Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), one of the most original and perceptive thinkers of the twentieth century, offered a unique insight into the profound impact of the media on modern society. Jaeho Kang’s book offers a lucid introduction to Benjamin’s theory of the media and its continuing relevance today.
The
book
provides a systematic and close reading of Benjamin’s critical and provocative writings on the intersection between media - from print to electronic - and modern experience, with reference to the information industry, the urban spectacle, and the aesthetic politics. Bringing Benjamin’s thought into a critical constellation with contemporary media theorists such as Marshall McLuhan and Jean Baudrillard, the book helps students understand the implications of Benjamin’s work for media studies today and how they can apply his distinctive ideas to contemporary media culture.
Kang’s book leads to a fresh appreciation of Benjamin’s work and new insight into critical theoretical approaches to media. The book will be of particular interest to students and researchers not only in media and communication studies but also in cultural studies, film studies and social theory, who are seeking a readable overview of Benjamin’s rich yet complex writings.
Jaeho Kang
is Lecturer in Critical Media and Cultural Studies at the Centre for Media and Film Studies, SOAS, University of London
Table of Contents
1 Introducing Dr Benjamin
There and Then, Here and Now
Figuring Benjamin
Configuring Benjamin
2 The Crisis of Communication and the Information Industry
Introduction
Storytelling and the Crisis of the Novel
The Newspaper and the Information Industry
The Intellectuals in the Age of Mass Media
Conclusion
3 Radio and Mediated Storytelling
Introduction
Towards a Critical Sociology of the Audience
Radio Model
Some Motifs for Media Pedagogy
Conclusion
4 Art and Politics in the Age of their Technological Reproducibility
Introduction
Photographic Reproducibility
The Media Culture of Distraction
Media and Democracy
Conclusion
5 The Media City: Reading The Arcades
David Gunkel, Paul A.Taylor
July 2014
160 pages
Heidegger and the Media
The most significant philosopher of Being, Martin Heidegger has nevertheless largely been ignored within communications studies. This book sets the record straight by demonstrating the profound implications of his unique philosophical project for our understanding of today’s mediascape. The full range of Heidegger’s writing from Being and Time to his later essays is drawn upon.
Topics covered include:
-an analysis of Heidegger's theory
of language and its relevance to communications studies
-a critical interpretation of mass media and digital culture that draws upon Heidegger's key concept of Dasein
-a discussion of mediated being and its objectifying tendencies
-an assessment of Heidegger's legacy for future developments in media theory
Clear explanations and accessible commentary are used to guide the reader through the work of a thinker whose notorious reputation belies the highly topical nature of his key insights.
In a world full of digital networks and new social media, but little critical insight, Heidegger
and
the Media shows how a true understanding of the media requires familiarity with Heidegger’s unique brand of thinking.
David Gunkel
is professor of communication at Northern Illinois University. He is the managing editor
of the International Journal of Zizek Studies.
Paul A. Taylor
is associate professor in the Institute of Communication Studies at the University of Leeds. His previous publications include Zizek and the Media (Polity, 2011). Heis the General Editor of the International Journal of Zizek Studies and Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, FastCapitalism and the International Journal of Badiou Studies.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 We Need to Talk About Media
2 Mediated Truth
3 In Media Res
4 The Dasign of Media Apps: The Questions Concerning New Technologies
Conclusion
John Armitage
June 2012
160 pages
Virilio and the Media
In books such as The Aesthetics of Disappearance, War and Cinema, The Lost Dimension, and The Vision Machine, Paul Virilio has fundamentally changed how we think about contemporary media culture. Virilio’s examinations of the connections between perception, logistics, the city, and new media technologies comprise some of the most powerful texts within his hypermodern philosophy.
Virilio and the Media presents an introduction to Virilio’s important media related ideas, from polar inertia and the accident to the landscape of events, cities of panic, and the instrumental image loop of television. John Armitage positions Virilio’sessential media texts in their theoretical contexts whilst outlining their substantial influence on recent cultural thinking. Consequently, Armitage renders Virilio’s media texts accessible, priming his readers to create individual critical evaluations of Virilio’s writings. The book closes with an annotated and user-friendly Guide to Further Reading and a non-technical Glossary of Virilio’s significant concepts.
Virilio’s texts on the media are vital for everyone concerned with contemporary media culture, and Virilio and the Media offers a comprehensive and up to date introduction to the ever expanding range of his critical media and cultural works.
