Understanding Society, Culture, and Television

by Monaco, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780275970956
• ISBN10: 0275970957
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

What is the real nature of television, and what is its place in contemporary society and culture? In a provocative rethinking of the medium and its ensuing effects, this book argues that we have misunderstood television and have thus contributed to a distorted view of art and culture in the 20th century. During the final quarter of this century both in academic and popular circles, we have spread wildly exaggerated claims about television's undermining of human consciousness and behavior. Television has become a scapegoat for all sorts of societal and cultural ills. The arguments presented by many researchers on behalf of the ill-effects of TV are fundamentally weak and flawed. On the eve of the 21st century, the claimed distinctions between high art and popular culture have become a final, hopeless repository of pedantry. Television can be understood only by viewing it as an art form, and measuring its role in society and culture in concert with the first principles of human reason and liberty.

Author Biography

Paul Monaco is the Department Head of Media and Theatre Arts and Professor of Cinema/Video at Montana State University, Bozeman

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Storytelling and Television	1	(14)
Television and the Aesthetics of Power, Virtuosity, and Repetition	15	(12)
Common Contemporary Themes	27	(10)
Agendas, Politics, and Television	37	(10)
Globalization and Television	47	(12)
Wellsprings of Our Discountent with Television	59	(16)
Television and Advertising	75	(12)
Television and Government	87	(12)
Art for Whose Sake?	99	(14)
What Everyone Must Know About Television	113	(14)
Afterword	127	(2)
Bibliography	129	(8)
Index	137