Television Directors, Race, and Gender


Book Description

This book challenges the predominant framing of US television as a writer’s or producer’s medium by suggesting that television directors are a vital component of TV artistry. Looking beyond a perspective that favors the narrative and economic aspects of television but undervalues the medium’s formal elements, the book explores how directors use the visual and aural to contribute layers of meaning that add to the thematic development of television texts. Starting from the belief that television aesthetics partially reveal the ways in which directors (and their collaborators) contribute to the overall thematic development of a program, the author offers five case studies that map out the ways that directors have contributed to television drama throughout the medium’s approximately 80-year history. By devoting special attention to the presence and voices of directors from marginalized backgrounds, the book creates opportunities to discuss television from perspectives that emphasize issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This original and insightful work will appeal to students and scholars of television studies, television production and media production, critical media studies, media authorship, gender studies, and race and media.




Filming Difference


Book Description

Addressing representation and identity in a variety of production styles and genres, including experimental film and documentary, independent and mainstream film, and television drama, Filming Difference poses fundamental questions about the ways in which the art and craft of filmmaking force creative people to confront stereotypes and examine their own identities while representing the complexities of their subjects. Selections range from C. A. Griffith’s “Del Otro Lado: Border Crossings, Disappearing Souls, and Other Transgressions” and Celine Perreñas Shimizu’s “Pain and Pleasure in the Flesh of Machiko Saito’s Experimental Movies” to Christopher Bradley’s “I Saw You Naked: ‘Hard’ Acting in ‘Gay’ Movies,” along with Kevin Sandler’s interview with Paris Barclay, Yuri Makino’s interview with Chris Eyre, and many other perspectives on the implications of film production, writing, producing, and acting. Technical aspects of the craft are considered as well, including how contributors to filmmaking plan and design films and episodic television that feature difference, and how the tools of cinema—such as cinematography and lighting—influence portrayals of gender, race, and sexuality. The struggle between economic pressures and the desire to produce thought-provoking, socially conscious stories forms another core issue raised in Filming Difference. Speaking with critical rigor and creative experience, the contributors to this collection communicate the power of their media.




Questioning Gender


Book Description

Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration aims to spark productive conversations and questions about gender and serve as a resource for exploring answers to many of those questions. Rather than providing definitive answers, this book aims to challenge students’ preconceptions about gender and demonstrate how gender as a system creates and reinforces inequality. Taking a global approach, author Robyn Ryle uses both historical and cross-cultural approaches to help students understand the socially constructed nature of gender. Through examining contemporary topics, including the #MeToo movement, sexual harassment in the workplace, and the gender wage gap, students will be prompted to think critically about past, present, and future gender-related issues. The Fifth Edition has been updated with expanded coverage of disability as it relates to gender, discussion of issues related to transgender and nonbinary people, and examination of the COVID-19 pandemic′s gender-related effects, as well as updated data throughout.




RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Shifting Visibility of Drag Culture


Book Description

This book identifies and analyzes the ways in which RuPaul’s Drag Race has reshaped the visibility of drag culture in the US and internationally, as well as how the program has changed understandings of reality TV. This edited volume illustrates how drag has become a significant aspect of LGBTQ experience and identity globally through RuPaul’s Drag Race, and how the show has reformed a media landscape in which competition and reality itself are understood as given. Taking on lenses addressing race, ethnicity, geographical origin, cultural identity, physicality and body image, and participation in drag culture across the globe, this volume offers critical, non-traditional, and first-hand perspectives on drag culture.




Film and Television Analysis


Book Description

Film and Television Analysis is especially designed to introduce undergraduate students to the most important qualitative methodologies used to study film and television. The methodologies covered include: ideological analysis auteur theory genre theory semiotics and structuralism psychoanalysis and apparatus theory feminism postmodernism cultural studies (including reception and audience studies) contemporary approaches to race, nation, gender, and sexuality. With each chapter focusing on a distinct methodology, students are introduced to the historical developments of each approach, along with its vocabulary, significant scholars, key concepts and case studies. Other features include: Over 120 color images throughout Questions for discussion at the end of each chapter Suggestions for further reading A glossary of key terms. Written in a reader-friendly manner Film and Television Analysis is a vital textbook for students encountering these concepts for the first time.




