The Small Screen
How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age
Published on 8. May 2008
216 pages
978-0-470-76637-8 (ISBN)
Description
Television is one of the most important socializing forces incontemporary culture. This book is a cultural history of prime-timetelevision in America during the 1990s.
* * Examines changes that took place in programming, such as therapid adoption of cable, the proliferation of content providers,the development of niche marketing, the introduction ofhigh-definition television, the blurring of traditional genres, andthe creation of new formats like reality-based programming
* Argues that television programmes of the 1990s afforded viewersa symbolic resource for negotiating the psychological challengesassociated with the shift from the Industrial Age to theInformation Age
* Explores the ways in which television provided viewers withtools for coming to terms with their fears about living in thefast-paced , increasingly diverse, information-laden society of the90s
Reviews / Votes
"In The Small Screen, Brian L. Ott explores how UStelevision of the 1990s met the Information Age. With theoreticalclarity and acute critical analysis of content and form in thetelevision experience, Ott illustrates how some Americans embracedthe future through hyperconscious television while otherscelebrated the past through nostalgia. A breakthrough study." Thomas W. Benson, Pennsylvania StateUniversity "Brian L. Ott's book is accessible to students andvaluable for professional scholars. It integrates a wide range ofcontemporary scholarship at a high level of sophistication withoutever falling into jargon or postmodern dogma. This volume will becutting edge in the rhetorical study of television." Barry Brummett, University of Texas-Austin "...ultimately what is pleasing about Ott's book is itswillingness to take television seriously..." M/C Reviews "Ott...hints at the coming identity crisis as theconnected age replaces the information age. Summing Up:Recommended." Choice "Ott's distinctions between hyperconscious andnostalgic programming serve as fine distinctions for consideringthe cultural significance of television." PsycCritiquesMore details
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04/2008
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Book
07/2007
1st Edition
Wiley
€42.50
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Brian L. Ott is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at Colorado State University. He is an award winning scholar and teacher, who has published widely in the area of media studies.
Content
Contents.
Preface.
1. Television and Social Change.
The Times They Are a-Changin'.
Television as Public Discourse.
2. Life in the Information Age.
The Information Explosion.
Society through the Lens of Technocapitalism.
Social Anxieties in the Information Age.
3. Hyperconscious Television.
Embracing 'the Future': The Attitude of Yes.
The Simpsons as Exemplar.
Symbolic Equipments in Hyperconscious TV.
4. Nostalgia Television.
Celebrating 'the Past': The Attitude of No.
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman as Exemplar.
Symbolic Equipments in Nostalgia TV.
5. Television and the Future.
(Re)Viewing the Small Screen.
Life and Television in the Twenty-First Century.
The Next Great Paradigm Shift?.
References.
Index
