This course material © 1994 Mark Poindexter. It may be reproduced for non-profit, educational uses, but publication in any profit-making form or in any book or magazine form must first be cleared with the author.

Mark Poindexter, 37PSVFB@CMUVM.BITNET, Central Michigan University.


MEDIA CRITICISM

This course is organized around the reading list that follows. (References to "Berger" are to A.A. Berger's Media Analysis Techniques.) I also show a number of films and TV shows in the class.

Reading Assignments for BCA 503    Poindexter   Fall 1993

September 14, 1993

Lippmann, Walter.  The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads.
In Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann, pp. 1 - 33.  New York: The
MacMillan Company, 1960.

Eliot, T.S.  Tradition and the Individual Talent.  In Criticism in
America.  New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1924.

Mencken, H.L.  Criticism of Criticism of Criticism.  In Criticism in
America.  New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1924.

September 16, 1993

Marc, David.  Beginning to Begin Again.  In Demographic Vistas by
David Marc.  University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.

Sykes, A.J.M.  Myth in Communication. Journal of Communication  Vol
20 (March 1970),  pp. 17 - 31.

September 21, 1993

Berger. pp. 3 - 31.

Poindexter, Mark. Tri-Level Analysis: Television Stories, Myths and
Ideology. Presented at Narrative of the Human Sciences Conference,
University of Iowa, July 7, 1990.

Glasberg, Ronald.  The Archie Code: A Study in Sexual Stereotyping as
Reflective of a Basic Dilemma in American Society.  Journal of
Popular Culture  26:2 (Fall 1992),  pp.  25 - 32.

September 23, 1993

Farquahr, Judith  An American Horror Myth: Night of the Living Dead.
Semiotica  38 (1982).  1 - 15.

Mondak, Jeffery J.  The Politics of Professional Wrestling. Journal
of Popular Culture  23:2 (Fall 1989),  pp.  139 - 149.

Holmes, John R.  The Wizardry of Ozzie: Breaking Character in Early
Television.  Journal of Popular Culture  23:2 (Fall 1989),  pp. 93
-101.

September 28, 1993

Cohen, Esther and Sophia Menache  Holy Wars and Sainted Warriors:
Christian War Propaganda in the Middle Ages.  Journal of
Communication  36:2 (Spring 1986),  pp. 52 - 62.

Brown, Jane D. amd Laurie Schulze.  The Effects of Race, Gender and
Fandom on Audience Interpretations of Madonna's Music Videos.
Journal of Communication  40:2 (Spring 1990),  pp. 88 - 102.

Brockway, Robert. W. The Masks of Mickey Mouse: Symbol of a
Generation.  Journal of Popular Culture  22:4 (Spring 1989), pp. 25 -
34.

September 30, 1993

Berger, pp. 56 - 76.

October 5, 1993

Babener, Liahna. Patriarchal Politics in Fatal Attraction.  Journal
of Popular Culture 26:3 (Winter 1992),  25 - 33.

Rohrkemper, John.  Fatal Attraction: The Politics of Terror.  Journal
of Popular Culture  26:3 (Winter 1992), pp. 83 - 90.

Poindexter, Mark.  Fatal Attraction and the Grammar of Kinship.
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology  10:1&2 (March 1989),  pp.65 -72.

October 7, 1993

Kottak, Conrad Phillip  Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz: Structural
and Psychological Analysis of Popular American Fantasy Films.  In
Researching American Culture by Conrad Phillip Kottak.  Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1982.

Payne, David.  The Wizard of Oz: Therapeutic Rhetoric in a
Contemporary Media Ritual.  Quarterly Journal of Speech  75 (1989),
pp. 25 - 39.

October 12, 1993

Fry, Carrol L. and J. Robert Craig.  Track of the Cat: Freudian
Symbolism and Values Transmission in Two Versions of Cat People.
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology  8:3&4 (Aug.1987),  pp. 269 -277.

Poindexter, Mark.  Beyond Libido: Psychoanalysis, Cat People and Val
Lewton.

October 14, 1993

Karp, Walter.  Where the Do Gooders Went Wrong.  Channels 10
(March/April, 1984).

Bandura, Albert, et al.  Imitation of Film-Mediated Aggressive
Models.  Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 66:3 (1963), pp.
3 - 11.

Bleich, Susan., Dolf Zillmann and James B. Weaver III.  Enjoyment and
Consumption of Defiant Rock Music as a Function of Adolescent
Rebelliousness.  Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media  35:3
(Summer 1991),  pp. 351 - 366.

