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Consumers today are invested in reality-based media, such as reality television and social media, which in theory draw content from somewhere off-screen in our lived experience. This is seen as more "authentic" than the predominantly fictional media of the latter half of the 20th century. Yet much of reality TV and social media is known by both consumers and creators of content to be scripted or contrived. Addressing this problem deepens consumer engagement, as authenticity becomes a preoccupation driving the extension of a new media ethic of truth and savvy. This dynamic is key to understanding consumers' changing attitudes about the media they value. Reality TV, Facebook and YouTube have created a paradigm shift in the media landscape. Analyzing these three established platforms--all of which have a stake in the conversation about authenticity--this book sheds light on the complicated behaviors and choices of media consumers.
Globally, police officers are the object of unprecedented visual scrutiny. The use of mobile phones, CCTV and personal body cams means that police are not only being filmed on the job but are also filming themselves. In popular culture, police have featured heavily on the big screen since the era of silent shorts and on television since the 1930s. Their fictional portrayals today take on added significance in light of social unrest surrounding cases of police brutality and discrimination. These essays explore 21st century portrayals of police on film and television. Chapters often emphasize the Black Lives Matter movement and consider the tone, quality, appropriateness and intention of film and television featuring police activity. Extensively covered works include Mindhunter, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Cops, Criminal Minds and RoboCop, and among the major topics addressed are policing communities, hunting serial killers, police animals, and police in historic settings ranging from the 19th century through the present day and into science fiction futures.
Who owns the media and communications in Africa today and with what implications? The book elegantly answers this urgent question by unpacking multiple dimensions of media ownership through rare and authoritative perspectives, including both historical and contemporary digital developments. It traces the evolving forms of ownership of media and communications in specific African contexts, showing how they interact with broader changes in and outside the continent. The book also shows how Big Techs, such as Meta (formerly known as Facebook), are involved in a scramble for Africa’s digital ecosystem and how their advance brings both opportunities and concerns about ownership and control. The...
From Shakespeare to The Simpsons, comedy has long provided both entertainment and social commentary. It may critique cultural values, undermine authority, satirize sacred beliefs, and make room for the marginalized to approach the center. Comedy can be challenging to teach, but in the classroom it can help students connect with one another, develop critical thinking skills, and engage with important issues. The essays in this volume address a rich variety of texts spanning film, television, stand-up, cartoons, and memes as well as conventional literary works from different places and times. Contributors offer theoretical foundations and practical methods for a broad range of courses, includi...
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said: »Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy.« In the 1990s, nobody fell deeper than O.J. Simpson. Once considered a national treasure, the athlete was accused of brutally slaying his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994. Within days, the media and public developed an unprecedented obsession with the story, turning a murder investigation and trial into a sensationalized reality show. Tatjana Neubauer examines the mediatization, deliberate manipulation, and the simplification of popular criminal trials for profit on television. She demonstrates that TV conflated legal proceedings into entertainment programming by commodifying events, people, and places.
Metairie is often considered the dull stepchild of New Orleans--a concrete "Anywhere, USA" lined with shopping malls frequented by fast-food eating, drive-up-daiquiri-drinking, cultureless suburbanites. Despite stereotypical misconceptions, sons and daughters of New Orleans who call Metairie home are every bit as colorful, talented, devious, and gracious as their relatives in the city. Johnny Wiggs kept New Orleans jazz alive. Verne Tripp invented "perma-press" and pioneered use of the electron microscope. On Atherton Drive, David Ferrie plotted a Cuban coup. Peter Gennaro left his father's bar to become a Broadway star. Shirley Ann Grau raised her children here while writing novels. Al Scramuzza built a crawfish empire and coached Metairie children. Ellen Degeneres found national fame, while Becky Allen won our hearts at home. Those who may not be widely known but have impacted lives in the community and afar are also included in this book, which is a tribute to the people of Metairie.
Seit 2015 wird die arabischsprachige YouTube-Sphäre von saudischen Influencer*innen dominiert. Sie orientieren sich an globalen Standards, die Sabrina Zahren als „globalen Konsens“ bezeichnet. Die Akteur*innen sind zudem in regionale Mediensysteme eingebettet, über die sie in Werbe- und Marketingstrukturen und, auf lokaler Ebene, in Nation-Branding-Strategien eingebunden werden. Diese Schlüsselaspekte, die „soziale Medien“ als Teil des digitalen Kapitalismus verorten, haben in den Studien zu arabischen Medien aus methodologischen und theoretischen Gründen bisher eher wenig Aufmerksamkeit bekommen. Das vorliegende Buch entwickelt daher eine hybride Perspektive, die die politische Ökonomie der digitalen Plattformen im Golf genauso mit einbezieht wie den Blick auf Influencer*innen und Creator Culture. Dazu wurden unter anderem fast 400 Videos kommerziell erfolgreicher saudischer YouTube-Kanäle qualitativ und quantitativ ausgewertet. Zudem zeichnet das Buch die Geschichte der Plattform YouTube in der Region nach und nimmt die Zusammenarbeit regionaler digitaler Industrien mit Tech-Konzernen des globalen Nordens (z.B. Google) genauer unter die Lupe.
During the turbulent 1960s, the city of New Orleans experienced unprecedented economic growth, racial tensions and desegregation, political realignment, and natural disaster. Presiding over this period of sweeping change was Mayor Victor H. Schiro (1904-1992), an unassuming, moderate Democrat who sought the best for his city and adhered strictly to the rule of law in a region where laissez faire was standard practice and hardened defiance was a social norm. Schiro sought fairness for all and navigated a gauntlet of conflicting pressures. African Americans sought their civil rights, and whites resisted the new racial environment. Despite vigorous opposition and an unfriendly press, Schiro won...
Over recent years, Arabic popular culture has become a focal point of West Asian and North African studies. Most of the new research dealing with it concentrates on the ?popular? as opposed to an intellectual ?high? culture far from the harsh and hierarchically organized reality many Arabic-speaking societies face today. Popular cultural practices are thus seen as a rejection of the elite and a stance against those who have ?something to loose? within paralyzed and conservative communities. Albeit not denying the subversive political potential associated with these practices, this volume intends to take a more nuanced and broader perspective. Arabic popular culture might engage with emancipa...
Although most evangelical traditions bar women from ordained ministry, many women have carved out unofficial positions of power in their husbands' spiritual empires or their own ministries. The biggest stars write bestselling books, grab high ratings on Christian television, and even preach. Bowler offers a sympathetic and revealing portrait of megachurch women celebrities, showing how they must balance the demands of celebrity culture and conservative, male-dominated faiths. And black celebrity preachers' wives carry a special burden of respectability. A compelling account of women's search for spiritual authority in the age of celebrity. -- adapted from jacket