone who realises it is the news that is the star and not the newsreader - as my mentor Alastiar Burnet always said!"; Alastair Stewart OBE ;"Josh Barry is without doubt a force of nature.";Larry Lamb ;"Josh Barry is a brilliant interviewer. I am so proud to have had a chance to meet him. His book deserves to be widely read."; Stanley JohnsonTable of ContentsForeword Acknowledgements Introduction Showbiz legends Barry Cryer Tim Brooke-Taylor Jimmy Tarbuck Dame Esther Rantzen George Layton Melvyn Hayes Ray Galton O.B.E. and Alan Simpson O.B.E. Television's coming of age Chris Tarrant Jasper Carrott Richard Digance Peter Duncan Steve Nallon Broadcasters Krishnan Guru-Murthy Jon Snow Alastair Stewart Alan Titchmarsh John Hannam Comedy Ben Elton Arthur Smith Larry Lamb Miles Jupp Vicki Michelle Sue Hodge Jeffrey Holland Brian Conley Joe Pasquale Paul Jackson Writers Tony Jordan Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran David Quantick Colin Edmonds Jonathan Maitland Dick Fiddy Chapter - The 90's Leslie Ash Gaby Roslin Phill Jupitus Mathew Priest from Dodgy Fay Ripley Gordon Kennedy Mike Dixon The New Age of Television Jeremy Kyle Stanley Johnson Lee Ridley Steve Hewlett Shirley Ballas Sum up Sir Michael Parkinson: Liza Tarbuck Michael McIntyre Anthony Joshua Claudia Winkleman About the author

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""A comprehensive, historical examination of underwater films and television shows that reflected the public’s interest in sea fantasies during three periods. . . . Insightful." * Choice Reviews *"Margaret Cohen’s comprehensive research and skilful writing makes this book a fascinating read. . . . The Underwater Eye is a very well written and researched book that takes us comprehensively through this remarkable journey."---Jeff Goodman, Scubaverse

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Book SynopsisThis book analyses video games like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil as aesthetic objects. Drawing on philosophical theories of art from Kant to Ranciere, it focuses on what games feel like to players and argues that their appeal can only be adequately understood by relating them to developments in contemporary art and recent cultural history.Trade Review"An established scholar of the sociology of gaming and computers, Kirkpatrick (Univ. of Manchester, UK) argues video games are autonomous cultural forms that should be considered art.""Kirkpatrick positions the aesthetics of video games in interactivity, outside the traditional realm of formal or literary representation.""......adds a distinct, if rather conservative, perspective on video game play to the burgeoning field of game studies."I have yet to encounter a book as extensive and thought-provoking as Aesthetic Theory and the Video Game....Kirkpatrick’s book is an illuminating exploration of how a players body and a game intertwine, or how, “a generation of young men have grown up dancing with their hands.”There is no doubt that this book is important: for the academic theorization of gameplay, aesthetic theory, and cultural studies in its broadest, interdisciplinary or ‘indisiciplined’ manifestations… Rancière is one of a plethora of writers with whom Kirkpatrick artfully weaves propositions and readings of games to accumulate a coherently mapped theory of gaming as an aesthetic cultural practice... I have yet to encounter a book as extensive and thought provoking as Aesthetic Theory and the Video Game.You’ll never look at a controller the same way again after Kirkpatrick explains how we’ve been conditioned to use carefully designed blobs of plastic to influence an image. -- .Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Aesthetic ApproachWhy an aesthetic approach?Play and formForm, taste and societyArt and politicsCulture industry revisited2. Ludology, Space and TimeFrom ergodicity to ludologyGameness and its limitsAbstraction, virtual space and simulacraThe rhythm of suspended timeLudology, narratology and aesthetics3. Controller, Hand, ScreenForm, vision and matterHands and touchThe controllerVideo game imageEmbodied activity and culture4. Games, Dance and GenderDance and artHabitus and embodied playChoreography in ‘Mirror’s Edge’A dance aesthetic Choreography and discourseAesthetics and gender5. Meaning and Virtual WorldsFictional worldnessNeo-baroque entertainment cultureForm and fictional contentDeath and allegoryPlay and mourning6. Political AestheticsUnit operationsRhetoric and persuasionBadiou’s inaestheticsThe ludological truth-eventDancing our way to where?Index

