In the Eye of the Beholder: Critical Perspectives in Popular Film and Television

by Gary R. Edgerton (Editor), Michael T. Marsden (Editor), Jack Nachbar (Editor)

Overview

Film and television are subjects of intense study throughout higher education today. Popular culture has undergone a revolution during the last generation, progressing from a discipline at the margins that was reflexively treated with contempt to one of the most widespread  and productive topic areas in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The increased attention on film and television is clearly part of this overall acceptance and growing cachet now accorded popular culture in the academy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879727543
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	06/15/1997
Edition description:	1
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.64(d)

Table of Contents

	Introduction: Film and Television Criticism in Cultural Context	1
Part 1.	The Popular Tradition	7
1.	"Mystic Chords of Memory": The Cultural Voice of Ken Burns	11
2.	The Rise and Fall of Saturday Night Live: Lorne Michaels as a Television Writer-Producer	27
3.	Evolution of the Academy Award-Winning Script for Witness	43
4.	Flow, Genre, and the Television Text	55
5.	The Question of Popular Genres Revisited	67
6.	Researching Film and Television Audiences	85
7.	Motion Picture Story Magazine and the Gendered Construction of the Movie Fan	97
Part 2.	Assessing the Contemporary Cultural Landscape	113
8.	Midnight S/excess: Cult Configurations of "Femininity" and the Perverse	117
9.	The Woman in the Door: Framing Presence in Film Noir	137
10.	Reading the Talk Show: The Politics of Talk Soup	149
11.	They Went Thataway, Old Chap: Movie Images of the English on the American Western Frontier	167
12.	Hollywood's Disabled Vietnam Vet Revisited	179
13.	The Role of Television News in Portraying People Living with AIDS	191
14.	Ethical Guidelines for Promoting Prosocial Messages through the Popular Media	207
Part 3.	Additional Sources in Popular Film and Television	225
15.	Selective Bibliography for Researching Popular Film: Sources and Strategies	229
16.	Selective Bibliography for Researching Television: Sources and Strategies	245
	Contributors	263
	General Index	267
	Film/TV Index	271

Editorial Reviews

Scholars from communication studies as well as film and television studies address a variety of texts, from Ken Burns's to the midnight cult film . Part one focuses on perennial subject areas related to authorship and reception. Part two addresses an assortment of postmodern and multicultural screen representations, paying closest attention to matters of gender, race, ethnicity, and the disabled. Paper edition (unseen), $24.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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