This is a concise and accessible introduction into the concept of objectification, one of the most frequently recurring terms in both academic and media debates on the gendered politics of contemporary culture, and core to critiquing the social positions of sex and sexism. Objectification is an issue of media representation and everyday experiences alike. Central to theories of film spectatorship, beauty fashion and sex, objectification is connected to the harassment and discrimination of women, to the sexualization of culture and the pressing presence of body norms within media. This concise guidebook traces the history of the term's emergence and its use in a variety of contexts such as debates about sexualization and the male gaze, and its mobilization in connection with the body, selfies and pornography, as well as in feminist activism. It will be an essential introduction for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Gender Studies, Media Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies or Visual Arts.

Combining media effects with aesthetic approaches this book offers the first substantial, systematic and coherent account of fun and its importance. But what exactly is fun and what purposes does it serve? Fun is a vital element of entertainment, and entertainment is the most important form of culture in modern Western democracies. It demonstrates that fun is at the heart of entertainment's effects - entertainment both offers its consumers fun and provides them with the intellectual materials to think about the nature of fun. More than this, the book argues that entertainment shows us that fun - pleasure without purpose - is at the heart of living a good life. Illustrated with detailed examples from entertainment - from the Urban Dictionary to The Simpsons, to the Culture novels of Iain M Banks - this book is intelligent, original, and even (dare we say it) fun.

This book presents an innovative cross-disciplinary report on research across the humanities and social sciences about the relationship between pornography and its consumers. For policy makers and the wider public it can be difficult to obtain a clear understanding of the current state of knowledge on pornography and its relationships with audiences, due to the often-contradictory nature of research spanning the various and politically diverse academic disciplines. The cross-disciplinary expertise of the author team has engaged in an extensive examination of the findings of academic research in the area in order to explain, in a clear and accessible style, the most important conclusions about the relationship of pornography to Healthy Sexual Development. This short and accessible overview is suitable for students and scholars in Psychology, Sexual Health, Film Studies, Sex Education, Queer Theory, Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, Sociology, Media Studies and Cultural Studies.

This is a concise and accessible introduction into the concept of objectification, one of the most frequently recurring terms in both academic and media debates on the gendered politics of contemporary culture, and core to critiquing the social positions of sex and sexism. Objectification is an issue of media representation and everyday experiences alike. Central to theories of film spectatorship, beauty fashion and sex, objectification is connected to the harassment and discrimination of women, to the sexualization of culture and the pressing presence of body norms within media. This concise guidebook traces the history of the term's emergence and its use in a variety of contexts such as debates about sexualization and the male gaze, and its mobilization in connection with the body, selfies and pornography, as well as in feminist activism. It will be an essential introduction for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Gender Studies, Media Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies or Visual Arts.

Entertainment Industries is the first book to map entertainment as a cultural system. Including work from world-renowned analysts such as Henry Jenkins and Jonathan Gray, this innovative collection explains what entertainment is and how it works.

Entertainment is audience-centred culture. The Entertainment Industries are a uniquely interdisciplinary collection of evolving businesses that openly monitor evolving cultural trends and work within them. The producers of entertainment central to that practice are the new artists. They understand audiences and combine creative, business and legal skills in order to produce cultural products that cater to them.

Entertainment Industries describes the characteristics of entertainment, the systems that produce it, and the role of producers and audiences in its development, as well as explaining the importance of this area of study, and how it might be better integrated into Universities.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies."

Entertainment Industries is the first book to map entertainment as a cultural system. Including work from world-renowned analysts such as Henry Jenkins and Jonathan Gray, this innovative collection explains what entertainment is and how it works.

Entertainment is audience-centred culture. The Entertainment Industries are a uniquely interdisciplinary collection of evolving businesses that openly monitor evolving cultural trends and work within them. The producers of entertainment central to that practice are the new artists. They understand audiences and combine creative, business and legal skills in order to produce cultural products that cater to them.

Entertainment Industries describes the characteristics of entertainment, the systems that produce it, and the role of producers and audiences in its development, as well as explaining the importance of this area of study, and how it might be better integrated into Universities.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies.

What is happening to public debate in Western cultures? Is our public sphere disintegrating? In the face of popular tabloid newspapers, new forms of reality television and an increasing lack of respect for traditional authorities, many critics are concerned that our society no longer has a rational, informed and unified space where everyone can communicate about the issues that affect us all. In this book Alan McKee answers these questions by providing an introduction to the concept of the public sphere, the history of the term and the philosophical arguments about its function. By drawing on many examples from contemporary mediated culture, McKee looks at how we communicate with each other in public - and how we decide whether changing forms of communication are a good thing for the 'public sphere'.

The Porn Report is a radical new way of thinking about the place of pornography in society. The writers draw on wide-ranging empirical research to show the production, distribution and consumption of pornography, its content, its consumers and the public debates within which people make sense of it. During a groundbreaking three-year investigation, the authors conducted interviews and surveys to produce a detailed picture of the adult-content industries. They interviewed the models, photographers and distributors involved in the pornography industry to find out why they are involved and what they think of it. They have analysed the contents of best-selling videos and conducted a large-scale survey of consumers to find out who they are and what they think of the materials they watch and read. The authors do not assume pornography is a bad thing, nor do they ignore the difficult issues that surround its production and consumption. The Porn Report engages with the most controversial issues relating to the industry, and provides an insight into the everyday uses of pornography by ordinary consumers, and the place of pornography in society.

