Marvel Studios has provided some of the biggest worldwide cinematic hits of the last eight years, from Iron Man (2008) to the record-breaking The Avengers (2012), and beyond. Having announced plans to extend its production of connected texts in cinema, network and online television until at least 2028, the new aesthetic patterns brought about by Marvel's 'shared' media universe demand analysis and understanding. The Marvel Studios Phenomenon evaluates the studio's identity, as well as its status within the structures of parent Disney. In a new set of readings of key texts such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the thematics of superhero fiction and the role of fandom are considered. The authors identify milestones from Marvel's complex and controversial business history, allowing us to appraise its industrial status: from a comic publisher keen to exploit its intellectual property, to an independent producer, to successful subsidiary of a vast entertainment empire.

'A cracking read' Lorraine Kelly ‘Riveting’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Behind every great interview is a great booker – Sam McAlister is one of the unsung heroes of television news’ Piers Morgan She is the woman who clinched the 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, described as ‘a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion’. She is many things beside: the first in her family to go to university; a trained barrister; a single mum; a master of persuasion. In her former BBC colleagues’ words, she was the ‘booker extraordinaire’, responsible for many of Newsnight’s exclusives over the past decade, including Stormy Daniels, Sean Spicer, Brigitte Höss, Steven Seagal, Mel Greig and Julian Assange. After 12 years producing content for Newsnight, McAlister reflects with candour on her experience, sharing not just the secrets of how the best news gets made, but also the changes to the BBC, the future of ‘mainstream media’ in the age of clickbait and the role of power and privilege in shaping our media landscape.    This is a backstage pass to the most unforgettable journalism of our times.

Antimicrobial Food Packaging, Second Edition continues to be an essential resource covering all aspects in the development and application of novel antimicrobial films to all types of packaged foods. The book is organized in six parts to include the main backgrounds and frameworks of the topic, types of packaging materials and packaging systems and the migration of packaging elements into food, the most relevant established and emerging technologies for microbial detection in food systems, the development and application of antimicrobial packaging strategies to specific food sectors, and the most promising combinational approaches, also including combinational edible antimicrobial coatings. Useful to a wide audience of researchers, scientists and students, the new edition brings six new chapters that include the latest information on smart packaging, algae biofilms for antimicrobial packaging applications, polylactic acid-tea polyphenol nanofibers, use in antimicrobial packaging, chitosan and proanthocyanidins, chitosan and e-polylysine bionanocomposite films, citrus essential oils, and also includes dairy products.

As audiences are provided opportunities to "feel" the news through new technological advancements in the field, the very nature of journalism is changing. These advancements in journalism have provided a way to reach and connect with unique communities in innovative and inclusive ways. As in-world journalists have sought to inform and engage unique communities within the context of their worlds, real and virtual, issues relevant to the mainstream have been played out in virtual culture. Redefining Journalism in an Age of Technological Advancements, Changing Demographics, and Social Issues investigates the impact of emerging technologies in journalism and how audiences engage with these technologies and news content in innovative ways. Identity and community are analyzed historically and culturally within the larger body of cultural and media studies. Covering topics such as audience demographics, robotics, and immersive journalism, this book is a dynamic resource for journalists, sociologists, politicians, students and educators of higher education, computer scientists, communications professionals, researchers, and academicians.

From literature and film to advertisements, storytelling is an important aspect of daily life. To create an impactful story, it is important to analyze the creation and generation of a storyline. Content Generation Through Narrative Communication and Simulation is a critical research publication that explores story and the application of story in various forms of media as well as the challenges of automated story. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics such as narrative or story generation systems, the film and movie narrative generation, and narrative evaluation, this book is geared toward researchers, students, and professionals seeking current and relevant research on the influence and creation of story in media.