Zillmann, Dolf, James B.  Weaver, and Elizabeth S.  Luttrell.
Perception of Threatening Events in the Emotional Aftermath of a
Televised College Football Game. Journal of Broadcasting and
Electronic Media  36:1 (Winter 1992), pp.  75 - 82.

October 19, 1993

Berger, pp. 77 - 95.

Sapolosky, Barry S. and Joseph O. Tabarlet.  Sex in Primetime
Television: 1979 versus 1989.  Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic
Media  35:4 (Fall 1991),  pp. 505 - 5 16.

Selnow, Gary W.  Solving Problems on Prime-Time Television.  Journal
of Communication  36:2 (Spring 1986),  pp. 63 - 72.

October 21, 1993

Yang, Ni and Daniel Linz.  Movie Ratings and the Content of Adult
Videos: The Sex-Violence Ratio.  Journal of Communication  40:2
(Spring 1990),  pp. 28 - 42.

Weis, William L. and Chauncey Burke  Media Content and Tobacco
Advertising: An Unhealthy Addiction.  Journal of Communication 36:4
(Autumn 1986),  59 - 69.

October 26, 1993

Helmer, James.  Love on a Bun: How McDonald's Won the Burger Wars.
Journal of Popular Culture  26:2 (Fall 1992),  pp.  85 -97.

Katz, Elihu.  The End of Journalism?  Notes on Watching the War.
Journal of Communication  42:3 (Summer 1992),  5 - 13.

Ogan, Christine.  Listserver Communication During the Gulf War: What
Kind of Medium is the Electronic Bulletin Board?  Journal of
Broadcasting and Electronic Media  37:2 (Spring 1993),  pp. 177 -196.

October 28, 1993

Schudson, Michael.  Historical Roots of Consumer Culture.  In
Advertising in Society by Roxanne Hovland and Gary B.  Wilcox.
Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books. ***    LRO

(This is a very long reading so you should be sure to allow yourself
plenty of time for it.  You should also note that it is available
only at the library reserve desk.  You should probably take a look at
it a week or two before it is due-- and, perhaps make a copy of it--
rather than waiting until the day before it is due.)

November 2, 1993

Berger, pp. 32 - 55.

Mantsios, Gregory.  Class in America: Myths and Realities.  In Racism
and Sexism, P.  Rothenberg, ed.  New York: St.  Martin's Press, 1988.

Gerbner, George  Ministry of Culture, the USA and the "Free
Marketpalce of Ideas".  In Media/Reader: Perspectives on Mass Media
Industries, Effects and Issues by Shirley Biagi, pp.  335 - 339.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1989.

November 4, 1993

Berger, pp. 99 - 136.

Dates, Jannette L. and William Barlow. Introduction: A War of Images.
In Split Image by Jannette L. Dates and William Barlow, pp. 1 -15.
Washington, D.C: Howard University press, 1990.

Dates, Jannette L. and William Barlow.  Conclusion: Split Image and
Double Binds. In Split Image by Jannette L.  Dates and William
Barlow, pp.  455 - 459.  Washington, D.C: Howard University press, 1990.

November 9, 1993

Entman, Robert M.  Modern Racism and Images of Blacks in Local
Television News.  Critical Studies in Mass Communication 7:4
(December 1990),  pp. 332 -345.

Gray, Herman.  Television, Black Americans, and the American Dream.
Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6:4 (December, 1989),  pp.
332 - 345.

November 11, 1993

Poindexter, Mark.  Subscription Television in the Third World: The
Moroccan Experience.  Journal of Communication  41:3 (Summer 1991),
pp. 26 - 39.

Kottak, Conrad P.  Television's Impact on Values and Local Life in
Brazil.  Journal of Communication  41:1 (Winter 1991),  pp. 70 -87.

November 16, 1993

Spangler, Lynn.  A Historical Overview of Female Friendships on Prime
- Time Television.  Journal of Popular Culture 22:4 (Spring 1989),
pp. 13 -34.

Philip N. Myers, Jr. and Frank A. Biocca.  The Elastic Body Image:
The Effect of Television Advertising and Programming on Body Image
Distortions in Young Women.  Journal of Communication  42:3 (Summer
1992),  pp. 108 - 133.

November 18, 1993

To be announced

November 23, 1993

To be announced

November 25, 1993

To be announced

November 30, 1993

To be announced

December 1, 1993

Source critique due. Be prepared to discuss yours in class.

December 7, 1993
All papers are due.