Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Books

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  Making Easy Listening: Material Culture and Postwar American Recording

  2006

  Tim J. Anderson

  The period between the Second World War and the mid-1960s saw the American music industry engaged in a fundamental transformation in how music was produced and experienced. Tim Anderson analyzes three sites of this music revolution: the change from a business centered around live performances to one based on selling records, the custom of simultaneously bringing out multiple versions of the same song, and the arrival of in-home high-fidelity stereo systems. Making Easy Listening presents a social and cultural history of the contentious, diverse, and experimental culture of musical production and enjoyment that aims to understand how recording technologies fit into and influence musicians’, as well as listeners’, lives. With attention to the details of what it means to play a particular record in a distinct cultural context, Anderson connects neglected genres of the musical canon—classical and easy listening music, Broadway musicals, and sound effects records—with the development of sound aesthetics and technical music practices that leave an indelible imprint on individuals. Tracing the countless impacts that this period of innovation exacted on the mass media, Anderson reveals how an examination of this historical era—and recorded music as an object—furthers a deeper understanding of the present-day American music industry. [Amazon.com]

  
  
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  Thinking Outside the Box: A Contemporary Television Genre

  2005

  Gary R. Edgerton (Editor) and Brian G. Rose (Editor)

  Thinking Outside the Box brings together some of the best and most challenging scholarship about TV genres, exploring their genesis, their functions and development, and the interaction of disparate genres. The authors argue that genre is a process rather than a static category and that it signifies much about the people who produce and watch the shows.

  In addition to considering traditional genres such as sitcoms, soap operas, and talk shows, the contributors explore new hybrids, including reality programs, teen-oriented science fiction, and quality dramas, and examine how many of these shows have taken on a global reach. Identifying historical continuities and envisioning possible trends, this is the richest and most current study of how television genres form, operate, and change. [Amazon.com]

  
  
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  Open Windows: Remediation Strategies in Global Film Adaptations

  2005

  Kyle Nicholas (Editor) and Jørgen Rober Christensen (Editor)

  Open Windows: Remediation Strategies in Global Media Adaptations meets the need for a fresh look at the narrative, technique, and industrial practices of media production and reception. The authors employ myriad analytical techniques, focusing on semiotics, auteur style, historical and political economic analysis to examine the dynamic interplay of popular media. How does translation impact reception? What is the role of online communities in repurposing texts? How do iconic figures cross media? What happens when classics are adapted for specific target markets? With particular attention to the evolving role of audiences, Open Windows evokes an emerging media scape in which novels, comics, television, music, videogames and other media are continuously repurposed and recirculated. Nicholas and Christensen have collected a series of cogent essays from international authors, each tightly focused on a particular aspect of remediation or adaptation. The result is an informed cross-section of analysis that will provoke discussion among students of contemporary cultural and media studies. [Amazom.com]

  
  
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  Theoretical Explorations and Empirical Investigations of Communication and Prayer

  2003

  E. James Baesler

  Nearly every definition of prayer refers to some type of communication phenomenon, yet most scholars, especially those in the field of communication, have not pursued the study of prayer as communication. This work brings the relational characteristics of communication into contact with the spiritual life of prayer. It employs quantitative and qualitative methodologies to legitimize the study of prayer as a communication phenomenon, create a theoretical model of prayer, provide three empirical tests of the model and apply the model to several different contexts, including health, eastern religions and teaching. The future of communication and prayer research is also considered in terms of theory building, improvements in methodology, and practical applications. This study should be of interest to scholars in the fields of communication, religious studies, psychology and medicine. [Amazon.com]

  
  
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  Ken Burns's America

  2002

  Gary R. Edgerton

  This is the first book-length study to critically examine the work of Ken Burns, the innovative producer-director as a television auteur, a pivotal programming influence within the industry, and a popular historian who portrays a uniquely personal and compelling version of the country's past for tens of millions of viewers nationwide. Ken Burns's America has a three-fold agenda: First it looks at the ideas and individuals that have influenced Burns in the creation of his easily-recognized style, as well as in the development and maturation of his ideological outlook. Second, the book gives readers a window on the Ken Burns production machine. Gary Edgerton shows us the inner working of Florentine Films. Finally, he looks at Burns as a popular historian who reevaluates the nation's historical legacy from a new generational perspective and, in the process, becomes one of the major cultural commentators of our era. The volume finally takes the full measure of the man and the industry he has helped to create. [Amazon.com]

  
  
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  Television Histories: Shaping Collective Memory in the Media

  2001

  Gary R. Edgerton (Editor) and Peter C. Rollins

  From Ken Burns's documentaries to historical dramas such as Roots, from A&E's Biography series to CNN's coverage of such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, television has become the primary source for historical information for tens of millions of Americans today. Why has television become such a respected authority? What falsehoods enter our collective memory as truths? How is one to know what is real and what is imagined -- or ignored -- by producers, directors, or writers? Gary Edgerton and Peter Rollins have collected a group of essays that answer these and many other questions. The contributors examine the full spectrum of historical genres, as well as institutions such as the History Channel and production histories of such series as The Jack Benny Show, which ran for fifteen years... [Amazon.com]

  
  
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  Communication, Race, and Family: Exploring Communication in Black, White, and Biracial Families

  1999

  Thomas J. Socha (Editor) and Rhunette C. Diggs (Editor)

  This groundbreaking volume explores how family communication influences the perennial and controversial topic of race. In assembling this collection, editors Thomas J. Socha and Rhunette C. Diggs argue that the hope for managing America's troubles with "race" lies not only with communicating about race at public meetings, in school, and in the media, but also--and more fundamentally--with families communicating constructively about race at home. African-American and European-American family communication researchers come together in this volume to investigate such topics as how Black families communicate to manage the issue of racism; how Black parent-child communication is used to manage the derogation of Black children; the role of television in family communication about race; the similarities and differences between and among communication in Black, White, and biracial couples and families; and how family communication education can contribute to a brighter future for all. With the aim of developing a clearer understanding of the role that family communication plays in society's move toward a multicultural world, this volume provides a crucial examination of how families struggle with issues of ethnic cultural diversity. [Amazon.com]

  
  
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  Parents, Children and Communication: Frontiers of Theory and Research

  1995

  Thomas J. Socha (Editor) and Glen H. Stamp (Editor)

  This is the first edited volume in the communication field to examine parent-child interaction. It creates a framework for future research in this growing area -- family communication, and more specifically, parent-child communication -- and also suggests new areas of communication research among parents and children -- cultural, work-related, taboo topics, family sex discussions, conflict, and abuse. Chapter authors provide thorough coverage of theoretical approaches, new methods, and emerging contexts including lesbian/gay parent-child relationships. In so doing, they bring a communication perspective to enduring problems of discipline, adolescent conflict, and physical child abuse. The text highlights various methodological approaches -- both quantitative and qualitative -- including conversation analysis, grounded theory, participant-observation, and phenomenological interviewing of children. It also introduces and surveys various theoretical approaches -- general systems, developmental, cultural, and intergenerational transmission. [Amazon.com]