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Book Synopsis* Bourdieu is well known as one of the most original and influential thinkers in the social sciences. * This book is one of the only things he wrote on the media - the bulk of the text is about television and the book includes an important essay about journalism.Trade Review"This unremitting assault on the impact and pretensions of television demolishes conventional arguments." Times Literary Supplement "Bourdieu not only presents a damming portrait of television as a domain of instant experts - les 'fast thinkers' - dedicated to the production of sensationalism and historical amnesia, he explains why this is so. Anyone who is seriously interested in journalism must read this book." Katha Pollitt, The Nation "As television became normal, so did its systematic corruption. This indispensable polemic, a little marvel of compression, is both a passionate call to resistance and a convincing account of its difficulties." Todd Gitlin, Columbia UniversityTable of ContentsPrologue Journalism and Politics Preface Part One In Front of the Camera and Behind the Scenes Part Two Invisible Structures and Their Effects The Power of Journalism Appendix The Olympics - An Agenda for Analysis Translator's Note Bibliography Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThis book is about the question of existence, the meaning of life'. It is an enquiry into the contemporary human situation as disclosed by television. The elementary components of any real-world situation are place, people and time. These are first examined as basic existential phenomena drawing on Heidegger's fundamental enquiry into the human situation in Being and Time. They are then explored through the technological and production care-structures of broadcast television which, routinely and exceptionally, display the situated experience of being alive and living in the world today. It shows routinely in the live self-enactments of persons being themselves and the liveness of their ordinary talk on television. It shows exceptionally in television coverage of great occasions and catastrophes as they unfold live and in real time. Case studies reveal the existential role of television in salvaging the possibility of genuine experience, and in revealing the world-hTrade Review“Television and the Meaning of Live is an important and exciting book, which helps one to see television, and media in general, in new ways. More than this, it is a book that can help one to see the world as a whole anew, as befits the task of ‘unconcealment’ that was Heidegger's goal. It cannot be recommended highly enough.” Critical Studies in Television ''Taking a refreshing phenomenological perspective, Paddy Scannell offers a thoughtful and compelling analysis of the way live radio and television capture and disclose the everyday human situation. A remarkable intellectual achievement by one of the most influential theorists of communication, this book will definitely enrich and deepen our understanding of the central role of broadcasting in our lived experience.'' Milly Buonanno, La Sapienza University of Roma, author of The Age of Television ''Can a phenomenology of « live » broadcasting illuminate the nature of everyday human situations? Paddy Scannell daringly answers : yes. The meaning of « Live » has much to tell us about the meaning of « Life » . Inspired by Heidegger’s Being and Time, this brilliant and provocative book challenges us to unlock media theory from the relentless embrace of sociologism.'' Daniel Dayan, Centre National de la Recherche scientifique & Institut d’études Politiques, Paris ''Using television, Paddy Scannell examines our situatedness in the world and carves out a strikingly fresh approach to media analysis. A seminal contribution--perceptive and humane.'' Carolyn Marvin, Annenberg School, University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vi Preface viii Part one: An introduction to the phenomenology of television Prologue: Heidegger's teacup 3 1. What is phenomenology? 5 2. Available world 14 3. Available self 27 4. Available time 39 5. Turning on the TV set 60 6. Television and technology 78 Part two: Television and the meaning of live 7. The meaning of live 93 8. How to talk – on radio 107 9. How to talk – on television 128 10. The moment of the goal – on television 153 11. Being in the moment: the meaning of media events 177 12. Catastrophe – on television 191 13. Television and history 209 Notes 225 References 245 Index 253