For many individuals, pornography is a troubling and problematic issue. Regardless of how the public views this topic, one thing is clear: Pornography is as prevalent and accessible as smartphones and laptop computers. Indeed, beyond traditional hardcore material, a pornographic sensibility can be seen permeating all aspects of culture from tween and young teen fashions to television and commercially successful films. In fact, pornography is so widespread that more often than not it is taken as a given in our modern social space. We assume all people look at or know about pornography, but to some, the thought of engaging in intellectual discussions about the topic strikes many particularly scholars as beneath them. And yet something this impactful, this definitive of modern culture, needs to be laid open to scrutiny. In The Philosophy of Pornography: Contemporary Perspectives, Lindsay Coleman and Jacob M. Held offer a collection of essays covering a wide range of viewpoints from issues of free speech and porn s role in discrimination to the impact of porn on sexuality. These essays investigate the philosophical implications of pornography as a part of how we now seek to conceive and express our sexuality in contemporary life. Contributors to this volume discuss: .pornography as a component of gender and sexual socialization .ecological understandings of sexually explicit media .subordination, sexualization, and speech .feminism and pornography .pornography s depiction of love and friendship .black women and pornography .playfulness, creativity, and porn s possibilities Because its subject matter sex, gender, interpersonal relationships, and even love is reflective of who we are and what kind of society we want to create, pornography demands serious treatment. So whether one chooses to accept pornography as a fact of modern culture or not, this collection of timely essays represents a variety of voices in the ongoing debate. As such, The Philosophy of Pornography will be of interest to not only those who are engaged in porn studies but also to an audience educated in and conversant with recent trends in philosophy."

With their only son on the brink of adolescence, the nouveaux-riches Sherbornes move away from the city to start a new, gentrified existence on a three-hundred-acre farm-or "estate"-in Taonga, New Zealand. But life on the farm is anything but wholesome. Sherborne evokes his family's slide into madness through a series of unforgettable, hilarious portraits: of "Feet," his once-glamorous mother, now addled with snobbery, paranoia, and mental illness; of "The Duke," his uncomprehending, sporadically violent father; and of himself, the "Lord Muck" of the title, at once helpless victim and ruthless agent of their undoing, who in the end must decide whether he can save his family. Clear-sighted, lyrical, and marvelously funny, Muck has been widely hailed as a masterpiece. It is a heartrending memoir of family discord and an exquisite story of a young artist in search of a self.

Daar doer in die fliek sluit aan by die televisiereeks met dieselfde naam wat op kykNet uitgesaai is. Die omvangryke boek gee 'n oorsig oor die ontwikkeling van Afrikaanse rolprente vanaf die heel vroegste stilprente tot en met die heel nuutste rolprente van ons tyd. Die geskiedenis begin met die dokumentere films wat tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog gemaak is en die epiese De Voortrekkers uit die tyd van die stilprente. Daarna word gedetailleerde aandag aan elke dekade van die 20ste eeu gegee met belangrike figure soos Pierre de Wet, Jamie Uys, Emil Nofal Jans Rautenbach, Katinka Heyns, Leon Schuster en Dirk de Villiers. Die titel is ontleen aan Jamie Uys se baanbreker-rolprent van 1951, Daar doer in die bosveld, wat die begin was van Uys se hoogs suksesvolle loopbaan met rolprente soos Lord oom Piet en die internasionale treffer The gods must be crazy. Van Nierop kon gebruik maak van skaars rolprente in KykNet se videoteek en in die Nasionale filmargief. Talle onderhoude met akteurs, regisseurs en vervaardigers gee eerstehandse inligting oor die vervaardiging van bekende en suksesvolle rolprente. Alhoewel die klem op Afrikaanse rolprente val, word ook na baanbreker-rolprente in Engels en die inheemse tale verwys. Ten slotte word besondere aandag gegee aan die opbloei van die Afrikaanse rolprente in die eerste twee dekades van die 21ste eeu, waardeur talentvolle mense die geleentheid kry om aan hul drome uiting te gee. Die boek is Leon van Nierop se huldeblyk aan een van die oudste rolprentindustriee in die wereld. Die ontwikkeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse rolprentkuns word met 'n groot aantal foto’s geillustreer.

Japanese manga comic books have attracted a devoted global following. In the popular press manga is said to have "invaded" and "conquered" the United States, and its success is held up as a quintessential example of the globalization of popular culture challenging American hegemony in the twenty-first century. In Manga in America - the first ever book-length study of the history, structure, and practices of the American manga publishing industry - Casey Brienza explodes this assumption. Drawing on extensive field research and interviews with industry insiders about licensing deals, processes of translation, adaptation, and marketing, new digital publishing and distribution models, and more, Brienza shows that the transnational production of culture is an active, labor-intensive, and oft-contested process of "domestication." Ultimately, Manga in America argues that the domestication of manga reinforces the very same imbalances of national power that might otherwise seem to have been transformed by it and that the success of Japanese manga in the United States actually serves to make manga everywhere more American.