John Armitage
is professor of media at Northumbria University
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Aesthetics of Disappearance
2 Cinema, War, and the Logistics of Perception
3 New Media: Vision, Inertia, and theMobile Phone
4 City of Panic: The Instrumental ImageLoop of Television and Media Events
5 The Work of the Critic of the Art ofTechnology: The Museum of Accidents
Conclusion
Guide to Further Reading
Glossary
References
Index
Philip N.Howard
July 2011
160 pages
Castells and the Media
One of the most prolific and respected scholars today, Manuel Castells has given us a new language for understanding the impact of information and communication technologies on social life.
Politicians can no longer run for office without a digital media strategy, new communication technologies area fundamental infrastructure for the economy, and the internet has become an invaluable tool for cultural production and consumption. Yet as more of our political, economic, and cultural interaction occurs over digital media, the ability to create and manipulate both content and networks becomes real power.
Castells and the Media introduces a great thinker, presents original theories about the network society, and encourages readers to use these theories to help them understand the importance of digital media and social networks in their own lives.
Philip Howard is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Washington.
Table of Contents
Detailed Table of Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: Castells and the Theory of the Network Society
Chapter 2: Media Economics and Life Online
Chapter 3: Networks of Power and Politics
Chapter 4: Cultural Industries in a Digital Century
Chapter 5: Mobile and Social Media
Chapter 6: ConclusionÑMedia Rules and The Rules of Media
Appendix
Glossary and Index
References
Geoffrey Winthrop-Young
January 2011
200 pages
Kittler and the Media
With books such as and Discourse Networks Gramophone, Film, Typewriter and the
collection
Literature, Media, Information Systems, Friedrich Kittler has established himself as one of the world's most influential media theorists. He is also one of the most controversial and misunderstood.
Kittler and the Media offers students of media theory an introduction to Kittler's basic ideas. Following an introduction that situates Kittler's work against the tumultuous background of German 20th-century history (from the SecondWorld War and the cultural upheaval of the late 1960s to reunification),the book provides succinct summaries ofKittler's early discourse-analytical work inspired by French post-structuralism,his media-related theorising and his most recent writings on cultural techniques and the notation systems of Ancient Greece.
This clear and engaging overview of a fascinating theorist will be welcomed by students and scholars alike of media, communication and cultural studies.
Geoffrey Winthrop-Young
is Professor ofGerman at the University of British Columbia.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
Chapter I Background-Biography and Beyond.
Chapter II Discourse Analysis.
Chapter III Media Theory.
Chapter IV Greek Cultural Techniques.
Chapter V Controversial Achievements.
Further Reading.
Works Cited.
Paul A. Taylor
December 2010
192 pages
Zizek and the Media
Slavoj Zizek reaches the parts of the media that other theorists cannot. With sources ranging from Thomas Aquinas to Quentin Tarantino and Desperate Housewives to Dostoyevsky, Zizekmixes high theory with low culture more engagingly than any other thinker alive today. His prolific output includes such media friendly content as a TV series (The Pervert's Guide to Cinema)a documentary movie (Zizek!) and a wealth of YouTube clips. A celebrity academic, he walks the media talk.
Zizek and the Media provides asystematic and approachable introduction to the main concepts and themes of Zizek's work and their particular implications for the study of the media. The book:
Describes the radical nature of Zizek's media politics
Uses Zizekian insights to expose the profound intellectual limitations of conventional approaches to the media
Explores the psychoanalytical and philosophical roots of Zizek's work
Provides the reader with Zizekian tools to uncover the hidden ideologies of everyday media content;
Explains the ultimate seriousness that underlies his numerous jokes.
As likely to discuss Homer's Springfield asIthaca, Zizek is shown to be the ideal guide for today's mediascape.
Paul A. Taylor
is a Senior Lecturer inCommunications Theory at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds
Table of Contents
Preface: The Dog’s Bollocks . . . at the Media Dinner Party
Acknowledgements
Introduction: ‘The Marx Brother’, ‘TheElvis of Cultural Theory’, and Other Media Cliches
1 The Mediated Imp of the Perverse
2 Zizek’s Tickling Shtick
3 Big (Br)Other: Psychoanalysing the Media
4 Understanding Media: The SublimeObjectification of Ideology
5 The Media’s Violence
6 The Joker’s Little Shop of IdeologicalHorrors
Conclusion: Don’t Just Do It: Negative Dialectics in the Age of Nike