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Book SynopsisAn engaging and original study of current research on television audiences and the concept of emotion, this book offers a unique approach to key issues within television studies. Topics discussed include: television branding; emotional qualities in television texts; audience reception models; fan cultures; ''quality'' television; television aesthetics; reality television; individualism and its links to television consumption.The book is divided into two sections: the first covers theoretical work on the audience, fan cultures, global television, theorising emotion and affect in feminist theory and film and television studies. The second half offers a series of case studies on television programmes such as Wife Swap, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under in order to explore how emotion is fashioned, constructed and valued in televisual texts. The final chapter features original material from interviews with industry professionals in the UK and Irish soap industries along with advice for students on how to conduct their own small-scale ethnographic projects.Table of ContentsIntroduction: why study television?; Part One: Theoretical Background; 1, 'Desperately Seeking the Audience': Models of Audience Reception; 2, Personal Meanings, Fandom & Sitting Too Close to the Television; 3, Global Meanings and Trans-cultural Understandings of 'Dallas'; 4, Theorising Emotion and Affect: Feminist Engagements; 5, Theorising Emotion: Television & Film Theory; Part Two: Case Studies; 6, A Sentimental Journey: Writing, Emotion & Television; 7, 'There's No Place Like Home': Emotional Exposure, Excess and Empathy on TV; 8, Emotional Rescue: 'Sopranos', 'ER' and 'State of Play'; 9, Feminising Television: The Mother Role in 'Six Feet Under' and 'Brothers & Sisters'; 10, Journey and Jeopardy: A Small-Scale Case Study of Emotion in the UK/Irish Television Soap Industry

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Book SynopsisWhy are some controversial issues covered in TV soaps and dramas and not others? How are decisions really made ''behind the scenes''? How do programme makers push boundaries without losing viewers? What do audiences take away from their viewing experience? Does TV fiction have a greater impact on public understandings than TV news? This exciting new book draws on unique empirical data to examine the relationship between popular television fiction and wider society.The book gives lively and engaging insights into how and why socially sensitive story lines were taken up by different TV programmes from the late 1980s to the 2000s. Drawing on a series of case studies of medicine, health, illness and social problems including breast cancer, mental distress, sexual abuse and violence it comprehensively traces the path of storylines from initial conception through to audience reception and uses contemporary examples to link practice to theory. For the first time, this book addresses production and reception processes across a range of programmes and clearly demonstrates the ways in which television fiction plays a vital and powerful role in reflecting and shaping socio-cultural attitudes.Trade ReviewThis is a very important book and is a rare event in media and cultural studies since its conclusions are based on extensive empirical work. It shows very convincingly the processes which underpin the production of television fiction and the powerful impacts which such programmes can have on public understanding. -- Greg Philo, Professor of Communications, University of Glasgow At last a book that bridges the gulf between the study of political communication and television fiction, and between research into media production and audience responses. Lesley Henderson is both original and illuminating. -- James Curran, Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London The book is clearly written, and represents a valuable contribution to work on media fiction... Social Issues in Television Fiction should also serve as an ideal means to prompt students to become more interested in the process through which such programmes are produced, as well as the importance of understanding how such 'issues' are incorporated into serial drama, and take the shape which they do. -- Joseph Burridge This is a very important book and is a rare event in media and cultural studies since its conclusions are based on extensive empirical work. It shows very convincingly the processes which underpin the production of television fiction and the powerful impacts which such programmes can have on public understanding. At last a book that bridges the gulf between the study of political communication and television fiction, and between research into media production and audience responses. Lesley Henderson is both original and illuminating. The book is clearly written, and represents a valuable contribution to work on media fiction... Social Issues in Television Fiction should also serve as an ideal means to prompt students to become more interested in the process through which such programmes are produced, as well as the importance of understanding how such 'issues' are incorporated into serial drama, and take the shape which they do.Table of ContentsPART I: MAPPING THE FIELD; 1. Television Fiction in Context: Education and Entertainment; PART II: INSIDE THE INDUSTRY; 2. Making 'Good' Television; PART III: STRUGGLES OVER TELEVISION PRODUCTION; General Introduction; 3. Family Secrets: Sexual Violence; 4. A Woman's Disease: Breast Cancer; 5. Casting the Outsiders: Mental Distress; 6. Social Issues, Production and Genre; PART IV: SOCIAL ISSUES AND TELEVISION AUDIENCES; 7. Public Understandings, Sexual Violence and Safe Spaces; PART V: TELEVISION FICTION AND PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE; 8. Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a study of the 'Reality TV' format which, in less than a decade, has transformed network programming schedules, branded satellite and digital stations, become a favourite target for anti-television campaigners, and turned viewers into savvy readers of (and participants in) the mechanics of television production.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction: What Is Reality Television?; 1. Before Reality TV: From Candid Camera to Family Docs; 2. First-Generation Reality TV (1989-1999): The Camcorder Era; 3. Second-Generation Reality TV (1999-2000): Surveillance and Competition in Big Brother and Survivor; 4. The Second Generation Comes of Age (2001-2005): Challenge and Transformation; 5. Third-Generation Reality TV (2002- ): Economies of Celebrity; 6. Legacies: The New MTV Generation; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a detailed study of the three dominant Arab media channels - Al-Jazeera, Al-Hurra and Al-Arabia - and their role post-9/11.Table of Contents1. Overview of Arabic audio-visual media; 2. New Arab media, New discourse; 3. Al-Jazeera, Al-Hurra and Al-Arabia: different channels, or a face of the same coin; 4. Globalisation, Democracy and Arab media; 5. Arabic Media post 9/11.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a detailed study of the three dominant Arab media channels - Al-Jazeera, Al-Hurra and Al-Arabia - and their role post-9/11.Table of Contents1. Overview of Arabic audio-visual media; 2. New Arab media, New discourse; 3. Al-Jazeera, Al-Hurra and Al-Arabia: different channels, or a face of the same coin; 4. Globalisation, Democracy and Arab media; 5. Arabic Media post 9/11.

