ARTH 290A: The Halftime Show: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Popular Culture: Exploring KL's Halftime Show

A de facto American national holiday and phenomenon, the Super Bowl claims a spot as one of the biggest sporting events in the world and the most widely celebrated, feasted and feasting event of the year-when more avocados (105 million pounds) are consumed, and more beer is drunk (325 million gallons) on the single day of Superbowl Sunday. But there is much more at play than partying at our annual sports extravaganza, as this scholarly researched yet readable volume demonstrates: Here you will read an historical perspective that includes discussions of the mega-event's economics (stake holders, host cities, advertising, gambling, and media), fandom, ratings, halftime entertainment, the roles of mythic spectacle and religion, football's sexist, militaristic language, gender issues like cheerleaders and sex trafficking, the Puppy Bowl, medical concerns like concussions and violence, tailgating and foodie ideas-all along with tidbits about your favorite team(s) and player(s).

" "I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too." Inspired by these few words, spoken by Josephine Baker at the 1963 March on Washington, MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellow and bestselling author Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines--whether it's the twenty-seven seconds in "Gimme Shelter" in which Merry Clayton wails the words "rape, murder," a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt--has layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib's own personal history of love, grief, and performance. Touching on Michael Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Billy Dee Williams, the Wu-Tan Clan, Dave Chappelle, and more, Abdurraqib writes prose brimming with jubilation and pain. With care and generosity, he explains the poignancy of performances big and small, each one feeling intensely familiar and vital, both timeless and desperately urgent. Filled with sharp insight, humor, and heart, A Little Devil in America exalts the Black performance that unfolds in specific moments in time and space--from midcentury Paris to the moon, and back down again to a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio. "

Although the American obsession with mediated sports has grown tremendously in the past few years, there has been little scholarly inquiry focused on the development and response to the mediated sports culture. Communication scholars have seemingly asked about every variant in the modern media, and yet sports programming, which regularly attracts high ratings, eludes inquiry. Media, Sports, and Society is the first comprehensive volume to redress this imbalance and provide a foundation for research on the communication of sport. In this volume Wenner first outlines the parameters of the communication of sport in a seminal essay and points to major issues that need to be addressed in the relationship between media and society. Leading communication researchers then examine theoretical and historical issues, the production of mediated sports (media organizations, sports organizations, and sports journalists), its content, and its audience. Individual chapters range in scope from a discussion of the spectacle of mediated sports, to a comparison of Super Bowl Football and World Cup Soccer, to a consideration of the spectators′ enjoyment of sports violence and a fascinating examination of gender harmony and sports interests. The variety of perspectives and thought-provoking issues in this volume make it essential reading for students and researchers in communication, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies. "Written with enthusiasm and insight the book further justifies the prominent place that the analysis of sport takes in the intellectual debates that are the very stuff of (some) academic coffee breaks." --Network "Sport programming is only beginning to receive considerable academic attention, and this is the first comprehensive foray into the field. . . . Advanced undergraduate and above." --Choice "Wenner . . . and his colleagues successfully demonstrate cumulative breadth of their individual research interests in cultural studies and mediated sports." --Journal of Communication "The overall treatment of mediated sport content is refreshing and rich. . . . In total, Media, Sports, and Society stimulates questions about the role of mediated sport in culture, and it offers scholars a framework with which to think about the communication of sport. . . . Although defining a common research agenda is important, this volume′s primary legacy to the discipline will be its confirmation of mediated sport as a legitimate area of study." --Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media "The volume provides . . . food for thought since it is full of interesting research ideas and suggestions capable of motivating future projects in the field. That in itself makes the volume worth recommending. All told, the maiden voyage of Media, Sports, and Society is a bon voyage." --Popular Communication Newsletter and Review "Wenner . . . has done an able job of collecting a range of diverse views on sports and communication into one useful volume. Readers′ time will be repayed. . . . Useful in graduate clases. Wenner′s volume will serve its purpose well; it will introduce a neglected topic to the field and motivate further research." --Journalism Quarterly

Constituting a new television genre, live broadcasts of "historic" events have become world rituals which, according to Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, have the potential for transforming societies even as they transfix viewers around the globe. Analyzing such public spectacles as the Olympic games, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, John F. Kenndy's funeral, the moon landing, and Pope John II's visits to Poland, they offer an ethnography of how media events are scripted, negotiated, performed, celebrated, shamanized, and reviewed.

First published in 1976, Television: The Critical View set the foundation for the serious study of television, becoming the gold standard of anthologies in the field. With this seventh edition, editor Horace Newcomb has moved the book from one merely intended to legitimize the critical inquiryof television to a text that reflects how complex critical approaches to television have become today. Comprised of virtually all new selections that deal with both classic and contemporary programming, the seventh edition adds new material on television history, the reception context of television, and international programming such as Chinese soap operas and Brazilian telenovelas. Television: The Critical View remains a well established and critically acclaimed text essential for courses in critical studies, communication studies, cultural studies, media history, television criticism, television history, and broadcasting.