Race/gender/media


Book Description

"Race/Gender/Media" contains 43 readings that help readers to think critically about issues of race and gender in the media. The readings address a multitude of topics in three major sections-Production, Content, and Audience-and approach the matter of race and gender in the media from rhetorical, social scientific, and critical/cultural perspectives. The author places a strong emphasis on introducing the material in the book and orienting the reader to the content through overviews, context-specific introductions, and descriptions of each reading.




Television Directors, Race, and Gender


Book Description

"This book challenges the predominant framing of US television as a writer's or producer's medium by suggesting that television directors are a vital component of TV artistry. Looking beyond a perspective that favors the narrative and economic aspects of television but undervalues the medium's formal elements, the book explores how directors use the visual and aural to contribute layers of meaning that add to the thematic development of television texts. Starting from the belief that television aesthetics partially reveal the ways in which directors (and their collaborators) contribute to the overall thematic development of a program, the author offers five case studies that map out the ways that directors have contributed to television drama throughout the medium's approximately 80-year history. By devoting special attention to the presence and voices of directors from marginalized backgrounds, the book creates opportunities to discuss television from perspectives that emphasize issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This original and insightful work will appeal to students and scholars of television studies, television production and media production, critical media studies, media authorship, gender studies, and race and media"--




Intercultural Communication


Book Description

Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice introduces students to the study of communication among cultures within the broader context of globalization. Author Kathryn Sorrells highlights history, power, and global institutions as central to understanding the relationships and contexts that shape intercultural communication. Promoting critical thinking, reflection, and action, the text’s social justice approach equips students with the knowledge and skills to create a more equitable world through communication. The Third Edition includes new case studies, updated examples and statistics, and expanded discussions on timely topics, like the rise of ethnonationalism and white nationalism, and the impact of new media on global communication.




Media Literacy


Book Description

"Media Literacy is a captivating, engaging, reader-friendly textbook essential for introductory Media Studies courses in communication, sociology, film studies, and English." -SirReadaLot.org In this media-saturated world, it is critical to approach media influences using critical thought and active participation. Media Literacy, Fourth Edition uses an engaging and conversational style to help students gain the skills needed to navigate the rocky terrain of mass messages - which are designed to inform them, to entertain them, and to sell them. This captivating book offers a plan of action for gaining a clearer perspective on the borders between the real world and the simulated media world, helping readers become responsible media consumers.




Diversity in U.S. Mass Media


Book Description

Provides students with clear and up-to-date coverage of the various areas associated with representations of diversity within the mass media Diversity in U.S. Mass Media is designed to help undergraduate and graduate students deepen the conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the media industries. Identifying consistencies and differences in representations of social identity groups in the United States, this comprehensive textbook critically examines a wide range of issues surrounding media portrayals of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, class, and religion. Throughout the text, students are encouraged to contextualize various issues, place one social group within the framework of others, and consider how diverse communities inform and intersect with each other. Now in its third edition, Diversity in U.S. Mass Media addresses ongoing problematic portrayals, highlights recent progress, presents new research studies and observations, and offers innovative approaches for promoting positive change across the media landscape. Two entirely new chapters explore the ways identity-based social movements, Artificial Intelligence (AI), gaming, social media, and social activism construct, challenge, and defend representations of different groups. Updated references and new examples of social group depictions in streaming services and digital media are accompanied by expanded discussion of intersectionality, social activism, creating inclusive learning and working environments, media depictions of mixed-race individuals and couples, and more. Offering fresh insights into the contemporary issues surrounding depictions of social groups in films, television, and the press, Diversity in U.S. Mass Media: Examines the historical evolution and current media depictions of American Indians, African Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Arab Americans, and Asian Americans Helps prepare students in Journalism and Mass Communication programs to work in diverse teams Covers the theoretical foundations of research in mass media representations, including social comparison theory and feminist theory Contains a wealth of real-world examples illustrating the concepts and perspectives discussed in each chapter Includes access to an instructor's website with a test bank, viewing list, exercises, sample syllabi, and other useful pedagogical tools Diversity in U.S. Mass Media, Third Edition, remains an ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in Media Communication, Film and Television Studies, Journalism, American Studies, Entertainment and Media Research, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).