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Book SynopsisAnalyses the growth of American comedy film in relation to world events and cultural trends. This book uses large scale social and cultural trends and major world events to analyse the American comedy film. It offers a historical and conceptual study discussing the comedy narrative, comic traditions, and role of visual culture.Table of Contents1 American Film Comedy and Cultural Critique; 2 The Feeding Machine and Feeding the Machine: Silence, Sound and the Technologies of Cinema; 3 The Constitution of the Real: Documentary, Mockumentary, and the Status of the Image; 4 Parody: Targeting Cinema's Narrative Technics; 5 The Unspeakable and Political Satire: Performance, Perception, and Technology; 6 Conclusion: Between the Machine and the Event: Film Comedy.

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Book SynopsisExamines the influence of film noir on visual narrative and technique in global cinematic traditions. This book suggests that the film noir style continues to appeal on such a global scale because no other cinematic form has merged style and genre to effect a vision of the disturbing consequences of modernity.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; List of Figures; The Noir Impulse, Homer B. Pettey; 1. British Noir, James Leach; 2. French Noir 1947-79: From Grunge-Noir to Noir-hilism, Susan Hayward; 3. French Neo-noir: an aesthetic for the Policier, Maureen Turim; 4. Early Japanese Noir, Homer B. Pettey; 5. The Gunman and the Gun: Japanese Film Noir since the late 1950s, David Desser; 6. Darker than Dark: Film Noir in its Asian Contexts, Stephen Teo; 7. Nordic Noir and Neo-Noir: The Human Criminal, Andrew Nestingen; 8. Indian Film Noir, Corey Creekmur; 9. The New Sincerity of Neo-Noir, R. Barton Palmer; 10. Post-noir: getting back to business, Mark Bould; Selected Reading Guide to International Film Noir; Selected Viewing Guide to International Film Noir; Index.

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Book SynopsisSuburbia. Say the word and a stream of images pass before your eyes: white picket fence, neatly mowed lawns, winding roads nicely lined with trees, pastel tinted bungalows, bored housewives, conspicuous consumption. We all know what the suburbs are about. Or do we? This book looks again at the filmic and televised spaces we think we know so well.

