The 1980s saw the rise of Ronald Reagan and the New Right in American politics, the popularity of programs such as "thirtysomething" and "Dynasty" on network television, and the increasingly widespread use of VCRs, cable TV, and remote control in American living rooms. In "Seeing Through the Eighties," Jane Feuer critically examines this most aesthetically complex and politically significant period in the history of American television in the context of the prevailing conservative ideological climate. With wit, humor, and an undisguised appreciation of TV, she demonstrates the richness of...

Camcorder AIDS activism is a prime example of a new form of political expression an outburst of committed, low-budget, community-produced, political video work made possible by new accessible technologies. As Alexandra Juhasz looks at this phenomenon why and how video has become the medium for so much AIDS activism she also tries to make sense of the bigger picture: How is this work different from mainstream television? How does it alter what we think of the media s form and function? The result is an eloquent and vital assessment of the role media activism plays in the development of...

Recent media events like the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas, the beating of Rodney King and its aftermath, and the murder trial of O.J. Simpson have trained our collective eye on the televised spectacle of race. "Living Color" combines media studies, cultural studies, and critical race theory to investigate the representation of race on American TV.
Ranging across television genres, historical periods, and racial formations, "Living Color"--as it positions race as a key element of television's cultural influence--moves the discussion out of a black-and-white binary and...

Many parents, politicians, and activists agree that there's too much violence and not enough education on children's television. Current solutions range from the legislative (the Children's Television Act of 1990) to the technological (the V-chip). "Saturday Morning Censors" examines the history of adults' attempts to safeguard children from the violence, sexism, racism, and commercialism on television since the 1950s. By focusing on what censorship and regulation are and how they work--rather than on whether they should exist--Heather Hendershot shows how adults use these processes to...

Television shows, comic strips, video games, and other forms of media directed at children are the subject of frequent and rancorous debate. In Kids Media Culture some of the most prominent cultural theorists of children s media join forces with exciting new voices in the field to consider the production and consumption of media aimed at children. What s good for kids and what s merely exploitive? Are shows that attempt to level the socioeconomic playing field by educating children effective? The essays in this anthology tackle these questions and pose provocative new questions of...

In less than a century, the flickering blue-gray light of the television screen has become a cultural icon. What do the images transmitted by that screen tell us about power, authority, gender stereotypes, and ideology in the United States? Television, History, and American Culture addresses this question by illuminating how television both reflects and influences American culture and identity.
The essays collected here focus on women in front of, behind, and on the TV screen, as producers, viewers, and characters. Using feminist and historical criticism, the contributors...

During the latter half of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s, television talk shows, infotainment news, and screaming supermarket headlines became ubiquitous in America as the "tabloidization" of the nation's media took hold. In "Tabloid Culture" Kevin Glynn draws on diverse theoretical sources and an unprecedented range of electronic and print media in order to analyze important aspects and key debates that have emerged around this phenomenon.
Glynn begins by situating these media shifts within the context of Reaganism, which gave rise to distinctive ideological currents in society...

In "Haunted Media" Jeffrey Sconce examines American culture's persistent association of new electronic media--from the invention of the telegraph to the introduction of television and computers--with paranormal or spiritual phenomena. By offering a historical analysis of the relation between communication technologies, discourses of modernity, and metaphysical preoccupations, Sconce demonstrates how accounts of "electronic presence" have gradually changed over the decades from a fascination with the boundaries of space and time to a more generalized anxiety over the seeming sovereignty of...

Critics often claim that prime-time television seemed immune--or even willfully blind--to the landmark upheavals rocking American society during the 1960s. "Groove Tube" is Aniko Bodroghkozy's rebuttal of this claim. Filled with entertaining and enlightening discussions of popular shows of the time--such as "The Monkees, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Mod Squad--"this book challenges the assumption that TV programming failed to consider or engage with the decade's youth-lead societal changes.
Bodroghkozy argues that, in order to woo an increasingly lucrative baby boomer...

Historical and theoretical essays on television and media culture by a leading feminist studies scholar.