This book, written in an accessible style and illustrated with drawings by the author and with many other images, discusses the basic principles of discourse theory and applies them to various aspects of popular culture, media and everyday life.

Introduction: Li’l Abner and Critical Multimodal Discourse Analysis.- 1. Communication: What Objects Tell Us.- 2. Language: Speed Dating.- 3. Metaphor: Love is a Game.- 4. Words: Freud on Dreams.- 5. Images: Advertising.- 6. Signs: Fashion.- 7. Narratives: Fairy Tales.- 8. Texts: Hamlet.- 9. Myths: The Myth Model.- 10. Genres: Uses and Gratifications.- 11. Humor: Jokes.- 12. Intertextuality: Parody.- 13. Rituals: Smoking.- 14. Lifestyles: Grid-Group Theory.- 15. Sacred and Profane: Department Stores and Cathedrals.- 16. Ideology: The Prisoner.- 17. Culture: Identity.- 18. Nobrow Culture: The Maltese Falcon.

This book, written in an accessible style and illustrated with drawings by the author and with many other images, discusses the basic principles of discourse theory and applies them to various aspects of popular culture, media and everyday life. Among the topics it analyzes are speed dating, advertising, jokes, language use, myths, fairy tales and material culture.Arthur Asa Berger is Professor Emeritus of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University, USA. He has published more than seventy books on media, popular culture, humor, semiotics and tourism. He was a Fulbright lecturer in Italy in 1963 and has lectured in countries such as Iran, China, Indonesia, Germany, and Argentina. He was elected to the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication Hall of Fame in 2009.

Utilizes an intertextual, interdisciplinary approach to introduce the basic premises of discourse analysis to reach a variety of disciplines Includes illustrations that offer visual grounding in the variety of topics and relevant figures Details complex concepts through an accessible, example-grounded style and approach

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