Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

by Rhonda V. Wilcox

A celebration of TVs Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the woman CNN hailed as the Mother of Buffy StudiesRhonda Wilcox is the worlds foremost authority on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its characters, and its themes. Wilcox argues that Buffy is enduring as art by exploring its excellence in both long-term story arc construction and in producing individual episodes that are powerful on their own. She examines the larger... (more)

Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Star Trek and Doctor Who (Popular Fiction Series)

Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Star Trek and Doctor Who (Popular Fiction Series)

by John Tulloch

Science Fiction Audiences examines the astounding popularity of two television "institutions" of our time--the science fiction series Doctor Who and Star Trek . Both of theses programs have survived cancellation and acquired a following that continues to grow. The book is based on years of research including interviews with fans and followers of these two television series. In that period fans and... (more)

The Bfi Companion to the Western (A Da Capo paperback)Edward Buscombe, Richard Schickel

The Bfi Companion to the Western (A Da Capo paperback)

by Edward Buscombe, Richard Schickel

In addition to the obligatory annotated list of best Western movies, this entertaining compendium from the British Film Institute provides a fascinating "Dictionary of Culture and History," which compares the real West to its celluloid counterpart. "Scalping," "prostitution," "Bat Masterson," "Dalton Gang," and "Springfield Rifle" are some of the 400 biographical/thematic entries, which give not only historical... (more)

Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong

Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong

by Martha Nochimson

This fascinating book begins with a new definition of the gangster film and a challenging exploration of the Hong Kong and Hollywood screen traditions. Illuminates the way gangster films deal with the ambiguities of modern life, correcting the notion that this genre is inconsequential sensationalism Contends that both American and Hong Kong gangster films are against-the-grain reactions to the central fable... (more)

Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context

Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context

by Carol Vernallis

The music video was born because of a sudden expansion of new broadcast channels in search of cheap programming and a boom in new editing equipment and visual postproduction effects. It has exerted an enormous influence on popular music: pop songs are now longer, more open, and malleable. Here at last is a study that treats music video as a distinct multimedia artistic genre, different from film, television, and... (more)

Serial Television: Big Drama on the Small Screen

Serial Television: Big Drama on the Small Screen

by Glen Creeber

Serial Television focuses on contemporary television drama, offering detailed accounts of hugely popular, influential, and groundbreaking shows such as The Sopranos, Queer as Folk, Sex and the City, Twin Peaks, This Life, Prime Suspect, Cold Lazarus, The Kingdom, Holocaust, Heimat, and Roots. Glen Creeber argues that the demise of the single play has not meant the end of original, challenging, and innovative... (more)

Close-Up 01

Close Up is an innovative and accessible new annual series devoted to the close analysis of film and television. Each volume will contain three extended individual studies linked by a concern to explore in detail the decisions that go into the making of films or television programmes. Filmmakers' Choices, John Gibbs Designed for the launch of the series, Filmmakers' Choices explores different areas of... (more)

Teen TV: Genre, Consumption and Identity

Teen TV: Genre, Consumption and Identity

Dedicated to a broad range of television programs produced for and watched by teenagers, this study features extensive coverage of shows such as "Dawson's Creek", "Roswell", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Australia's "Heartbreak High".

Teen Television: Essays on Programming and Fandom

Teen Television: Essays on Programming and Fandom

This essay collection explores the phenomenon of "teen TV" in the United States, analyzing the meanings and manifestations of this category of programming from a variety of perspectives. Part One views teen television through an industrial perspective, examining how networks such as WB, UPN, The CW, and The N have created a unique economic framework based on demographic niches and teen-focused narrowcasting. ... (more)

Reading the Vampire Slayer: The Unofficial Critical Companion to Buffy and Angel (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)

Reading the Vampire Slayer: The Unofficial Critical Companion to Buffy and Angel (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are two of today's biggest cult television show hits. This unique guide to both shows examines a variety of the complex ways in which Buffy and its spin-off series Angel have won the hearts of its target audience and the minds of intellectual commentators. The book provides a short episode guide to all five seasons of Buffy and the first two seasons of Angel , as well... (more)

Textual Poachers (Studies in Culture and Communication)

Textual Poachers (Studies in Culture and Communication)

by Henry Jenkins

Written from an insider's perspective and providing vivid examples from fan artifacts, Textual Poachers offers an ethnographic account of the media fan community, its interpretive strategies, its social institutions and cultural practices, and its troubled relationship to the mass media and consumer capitalism.

