Although we tend to think of television primarily as a household fixture, TV monitors outside the home are widespread: in bars, laundromats, and stores; conveying flight arrival and departure times in airports; uniting crowds at sports events and allaying boredom in waiting rooms; and helping to pass the time in workplaces of all kinds. In Ambient Television Anna McCarthy explores the significance of this pervasive phenomenon, tracing the forms of conflict, commerce, and community that television generates outside the home. Discussing the roles television has played in different institutions from 1945 to the present day, McCarthy draws on a wide array of sources. These include retail merchandising literature, TV industry trade journals, and journalistic discussions of public viewing, as... Less

Visual images, artifacts, and performances play a powerful part in shaping U.S. culture. To understand the dynamics of public persuasion, students must understand this “visual rhetoric.” This rich anthology contains 20 exemplary studies of visual rhetoric, exploring an array of visual communication forms, from photographs, prints, television documentary, and film to stamps, advertisements, and tattoos. In material original to this volume, editors Lester C. Olson, Cara A. Finnegan, and Diane S. Hope present a critical perspective that links visuality and rhetoric, locates the study of visual rhetoric within the disciplinary framework of communication, and explores the role of the visual in the cultural space of the United States. Enhanced with these critical editorial perspectives, Visual... Less

This is a wide-ranging and stimulating introduction to the history and theory of visual culture from painting to the computer and television screen. It will prove indispensable to students of art and art history as well as students of cultural studies. Mirzoeff begins by defining what visual culture is, and explores how and why visual media - fine art, cinema, the Internet, advertising, performance, photography, television - have become so central to contemporary everyday life. He argues that the visual is replacing the linguistic as our primary means of communicating with each other and of understanding our postmodern world. Part One of the Introduction presents a history of modern ways of seeing, including: * the formal practices of line and colour in painting* photographys claim to... Less

Visual culture - art, advertising, architecture, cinema, television, cartography, video, the internet, and images of science - has shaped American national identity more than that of any other country. Covering the period from the late nineteenth century to the present day, the book explores how visual culture has at once transformed and consolidated the image of the United States. American Visual Culture presents both an analysis of the diversity of American visual media and a critical introduction to the study and interpretation of visual culture. Thematic chapters - on American urban and rural landscapes, icons, popular culture, art and photography, as well as on crime, anxiety and sex - describe the cultural, intellectual and historical context. Throughout, these themes are discussed... Less

In Visual Culture the 'visual' character of contemporary culture is explored in original and lively essays. The contributors look at advertising, film, painting and fine art journalism, photography, television and propaganda. They argue that there is only a social, not a formal relation between vision and truth. A major preoccupation of modernity and central to an understadning of the postmodern, 'vision' and the 'visual' are emergent themes across sociology, cultural studies and critical theory in the visual arts. Visual Culture will prove an indispensable guide to the field.

Visual Culture is all around us: television, dance, film, fashion, painting, sculpture, installation and fine art are only a few of its many faces. Feminist Visual Culture looks at feminist theory, the role of women, and the contribution of women to the world of visual culture. This substantial introduction provides an overview of visual culture and of the origins of feminist practice. In the volume's three sections-Fine Art, Design, and Mass Media-the authors discuss the visual media specific to that area, incorporating wider issues such as class, culture, and ethnicity. Each chapter is written by a woman working in a different field of visual culture. A topical and comprehensive introduction, Feminist Visual Culture will be a valuable tool for readers in women's studies, visual studies... Less

Visual culture is central to how we communicate. Our lives are dominated by images and by visual technologies that allow for the local and global circulation of ideas, information, and politics. In this increasingly visual world, how can we best decipher and understand the many ways that our everyday lives are organized around looking practices and the many images we encounter each day? Now in a new edition, Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture provides a comprehensive and engaging overview of how we understand a wide array of visual media and how we use images to express ourselves, to communicate, to play, and to learn. Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright--two leading scholars in the emergent and dynamic field of visual culture and communication-- examine the diverse... Less

“This exciting book goes to the heart of a creative commercial and public service culture - it shows why ITV matters and how it was made to work so well. A tremendous contribution.” Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster “This is a valuable addition to studies of ITV's history and programming...” Tom O'Malley, Professor of Media Studies, University of Wales, Aberyswyth, and Co-Editor of Media History. Since breaking the BBC’s monopoly in 1955, ITV has been at the centre of the British television landscape. To coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the first ITV broadcast, this accessible book offers a range of perspectives on the complex and multifaceted history of Britain’s first commercial broadcaster. The book explores key tensions and conflicts which have... Less