This book shows how journalism and the news media have covered the story of Indigenous people during a turbulent period of historical, political and cultural change. It surveys the stories themselves, the response to them by leading Indigenous figures, and the research and policy context that helps to shape public attitudes. The authors argue that the problem is not racism in the media but the unresolved national status of Indigenous people.

The greatest tragedy of Queen Victoria's reign... ...was the fate of over 100 women and children who were hacked to pieces with meat cleavers by the rebel forces of the Great Mutiny. Henry Booth remembers his early childhood in India and knows his mother was one of the victims of the infamous Cawnpore massacre. He has spent a quiet life in England trying to recover from the the nightmare of her death. But when Henry suddenly receives his mother's diary from Calcutta and learns the truths that it lays bare, everything the young Englishman believes is called into question. Pursued by the past, Henry goes from being a respectable Oxford student to being a hunted murderer, chased by police and a deadly cult of killers who want the secrets that lie hidden in his mother's diary. Along the way Henry falls in love with an Indian courtesan and is caught up in the Great Game, the power struggle between the British and Russian empires, the superpowers of the Victorian age. Henry must take sides and his life will never be the same. No matter what choice he makes, he will have to betray those closest to him.

When the talented and spoiled Pamela Blackwood meets the King of railway builders during the railway mania of the 1840s, she almost succumbs to his powerful charm, immediately. But she is also drawn in an entirely different way to her new music master, a gifted pupil of the great Franz Lizst. One man offers her an empire of wealth and power, the other offers the spiritual fulfillment of her deepest talents. But the tutor of her once hated step sister, a poor, modest young man shows her that really, only one solution is possible. He is a young man with a mission: to solve the murder of his former mentor. Their stories unfold against the back drop of the explosive growth of the British Empire, when rich and poor were on the verge of war and the "Iron Beast" was changing everything and giving birth to our own era. The Iron Beast is a portrait of an age and a comment on our own times.

When Julia Winstanely, daughter of a prominent west end family starts to work with W.T. Stead, muck raking editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, she finds herself and her family involved with some of the worst and most powerful people in Victorian London, people who kidnap and sell young girls to brothels on the continent. As Julia and her suffragette sister, Serafina, battle for legal means to find missing girls, the crimes of Jack the Ripper begin. Julia's handsome cousin, Miles, tries, with Julia's help to stalk the monster through the back streets of Whitechapel. With the aid of a clairvoyant photographer they discover, to their horror, that the answer to the Ripper murders and the trade in young girls lies in their own family's past. The true facts of the trade in children and the involvement of public officials will amaze readers who thought Victorian London was a tame place.

`Alan McKee presents a student friendly introduction to the analysis of cultural texts. The book highlights the cultural differences in interpretation with an array of fascinating examples. Textual Analysis is written in an accessible style with several useful case studies. Each chapter also includes exercises for classroom' - Jane Stokes, London Metropolitan University

'McKee is a gifted practitioner of the skills he would teach in this book, as well as a lively and engaging writer and one who has a real commitment to making his ideas available to a larger public' - Henry Jenkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This book provides an indispensable basic introduction to textual analysis. McKee starts from the most basic philosophical foundations that underlie the practice and explains why texts are important and what they tell us about the world they represent.

Textual Analysis guides students away from finding the `correct' interpretation of a text and explains why we can't simply ask audiences about the interpretations they make of texts.

- points to the importance of context, genre and modality

- uses excellent examples drawn from popular culture

- provides students with a solid grounding on many of the important concepts underlying media and cultural studies

Written in an accessible and straightforward style Textual Analysis: A Beginners Guide will be essential reading for all students of media, cultural and communication studies.

`Alan McKee presents a student friendly introduction to the analysis of cultural texts. The book highlights the cultural differences in interpretation with an array of fascinating examples. Textual Analysis is written in an accessible style with several useful case studies. Each chapter also includes exercises for classroom' - Jane Stokes, London Metropolitan University

'McKee is a gifted practitioner of the skills he would teach in this book, as well as a lively and engaging writer and one who has a real commitment to making his ideas available to a larger public' - Henry Jenkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This book provides an indispensable basic introduction to textual analysis. McKee starts from the most basic philosophical foundations that underlie the practice and explains why texts are important and what they tell us about the world they represent.

Textual Analysis guides students away from finding the `correct' interpretation of a text and explains why we can't simply ask audiences about the interpretations they make of texts.

- points to the importance of context, genre and modality

- uses excellent examples drawn from popular culture

- provides students with a solid grounding on many of the important concepts underlying media and cultural studies

Written in an accessible and straightforward style Textual Analysis: A Beginners Guide will be essential reading for all students of media, cultural and communication studies.