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Book SynopsisOffers a study of US independent films marginalised in and by the rise of 'indie' culture. This book develops an expanded understanding of US 'indie' film culture. It also identifies the contribution of a community of US 'indie' filmmakers and actors, with a particular emphasis on women practitioners.Table of ContentsContents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Possible Films; Claire Perkins and Constantine Verevis; 1. All the Real Girls (2003): Indie Iove; Claire Perkins; 2. Bubble (2005): The network society; Radha O'Meara; 3. Buffalo '66 (1998): The radical conventionality of an indie happy ending; James MacDowell; 4. The Exploding Girl (2009): The everyday and the occluded gaze; Laura Rascaroli; 5. Frozen River (2008): Mobility and uncertain boundaries; Mark Berrettini; 6. Jesus' Son (1999): 'I knew every raindrop by its name'; Constantine Verevis; 7. Keane (2004): Cold comfort camera; Jaime Christley; 8. Kicking and Screaming (1995): The significance of slightness; Chad R. Newsom; 9. Laurel Canyon (2002): Lacuscular cinema; Jodi Brooks; 10. Living in Oblivion (1995): How mistaking Chad for Brad could not overcome the commercial limitations of the self reflexive cycle; John Berra; 11. Lovely & Amazing (2001): Naked chick flick; Linda Badley; 12. Old Joy (2006): Resisting masculinity; E. Dawn Hall; 13. Pariah (2011): Coming out in the middle; Patricia White; 14. Primer (2004): A primer in first time indie filmmaking; Geoff King; 15. Rachel Getting Married (2008): Personal cinema and the smart chick film; Hilary Radner; 16. Secretary (2002): Purple pose, indie masochism, bruised romance; Elena Gorfinkel; 17. Waitress (2007): Tragedy and authorship in an indie 'meta movie'; Steven Rawle; 18. The Weight of Water (2000): A spectacular, if transformative failure; R. Barton Palmer; 19. Winter's Bone (2010): Modest deals and film adaptation; Noel King; 20. You Can Count On Me (2000): Living in dependence; Jesse Fox Mayshark; Contributors.

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Book SynopsisOffers an important insight into the formative moments of transnational film culture in AustraliaTrade Review"Before Australian cinema's breakthrough in the early 1980s, visiting filmmakers made important and varied contributions to what Danks and Verevis call 'the imagination of Australia'. The Overlanders, On the Beach, Age of Consent, Ned Kelly and Walkabout are among the international productions here valuably reconsidered from a contemporary Australian perspective." -Ian Christie, Birkbeck College, University of London

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Book SynopsisPresents a critical analysis of the films and career of George Cukor. This title covers his work in theatre and his early films as well as his later work and emphasis on Cukor and performance. It features essays by leading film scholars.

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Book SynopsisExamines the translation of classical Hollywood into Disney's feature films from a Deleuzian perspective. This book retells the emergence of Disney animation and classical Hollywood cinema from the perspective of affect and the embodied modes of generating affection.

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Book SynopsisIn late 1995, the drama Heaven Above (Cangtian zaishang) debuted on Chinese TV. Featuring a villainous high-ranking government official, it was the first in a series of wildly popular corruption dramas that riveted the nation. In Staging Corruption, Ruoyun Bai looks at the rise, fall, and reincarnation of these dramas and the ways in which they express the collective dreams and nightmares of China in the market-reform era. She also considers how these dramas as products of the interplay between television stations, production companies, media regulation, and political censorship unveil complicated relationships between power, media, and society. Her book will be essential reading for those following China''s ongoing struggles with the highly volatile issue of political and social nepotism.Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Chinese Television Dramas: An Overview2 Corruption Dramas as a Mediated Space: CCTV, Intellectuals, and the Market3 Censorship, Governance Crisis, and Moral Regulation4 Anti-Corruption Melodrama and Competing Discourses5 Cynicism as a Dominant Way of Seeing6 Speaking of the “Desirable” Corrupt Official: A Case StudyConclusionAppendix: Selected Corruption Drama Titles; Notes; Bibliography; Index

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