In this fascinating and accessible book, author Stephanie Marriott engages in a close and detailed analysis of the nature of live television. The book examines the transformations in our experience of time and space which are brought about by the capacity of broadcasting to bring us the world in the moment in which it is unfolding, situating the live television event in the context of an expanding and increasingly complex global communicative framework. Building her argument by means of a series of case studies of events as diverse as the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001, the 2005 London bombings, election night coverage and live sports coverage, the author provides a meticulous and articulate account of the way in which live... Less

Man’s exploration of space and its climax in the American moon landings have provided the world with iconic sounds and images of the late twentieth century. Travelling across millions of miles, these sounds and images have become lodged in the public conscious as the most powerful of collective memories. They speak both of breathtaking technological achievement and of the courage of the men, and woman, who risked their lives in striving to be more than human and to be more than just of this Earth. As John F. Kennedy said, "We choose to go to the Moon, not because it is easy but because it is hard."This is the first comprehensive exploration of the role played by film and television systems in enabling these feats of interplanetary exploration to be witnessed by audiences of hundreds of... Less

Through his brain imaging work at the Amen Clinics with tens of thousands of patients from 68 countries over the last two decades Dr. Daniel Amen has come to understand that you can literally change your brain and change your life. This is one of the most exciting breakthroughs in medicine, because with a better brain, always comes a better life. CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR LIFE DVD is an extended version of the breakthrough Public Television special. It is packed with helpful tips and practical brain science including: * Dr. Amen's SEVEN simple principles to change your brain and change your life. * The ONE question you should ask yourself everyday if you really want to be successful in your life. * Tips on how to be happier, more focused, less anxious and less depressed by balancing... Less

This fascinating examination of visual experience offers an explanation and assessment of the traditional means of analyzing visual culture. Most of our experience is visual--we obtain most of our information and knowledge through sight, whether from reading books and newspapers, from watching television, or from quickly glimpsing road signs. Many of our judgments and decisions, as well as our entertainment and recreation, are based on the visual experience. Using a wide range of historical and contemporary examples, this book argues that the groups which artists and designers form, the audiences and markets which they sell to, and the different social classes which are produced and reproduced by art and design are all part of the successful explanation and critical evaluation of visual... Less

An Introduction to Visual Culture provides a wide-ranging introduction to the now established interdisciplinary field of visual culture. Mapping a global history and theory of visual culture, An Introduction to Visual Culture asks how and why visual media have become so central to everyday life. This new, completely updated second edition has been adapted to match the challenges of interpreting globalization since the publication of the first edition a decade ago. Improved text design and colour images throughout make it an even more valuable teaching tool. Brand new features in the second edition include Key Image studies from Holbein’s The Ambassadors, to Blade Runner and the Abu Ghraib atrocities; and a Key Words section in each chapter, discussing vital critical terms and the... Less

An Introduction to Visual Culture provides a wide-ranging introduction to the now established interdisciplinary field of visual culture. Mapping a global history and theory of visual culture, An Introduction to Visual Culture asks how and why visual media have become so central to everyday life. This new, completely updated second edition has been adapted to match the challenges of interpreting globalization since the publication of the first edition a decade ago. Improved text design and colour images throughout make it an even more valuable teaching tool. Brand new features in the second edition include Key Image studies from Holbein’s The Ambassadors, to Blade Runner and the Abu Ghraib atrocities; and a Key Words section in each chapter, discussing vital critical terms and the... Less

We typically take public space for granted, as if it has continuously been there, yet public space has always been the expression of the will of some agency (person or institution) who names the space, gives it purpose, and monitors its existence. And often its use has been contested. These new essays, written for this volume, approach public space through several key questions: Who has the right to define public space? How do such places generate and sustain symbolic meaning? Is public space unchanging, or is it subject to our subjective perception? Do we, given the public nature of public space, have the right to subvert it? These eighteen essays, including several case studies, offer convincing evidence of a spatial turn in American studies. They argue for a re-visioning of American... Less

The Russian media are widely seen to be increasingly controlled by the government. Leaders buy up opposing television channels and pour money in as fast as it hemorrhages out. As a result, TV news has become narrower in scope and in the range of viewpoints which it reflects: leaders demand assimilation and shut down dissenting stations. Using original and extensive focus group research and new developments in cognitive theory, Ellen Mickiewicz unveils a profound mismatch between the complacent assumption of Russian leaders that the country will absorb their messages, and the viewers on the other side of the screen. This is the first book to reveal what the Russian audience really thinks of its news and the mental strategies they use to process it. The focus on ordinary people, rather than... Less

