Assault On The Small Screen

Over the last few decades, television programs have attempted to depict some of the more troubling elements of society with a more conscientious approach. Issues that networks were once reluctant to broadcast—such as sexual abuse, sexual assault, and rape—have become frequent plot points for many popular shows. Narratives that portray important social issues could potentially affect the ways individual viewers understand such incidents in the real world, so it is important to pay close and critical attention to the stories about rape that are broadcast to mass audiences. In Assault on the Small Screen: Representations of Sexual Violence on Prime Time Television Dramas, Molly Ann Magestro examines the ways in which police and legal dramas on network and cable channels portray rape narratives. In this discussion, the author focuses on eight successful shows—NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Dexter, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife. Each chapter offers a close reading and analysis of how one or more of the shows represent rape narratives and rape victims in ways that more or less address feminist understandings of rape and rape culture. The arguments in each chapter explore the specific narrative content of individual series rather than a single critical approach. Each of the eight shows considered within the book is the focus of its own argument, as the representations of rape narratives on television are as complex as issues surrounding rape can be in the real world. In a time when rape narratives are frequently making headlines, taking the time to examine and understand the messages broadcast by a medium as ubiquitous as television serves an important role in developing an understanding of rape culture. A significant step toward this understanding, Assault on the Small Screen will be of interest to scholars of film and television, media studies, gender studies, criminology, and sociology.

While television has always played a role in recording and curating history, shaping cultural memory, and influencing public sentiment, the changing nature of the medium in the post-network era finds viewers experiencing and participating in this process in new ways. They skim through commercials, live tweet press conferences and award shows, and tune into reality shows to escape reality. This new era, defined by the heightened anxiety and fear ushered in by 9/11, has been documented by our media consumption, production, and reaction. In Small Screen, Big Feels, Melissa Ames asserts that TV has been instrumental in cultivating a shared memory of emotionally charged events unfolding in the United States since September 11, 2001. She analyzes specific shows and genres to illustrate the ways in which cultural fears are embedded into our entertainment in series such as The Walking Dead and Lost or critiqued through programs like The Daily Show. In the final section of the book, Ames provides three audience studies that showcase how viewers consume and circulate emotions in the post-network era: analyses of live tweets from Shonda Rhimes's drama, How to Get Away with Murder (2010–2020), ABC's reality franchises, The Bachelor (2002–present) and The Bachelorette (2003–present), and political coverage of the 2016 Presidential Debates. Though film has been closely studied through the lens of affect theory, little research has been done to apply the same methods to television. Engaging an impressively wide range of texts, genres, media, and formats, Ames offers a trenchant analysis of how televisual programming in the United States responded to and reinforced a cultural climate grounded in fear and anxiety.

Small-Screen Shakespeare is a guide to all the Shakespeare productions available for viewing on computer or TV. From Beerbohm Tree’s silent scene from King John, to Helen Mirren as Prospera and Simon Russell Beale as Falstaff, Peter Cochran gives an expert opinion on the best and the worst, basing his judgements on a lifetime of viewing, teaching, acting and directing. The book covers films, television productions, plays on YouTube, and DVDs of videoed stage productions, as well as cinematic Shakespearean spin-offs such as Throne of Blood and Joe Macbeth. The book is composed of five sections: one on film directors who have specialised in Shakespeare; one on screen versions of individual plays; one on films remaking Shakespeare’s plots in a different idiom; one on films which contain creative references to Shakespeare; and a final review of two famous stage productions.

Mortality remains a taboo topic in much of Western society, but death and violence continue to be staples of popular television. We can better understand the appeal of violence by investigating psychological theories surrounding anxiety about death and the defenses we use to manage that anxiety. This book examines five recent television series--Game of Thrones,The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Sons of Anarchy and Hannibal--and shows how fictional characters' motivations teach viewers about both the constructive and destructive ways we try to deal with our own mortality. Instead of dismissing violent television as harmless entertainment or completely condemning it as a dangerous trigger of hostile behavior, this book shows its effects on viewers in a more nuanced manner. It provides a new perspective on the enjoyment of violent television, enhancing fans' appreciation and sparking ongoing discussions about their value to both the individual and society.

Often considered the lowest depth to which cinema can plummet, the rape-revenge film is broadly dismissed as fundamentally exploitative and sensational, catering only to a demented, regressive demographic. This second edition, ten years after the first, continues the assessment of these films and the discourse they provoke. Included is a new chapter about women-directed rape-revenge films, a phenomenon that--revitalized since #MeToo exploded in late 2017--is a filmmaking tradition with a history that transcends a contemporary context. Featuring both famous and unknown movies, controversial and widely celebrated filmmakers, as well as rape-revenge cinema from around the world, this revised edition demonstrates that diverse and often contradictory treatments of sexual violence exist simultaneously.

Gender, Race, and Social Identity in American Politics: The Past and Future of Political Access explores the ways in which cultural expression is represented in American politics as it intersects with issues of gender, race, and the construction of social identity. Specifically, this body of work examines how representations in the media and larger culture can establish and diminish the status of diverse communities of American politicians. Contributors analyze the rhetorical and performative changes that have occurred in America as it has shifted politically from growing acceptance and tolerance to an obscure—and often hostile—conservative ideology. This book contributes to the growing dialogue surrounding American politics by citing specific cases of gender and race-based infringements of the current political system, as purported by media and party players. This book will be especially useful to scholars of political science, media studies, gender studies, and critical race studies.

In the 1960s, US networks began to commission feature-length dramas expressly for television, and the genres that became known as "Movies Made for Television" and the "mini-series" emerged. This volume covers the important landmarks in the genre, from the earliest TV movies, through "Roots", to "Rome".

Hunter is back in Season III! But the Dagger isn’t the only Civilization shuttle in the gate ring. After the devastating betrayal, Hunter and the Independent Militia are struggling to keep Maunhouser from enslaving the entire gate ring. But the arrival of The Observer from Civilization might not mean the help they were hoping for. Whether fetching equipment The Observer needs, training insurrection cells on corp worlds, or searching for a saboteur on the Celestial, Hunter has plenty to stay busy. But will it be enough to keep Maunhouser at bay as they begin massing their ships for a war-ending assault? Find out now in The 28th Gate: Volume 5! Set in a far distant future, The 28th Gate is a series of tales that will appeal of fans of space marines, space fleets, and military hard science fiction. The series consists of eight volumes spread across four seasons telling the story of Hunter’s struggles against the AAA corporation that created him. Each volume contains six episodic novelettes each with the action, character, and plotting of a complete story all crammed into an espresso-like package, while each season chronicles a different arc in the overall epic.