Belfast, Beirut and Berlin are notorious for their internal boundaries and borders. As symbols for political disunion, the three cities have inspired scriptwriters and directors from diverse cultural backgrounds. Despite their different histories, they share a wide range of features central to divided cities. In each city, particular territories take on specific symbolic and psychological meanings. Following a comparative approach, this book concentrates on the cinematographic representations of Belfast, Beirut and Berlin. Filmmakers are in constant search for new ways in order to engage with urban division. Making use of a variety of genres reaching from thriller to comedy, they explore the three cities' internal and external borders, as well as the psychological boundaries existing between citizens belonging to different communities. Among the characters featuring in films set in Belfast, Berlin and Beirut we may count dangerous gunmen, prisoners' wives, soldiers and snipers, but also comic Stasi-members, punk aficionados and fake nuns. The various characters contribute to the creation of a multifaceted image of city limits in troubled times.

This international volume presents a comprehensive, comparative study of the transformation of the European telecommunications industry from 1990 to the present. The book focuses on the old incumbent operators and their dramatic change from state agencies to listed companies. It analyzes the liberalization process, as well as the corporatization and privatization of these companies. The contributors assess the conditions for the transformations taking place; the driving forces for change; the effects to management, the efforts of the EU during these processes, and ultimately, the role of the private owner. Political science publications have all but excluded analysis of the newly privatized companies; their contribution to the liberalization process both before and after privatization; and the interplay between the national political and company levels. The book redresses this shortcoming, and also features a double empirical focus in that the main national incumbents in Europe are analyzed and compared to Telenor, the Norwegian former incumbent.

The increasing shift towards digital publishing has provoked much debate concerning the issues surrounding ?'Open Access?' (OA), including its economic implications. This timely book considers how the future of academic publishing might look in a purely digital environment and utilises unique empirical data in order to analyze the experiences of researchers with, as well as attitudes towards, OA publishing. Presenting findings from a novel, in-depth survey with more than 10,000 respondents from 25 countries, this book shows that the research culture of scientific research differs considerably between disciplines and countries. These differences significantly determine the role of both '?gold?' and '?green?' forms of OA and foster both opportunity and risk. Discussing their findings in the light of recent policy attempts to foster OA, Thomas Eger and Marc Scheufen reveal considerable shortcomings and lack of knowledge on fundamental features of the academic publishing market and conclude by highlighting a policy agenda for its future development. Well-timed and far-reaching, this book will be of particular interest to students and scholars interested in the economic analysis of copyright law. Academic librarians and research sponsors will also benefit from the insights offered.

Winner of the 2018 Media Ecology Association's Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Social Interaction Winner of the Eastern Communication Association's Everett Lee Hunt Award A behind-the-scenes account of how death is presented in the media Death is considered one of the most newsworthy events, but words do not tell the whole story. Pictures are also at the epicenter of journalism, and when photographers and editors illustrate fatalities, it often raises questions about how they distinguish between a "fit" and "unfit" image of death. Death Makes the News is the story of this controversial news practice: picturing the dead. Jessica Fishman uncovers the surprising editorial and political forces that structure how the news and media cover death. The patterns are striking, overturning long-held assumptions about which deaths are newsworthy and raising fundamental questions about the role that news images play in our society. In a look behind the curtain of newsrooms, Fishman observes editors and photojournalists from different types of organizations as they deliberate over which images of death make the cut, and why. She also investigates over 30 years of photojournalism in the tabloid and patrician press to establish when the dead are shown and whose dead body is most newsworthy, illustrating her findings with high-profile news events, including recent plane crashes, earthquakes, hurricanes, homicides, political unrest, and war-time attacks. Death Makes the News reveals that much of what we think we know about the news is wrong: while the patrician press claims that they do not show dead bodies, they are actually more likely than the tabloid press to show them-even though the tabloids actually claim to have no qualms showing these bodies. Dead foreigners are more likely to be shown than American bodies. At the same time, there are other unexpected but vivid patterns that offer insight into persistent editorial forces that routinely structure news coverage of death. An original view on the depiction of dead bodies in the media, Death Makes the News opens up new ways of thinking about how death is portrayed.