A reporter for the Los Angeles Times once noted that “I Love Lucy is said to be on the air somewhere in the world 24 hours a day.” That Lucy’s madcap antics can be watched anywhere at any time is thanks to television syndication, a booming global marketplace that imports and exports TV shows. Programs from different countries are packaged, bought, and sold all over the world, under the watch of an industry that is extraordinarily lucrative for major studios and production companies.In Global TV, Denise D. Bielb and C. Lee Harrington seek to understand the machinery of this marketplace, its origins and history, its inner workings, and its product management. In so doing, they are led to explore the cultural significance of this global trade, and to ask how it is so remarkably successful... Less

Is it possible today to understand current genres such as drama and theater without considering the influence of television? Elizabeth Klaver argues that television’s dominance of the entertainment industry demands a continual negotiation of subject position from all other cultural forms and institutions. By examining plays that incorporate televisual discourse—from cameras and monitors to televisual style and structure— Performing Television probes the turbulent relation contemporary drama has had to television and its negotiations for identity in a postmodern media culture.     Kla ver applies post- structuralist theories of subjectivity to drama while ranging through Beckett’s plays, National Hockey League games, “The Tonight Show,” gay and lesbian drama, minority drama, avant-garde... Less

Genre is central to understanding the industrial context and the visual form of television.  This new edition of a key textbook brings together leading international scholars to provide an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the debates, issues and concerns of television genre.  The Television Genre Book is structured in eleven sections which introduce the concept of ‘genre’ itself and how it has been understood in television studies, and then address in turn key televisual genres: drama, soap opera, comedy, news, documentary, reality television, children’s television, animation, prime time and day time.  The discussion is illustrated throughout with case studies of classic and contemporary programming from each genre, ranging from The Sopranos to Bleak House and from Monty... Less

Books.

This revised edition of a now classic text includes a new introduction by Henry Jenkins, explaining ‘Why Fiske Still Matters’ for today’s students, followed by a discussion between former Fiske students Ron Becker, Aniko Bodroghkozy, Steve Classen, Elana Levine, Jason Mittell, Greg Smith and Pam Wilson on ‘John Fiske and Television Culture’. Both underline the continuing relevance of this foundational text in the study of contemporary media and popular culture. Television is unique in its ability to produce so much pleasure and so many meanings for such a wide variety of people. In this book, John Fiske looks at television’s role as an agent of popular culture, and goes on to consider the relationship between this cultural dimension and television’s status as a commodity of the cultural... Less

From seventeenth- century broadsides about the handling of dead bodies, printed during London's plague years, to YouTube videos about preventing the transmission of STDs, public health advocacy and education has always had a powerful visual component. Imagining Illness explores the diverse visual culture of public health, broadly defined, from the nineteenth century to the present. Contributors to this volume examine historical and contemporary visual practices- Chinese health fairs, documentary films produced by the World Health Organization, illness maps, fashions for nurses, and live surgery on the Internet-in order to delve into the political and epidemiological contexts underlying their creation and dissemination. Contributors: Liping Bu, Alma College; Lisa Cartwright, U of... Less

McGraw-Hill conducted extensive research to gain insight into students' study behavior and instructor needs. We learned that students want visual appeal and content designed according to the way they learn, while instructors need a way to engage their students without compromising on high quality content. From this, we created the M Series (a series of magazine style textbooks). CULTURE is the latest addition to the series. This new magazine style text for the Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course offers solid scholarly content and an engaging design that will captivate your students. Through memorable eye-catching pedagogical features, students develop a better understanding of the material and will retain a greater amount of course concepts. This book presents cultural... Less

Kimberly Rhodes' interdisciplinary book is the first to explore fully the complicated representational history of Shakespeare's "Ophelia" during the Victorian period. In nineteenth- century Britain, the shape, function and representation of women's bodies were typically regulated and interpreted by public and private institutions, while emblematic fictional female figures like Ophelia functioned as idealized templates of Victorian womanhood. Rhodes examines the widely disseminated representations of Ophelia, from works by visual artists and writers, to interpretations of her character in contemporary productions of "Hamlet", revealing her as a nexus of the struggle for the female body's subjugation.By considering a broad range of materials, including works by Anna Lea Merritt, Elizabeth... Less

Film, video games, television ads, corporate presentations- whatever medium you're working in, a visual story is the most compelling way to provide your audience with information and, more important, with an emotional experience. Exploring Visual Storytelling analyzes the essential techniques of creating compelling visual stories. Based on the pioneering work of Minneapolis- based Visual Culture, this innovative book-DVD package examines and explains the fundamentals of the medium by covering the seven key concepts behind every visual story: context, character, conflict, plot, 2D space, 3D space, and time. Each topic is thoroughly explained in print and then applied in the companion DVD, fully demonstrating how these core concepts work together to create a cohesive, compelling story.