Star Trek Fans and Costume Art (Folk Art and Artists Series)

Star Trek Fans and Costume Art (Folk Art and Artists Series)

by Heather R. Joseph-Witham

A colorfully illustrated study of the phenomenal attire that unites devoted fans of the series

Teen Dreams: Reading Teen Film And Television from Heathers to Veronica Mars

Teen Dreams: Reading Teen Film And Television from Heathers to Veronica Mars

by Roz Kaveney

In this pioneering and entertaining book, Roz Kaveney examines the crucial films and television shows in the teen-driven genre and reveals the inner workings of their consistent themes. From John Hughes' early films, to the cheerleaders of Bring It On , the films and their characters deal with sex and gender relations, presenting a picture of the hidden life of teenagers. Hit teen films can also promote products,... (more)

Complete Cult (Collins S.)

by Jim Sangster, Paul Condon

This complete guide covers classic British telly, cults hits, and imports old and new such as Star Trek, Neighbours, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, and Desperate Housewives. This one-stop A-Z guide to over 2,000 terrestrial shows reminds you of the best TV moments, the locations, the characters, the writers, and is absolutely packed with websites to visit and related series to watch. The authors are unashamedly... (more)

Interacting with Babylon 5: Fan Performances in a Media Universe

Interacting with Babylon 5: Fan Performances in a Media Universe

by Kurt Lancaster

"This book makes a significant contribution to the growing body of scholarship surrounding the participatory communities--i.e. fandoms--that surround cult television shows and films. . . . It will cut across disciplines, finding a readership among sociologists, anthropologists, media scholars, and performance scholars, as well as among fans and lay readers." --Henry Jenkins, author of Textual Poachers: Television... (more)

Telefantasy

by Catherine Johnson

Telefantasy is the first book-length study to consider the place of fantasy, science fiction, and horror dramas in the history of British and U.S. television. Looking at two periods--the 1950s and 1960s, and the 1990s and 2000s--when telefantasy was particularly prevalent on television, this book provides detailed historical accounts of the production of key telefantasy programs: the Quatermass serials, The... (more)

Sound and Vision: The Music Video Reader

Sound and Vision: The Music Video Reader

by L. Grossberg

Music video is one of the most important emergent cultural forms in contemporary popular culture. It has had a profound impact both on music, fashion, and youth culture and on the codes and forms that operate across television, film, and advertising. But until now, criticism has denied the specific nature of the form and its cultural history. Sound and Vision is the first significant collection of new and... (more)

The Lure Of The Vampire: Gender, Fiction And Fandom From Bram Stoker To Buffy

The Lure Of The Vampire: Gender, Fiction And Fandom From Bram Stoker To Buffy

by Milly Williamson

The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy the Vampire Slayer explores the curiosity and fascination surrounding the enduring myth of Dracula and vampires. Over one hundred years after Bram Stoker's influential novel was published, an interest in vampires is still prevalent in popular culture. This is suggested by the recent popularity of such television shows as Buffy the... (more)

Fighting The Forces: What's At Stake In Buffy The Vampire Slayer?

Fighting The Forces: What's At Stake In Buffy The Vampire Slayer?

by David Lavery

Fighting the Forces explores the struggle to create meaning in an impressive example of popular culture, the television series phenomenon Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the essays collected here, contributors examine the series using a variety of techniques and viewpoints. They analyze the social and cultural issues implicit in the series and place it in its literary context, not only by examining its literary... (more)

Law and Justice as Seen on TV

by Elayne Rapping

Law and Justice as Seen on TV examines the impact, significance, and social and political problems raised by the enormous onslaught of law-related television programming, both fiction and nonfiction, in the years since the rise of live televised trials as major media events. The book weaves together the various strands—media history and analysis, legal history and policy, and the national turn to the political... (more)

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Tags: american television