This book presents a clear, concise and critical introduction to contemporary media and cultural studies. The book will be of interest to all students about to embark on courses in which knowledge of the mass media, cultural identities, popular culture, film, or television, forms a part of their programme. But the book is also aimed at those who are interested in how media and cultural identities can be studied in relation to audiences and industries in the context of local and global media. And finally, the book is of interest to all those who are studying aspects of the media, culture, and communications industries and who want to consolidate their knowledge and critical skills in more comprehensive ways. Get Set for Media and Cultural Studies will provide a concise learning aid.

Providing a student guide to the process of research and writing for media and cultural studies, the author covers both quantitative and qualitative methods and includes a list of useful library resources and essential Web sites.

In this thorough update of one of the classic texts of media and cultural studies, Douglas Kellner argues that media culture is now the dominant form of culture that socializes us and provides and plays major roles in the economy, polity, and social and cultural life. The book includes a series of lively studies that both illuminate contemporary culture and society, while providing methods of analysis, interpretation, and critique to engage contemporary U.S. culture. Many people today talk about cultural studies, but Kellner actually does it, carrying through a unique mixture of theoretical analysis and concrete discussions of some of the most popular and influential forms of contemporary media culture. Studies cover a wide range of topics including: Reagan and Rambo; horror and youth films; women’s films, the TV series Orange is the New Black and Hulu’s TV series based on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale; the films of Spike Lee and African American culture; Latino films and cinematic narratives on migration; female pop icons Madonna, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga; fashion and celebrity; television news, documentary films, and the recent work of Michael Moore; fantasy and science fiction, with focus on the cinematic version of Lord of the Rings, Philip K. Dick and the Blade Runner films, and the work of David Cronenberg. Situating the works of media culture in their social context, within political struggles, and the system of cultural production and reception, Kellner develops a multidimensional approach to cultural studies that broadens the field and opens it to a variety of disciplines. He also provides new approaches to the vexed question of the effects of culture and offers new perspectives for cultural studies. Anyone interested in the nature and effects of contemporary society and culture should read this book.

A broad survey on how audiences make meaning out of mass media Media Reception Studies broadly surveys the past century of scholarship on the ways in which audiences make meaning out of mass media. It synthesizes in plain language social scientific, linguistic, and cultural studies approaches to film and television as communication media. Janet Staiger traverses a broad terrain, covering the Chicago School, early psychological approaches, Soviet theory, the Frankfurt School, mass communication research and critical theory, linguistics and semiotic theory, social-psychoanalytical research, cognitive psychology, and cultural studies. She offers these theories as a set of tools for understanding the complex relationships between films and their audiences, TV shows and their viewers. She explains such questions as the behavior of fans; the implications of gender, sexuality, and race/ethnicity with regard to the media; the effect of violence, horror, and sexually explicit images on viewers; and the place of memory in spectatorship. Providing an organized and lucid introduction to a staggering amount of work, Media Reception Studies is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in understanding the effects of mass media.

Production Studies is the first volume to bring together a star-studded cast of interdisciplinary media scholars to examine the unique cultural practices of media production. The all-new essays collected here combine ethnographic, sociological, critical, material, and political-economic methods to explore a wide range of topics, from contemporary industrial trends such as new media and niche markets to gender and workplace hierarchies. Together, the contributors seek to understand how the entire span of "media producers"—ranging from high-profile producers and directors to anonymous stagehands and costume designers—work through professional organizations and informal networks to form communities of shared practices, languages, and cultural understandings of the world.

A two-book set on cultural studies for courses across a range of disciplines This set includes two books: Cultural Studies: An Anthology and Cultural Studies: A Practical Introduction. The anthology features a collection of classic and contemporary essays within the field of cultural studies. The book can be used in courses ranging from communications to anthropology. The introductory textbook is a companion to the anthology. This book encourages students to explore the diverse fields in the area of cultural studies, from visual culture to music. It offers a comprehensive overview of the field and provides chapter exercises and activities.

"This reference provides a review of the academic and popular literature on the relationship between communications and media studies, cinema, advertising, public relations, religion, food tourism, art, sports, technology, culture, marketing, and entertainment practices"--Provided by publisher.