The Audience Studies Reader

Has political propaganda ever been effective? To what extent do African-American families interpret their favourite TV show differently from their white neighbours? Are romance novels and teenage magazines reactionary fantasies or do they provide women with an important space of their own? The Audience Studies Reader brings together key writings exploring questions of reception and interpretation, reprinting forgotten pieces and combining key essays with new research. Beginning with a general introduction to the Reader, each extract is placed in its historical context with specially written section prefaces and suggestions for further reading. Organized chronologically and thematically, sections address: the paradigm shift - from 'effects' to 'uses and gratifications'; moral panic and censorship; the active audience and reading as resistance; shifts in screen theory - the spectator and the audience; the fan and the audience; female audiences; nation and ethnicity. The conclusion discusses the effects of Internet 'overflow' and the increased level of interactivity it seems to offer. The Audience Studies Reader provides a guide to thinking about the audience, and suggests new ways of looking at the relationship between media texts and those who receive, consume and interpret them. Theodor Adorno; Ien Ang; Camille Bacon-Smith; Jacqueline Bobo; Martin Barker; Michel de Certeau; Dawn Currie; Barbara Ehrenreich; John Fiske

Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION 'It's out there . . . somewhere': Locating the audience for The Reader in Audience Studies PART ONE Paradigm shift: from 'effects' to 'uses and gratifications' Introduction 1. The People's Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Hazel Gaudet 2. Mass Persuasion: The Social Psychology of a War Bond Drive Robert K. Merton 3. Analysis of the Film Don't Be A Sucker: A Study in Communication Eunice Cooper and Helen Dinerman 4. Tendency Systems and the Effects of a Movie Dealing With A Social Problem Charles Winick Suggestions for further reading PART TWO Moral panic and censorship: the vulnerable audience Introduction 5. Culture Industry Reconsidered T.W. Adorno 6. Seduction of the Innocent Fredric Wertham 7. The Uses of Literacy Richard Hoggart 8. The Newson Report Martin Barker Suggestions for further reading PART THREE Reading as resistance: the active audience. Introduction 9. The Nationwide Audience David Morley 10. The Practice of Everyday Life Michel de Certeau 11. Understanding Popular Culture John Fiske 12. We're Here, We're Queer and We're Not Going Catalogue Shopping Gregory Woods. Suggestions for further reading PART FOUR The Spectator and the Audience: shifts in screen theory. Introduction 13.Visual pleasure and narrative cinema Laura Mulvey 14. Babel And Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film Miriam Hansen 15. Star-gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship Jackie Stacey 16. Women Viewing Violence Philip Schlesinger, Rebecca Dobash, Russell Dobash, C. Kay Weaver Suggestions for further reading PART FIVE The Fan Audience: cult texts and community. Introduction 17. Out of the Closet and Into the Universe: Queers and Star Trek Henry Jenkins 18. Beatlemania: Girls Just Want To Have Fun Barbara Ehrenreich, Elizabeth Hess, Gloria Jacobs 19. Histories, Fictions and Xena: Warrior Princess Sara Gwenllian-Jones 20. Suffering and Solace: The Genre of Pain Camille Bacon-Smith 21. Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style David Muggleton Suggestions for further reading PART SIX Female audiences: gender and reading. Introduction 22. Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature Janice Radway 23. Living Room Wars: Rethinking Audiences for a Postmodern World Ien Ang 24. Feminism and Youth Culture Angela McRobbie 25. Girl Talk: Adolescent Magazines and Their Readers Dawn H. Currie 26. ' Just a book, she said...' Reconfiguring Ethnography for the Female Reader of Sexual Fiction Esther Sonnet Suggestions for further reading PART SEVEN Interpretive communities: nation and ethnicity Introduction 27. Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show Audiences and the Myth of the American Dream Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis 28. The Export of Meaning: Cross-Cultural Readings of Dallas Tamar Liebes and Elihu Katz 29. The Color Purple: Black Women as Cultural Readers Jacqueline Bobo 30. Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change Marie Gillespie Suggestions for further reading Conclusion: Overflow and Audience Select bibliography Index