Classics and Media Theory


Book Description

Introducing a largely neglected area of existing interactions between Greco-Roman antiquity and media theory, this volume addresses the question of why interactions in this area matter and how they might be developed further. It aims not only to promote awareness of the presence of the classics in media theory but also to encourage more media attentiveness among scholars of Greece and Rome. By bringing together an international team of scholars with interdisciplinary expertise in areas ranging from classical literature and classical reception studies to art history, media theory and media history, film studies, philosophy, and cultural studies, the volume as a whole engages with numerous aspects of 'classical' Greece and Rome revolving around issues of philosophy, cultural history, literature, aesthetics, and epistemology. Each chapter provides its own definition of what constitutes mediality and how it operates, constructs different genealogies of the concept of the medium, and engages with emergent fields within media studies that range from cultural techniques to media archaeology, diagrammatology, and intermediality. By seeking to foreground the persistency of Greco-Roman paradigms across the different strands of media theory the volume persuasively calls for a closer consideration of the conceptual underpinnings of the cultural practices around the transformation of ancient Greece and Rome into 'classics.'




Classics in Media Theory


Book Description

This comprehensive collection introduces and contextualizes media studies’ most influential texts and thinkers, from early 20th century mass communication to the first stages of digital culture in the 21st century. The volume brings together influential theories about media, mediation and communication, as well as the relationships between media, culture and society. Each chapter presents a close reading of a classic text, written by a contemporary media studies scholar. Each contributor presents a summary of this text, relates it to the traditions of ideas in media studies and highlights its contemporary relevance. The text explores the core theoretical traditions of media studies: in particular, cultural studies, mass communication research, medium theory and critical theory, helping students gain a better understanding of how media studies has developed under shifting historical conditions and giving them the tools to analyse their contemporary situation. This is essential reading for students of media and communication and adjacent fields such as journalism studies, sociology and cultural studies.




Media Studies


Book Description

Why are some people more capable than others? What are the reasons for someone gaining unusual abilities or special expertise, or being especially creative? What has to happen in order for a young person to become a child prodigy or genius? How can we help today's children to reach high levels of ability, and to shine in the arts or the sciences, in sports or games, or to excel in other fields of expertise? The Psychology of High Abilities explains how, when, and why people acquire such special expertise, and illuminates ways to make it possible for larger numbers of young people to extend their capabilities. Examining how and why people differ in their capabilities, it investigates the actual causes underlying impressive accomplishments and achievements. The volume reveals the kinds of influences that contribute to high abilities and provides practical insights into the most effective ways for extending the abilities of young people and creating higher levels of expertise.




Theories of the Sign in Classical Antiquity


Book Description

"It's the first book which revisits Greek and Latin theories of signs from the point of view of a profound classical scholarship and a paramount knowledge of contemporary semiotics debates."Â -- Umberto Eco Available in English for the first time is Professor Manetti's brilliant study of the origin of semiotics and sign theory. He seeks to discover the common thread that runs through the classical world from the very beginning of human thought to the fourth century A.D. In the "classical" tradition he sees a concept of the sign which is significantly different from that currently in use.




Theory for Classics


Book Description

This student's guide is a clear and concise handbook to the key connections between Classical Studies and critical theory in the twentieth century. Louise Hitchcock looks at the way Classics has been engaged across a number of disciplines. Beginning with four foundational figures – Freud, Marx, Nietzshe and Saussure – Hitchcock goes on to provide guided introductions of the major theoretical thinkers of the past century, from Adorno to Williams. Each entry offers biographical, theoretical and bibliographical information along with a discussion of each figure's relevance to Classical Studies and suggestions for future research. Theory for Classics, adapted from Theory for Religious Studies, by William E. Deal and Timothy K. Beal, is a brisk, thoughtful, provocative, and engaging title, which will be an essential first volume for anyone interested in the intersection between theory and classical studies today.




Understanding Media Theory


Book Description

Among students at universities and colleges of higher education, as well as in the written press, one can ascertain a growing interest in media theory. There is a conveyor belt of books about new media, but what seems to be missing is knowledge and understanding of the classical media theories of Ernst Cassirer, Susanne Langer, Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, Claude Shannon, Gregory Bateson, Vil»m Flusser, Friedrich Kittler, and many others. In Understanding Media Theory, the ideas of these theoreticians and philosophers are explained and applied in a clear and accessible way--not by discussing the writers one by one, but by using real examples and analyzing them on the basis of concepts developed in media theory. Consequently, this volume is accessible to a broad public, though it is primarily intended for students and teachers of media studies. The main thrust of media theory is the analysis of how a society is altered by the technical characteristics of the various media it encompasses. Media theory therefore examines popular culture as well as the arts, journalism as well as philosophy, scientific as well as general insights, mass media as well as individualized media. Media theory claims to offer an explanation for all historic and social phenomena.




