TV
TV
We may be becoming a TV Nation, to borrow a phrase. Although bumperstickers encourage us to "kill" our televisions (which suggests it's not only alive, but evil and harmful), we routinely hear that most of us watch 4-6 hours every day. At a school I taught at some years back, there were routinely 2-3 times more people in the student lounge watching soaps and talk shows than there were in the library. Increasingly our view of the world comes to us through the TV. Hundreds of thousands can starve or be butchered without anyone paying much notice until somehow it makes it onto our screens; then it becomes real, something we have to act on. You might want to select a popular show and try to explain its popularity or significance to our understanding of popular culture.
Here's some hints on how to write this paper, and an example of a student paper on the Simpsons.
Here's a great new TV site made by the mighty Winter 2001 class with info on violence and research resources.
Another student site with good quotes (Spring 2000) as well as info on history of TV and TV ads
the
McHenry reference
guide on popular culture has many excellent sources on TV,
and here are some other TV
resources (including information on TV journalism)
American History, American Television (1983) ed. J O'Connor PN1992.3 U
All Talk PN 1990.9 T34 M 86
AA Berger has done some of the best semiotic analyses of TV. See Common Culture for examples/citations of his other work.
GenX TV: the Brady Bunch to Melrose Place Ref PN 1992.6 O93
**Gitlin, Todd Watching TV (1987) HQ 92.3 U5W38
Psychotronic Video Guide Ref PN 1995.9S284 W46 (1996)
**Stark, Steven, Glued to the Set :The Sixt y Television Shows that made Us What We Are Today PN 1992.3.Us S72 1997
***Thompson, Robert J. Television's Second Golden Age PN 1992.3 U5 T49 1996
Total Television Ref PN 1992.3 U5M3 (1984)
TV Culture PN 1992.6 F57 1987
TV and women HQ 1223 T415 1990
Journal of Popular Culture AP2 J69
Journal of Popular Film and Television PN 1993 J667
Seinfeld
Analysis
Back
to the main page