The Play Theory of Mass Communication


Book Description

The literature on mass communication is now dominated by "objective sociological "approaches. What makes the work of Stephenson so unusual is his starting points: his frank willingness to adopt a "subjective "and "psychological "approach to the study of mass communication. In short, this is an internal analysis of how communication processes are absorbed by individuals. The theory of play is not a doctrine of frivolity, but rather a way in which Stephenson gets at such sensitive areas of communication theory as what is screened out and why. Without a notion of the play element in communication one would be led to imagine that every televised docudrama would be immediately lived out by every adolescent. Clearly, this is not the case. People can distinguish quite well between imaginary and real events in mass communication contexts. "The Play Theory of Mass Communication "is a work that studies subjective play, how communication serves the cause of self-enhancement and personal pleasure, and the role of entertainment as an end in itself. In short, for those who are tired of cliche-ridden volumes on the political hidden messages and meanings of communication, or the economic management of media decisions, this volume will come as a refreshment, a piece of entertainment as well as instruction. But with all the emphasis "on "aspects, Stephenson's volume is shrewdly political. He takes up themes ranging from the reduction! of international tensions to the happily alienated worker to such pedestrian events as the reporting of foreign Soviet dignitaries in their visits to democratic cultures. This is, in short, an urbane, wise book--sophisticated in its methodology and critical in its theorizing.




Media Theories and Approaches


Book Description

This is a manageable introduction to all the theories and approaches that make up media studies. The book is accompanied by extensive textual and online resources to give readers guidance at every step. Offering a truly global approach, this is a cutting edge text for today’s students seeking to understand worldwide media, past and present.




Race and Media


Book Description

A foundational collection of essays that demonstrate how to study race and media From graphic footage of migrant children in cages to #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite, portrayals and discussions of race dominate the media landscape. Race and Media adopts a wide range of methods to make sense of specific occurrences, from the corporate portrayal of mixed-race identity by 23andMe to the cosmopolitan fetishization of Marie Kondo. As a whole, this collection demonstrates that all forms of media—from the sitcoms we stream to the Twitter feeds we follow—confirm racism and reinforce its ideological frameworks, while simultaneously giving space for new modes of resistance and understanding. In each chapter, a leading media scholar elucidates a set of foundational concepts in the study of race and media—such as the burden of representation, discourses of racialization, multiculturalism, hybridity, and the visuality of race. In doing so, they offer tools for media literacy that include rigorous analysis of texts, ideologies, institutions and structures, audiences and users, and technologies. The authors then apply these concepts to a wide range of media and the diverse communities that engage with them in order to uncover new theoretical frameworks and methodologies. From advertising and music to film festivals, video games, telenovelas, and social media, these essays engage and employ contemporary dialogues and struggles for social justice by racialized communities to push media forward. Contributors include: Mary Beltrán Meshell Sturgis Ralina L. Joseph Dolores Inés Casillas Jennifer Lynn Stoever Jason Kido Lopez Peter X Feng Jacqueline Land Mari Castañeda Jun Okada Amy Villarejo Aymar Jean Christian Sarah Florini Raven Maragh-Lloyd Sulafa Zidani Lia Wolock Meredith D. Clark Jillian M. Báez Miranda J. Brady Kishonna L. Gray Susan Noh




Media Events


Book Description

Media Events: A Critical Contemporary Approach proposes an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach of Dayan and Katz's theory of media events (1992) by applying it to contemporary situations. The contributing authors come from a range of countries (UK, USA, Mexico, Germany, Finland, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine) and analyse the theory of media events from different perspectives, incorporating social media and offering a re-positioning of Dayan and Katz's theory of media events. By bringing new perspectives into this field, the proposed volume is an important contribution as it grounds the intervention and rethinking of the theory into further empirical research. This volume has the potential to function as a 'cross-generational' link between one of the 'early classics' of media and communication studies on the one hand and the present generation of researchers on the other.