Making Sense of Media is a lively and accessible text that helps readers understand mass media and the texts they carry. Designed expressly for those interested in gaining a solid understanding of the media and how they work, it is an indispensable book.

Acknowledgments. Introduction: The Media in Our Lives:. 1. Saussure, Course in General Linguistics:. In Practice: King Andrew the First. 2. Roland Barthes, Mythologies:. In Practice: A Semiotic Analysis of a Sea Shell. 3. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By:. In Practice: Love is a Game. 4. Aristotle, Poetics:. In Practice: Theories on Comedy. 5. Tzvetan Todorov, Introduction to Poetics:. In Practice: What Happens in Hamlet. 6. Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale:. In Practice: Understanding Genres. 7. Janice Radway, Reading the Romance:. In Practice: Write Your Own Romance Novel. 8. Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck:. In Practice: Hypotheses on Pac-Man and Video Games. 9. Mikhail Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination:. In Practice: Parody and Laughter. 10. Yuri Lotman, Semiotics of Cinema:. In Practice: The “1984” Macintosh Commercial. 11. Sergei Eisenstein, Film Form:. In Practice: Rashomontage. 12. Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature:. In Practice: The Prisoner and “The General”. 13. Henri Lefebvre, Everyday Life in the Modern World:. In Practice: Cells and Terror. 14. De Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life:. In Practice: Resistance Through Ridicule. 15. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media:. In Practice: The Financial Times. 16. Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism:. In Practice: A Postmodern Perspective on Madonna. 17. Michael Thompson, Richard Ellis, Aaron Wildavksy, Cultural Theory:. In Practice: Political Cultures and Popular Culture. 18. bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation:. In Practice: Krazy Kat and “Racial” Memory. 19. Stuart Hall, “The Work of Representation”:. In Practice: 9/11 as Representation. 20. Afterword: A Confessional:. Bibliography. Index

Making Sense of Media is an accessible introduction that helps readers understand the mass media and its texts. Written for the beginning student in media studies who wishes to become acquainted with the ideas of some of the seminal figures in this increasingly important field, this lively volume provides useful insights into nineteen significant books. It covers seminal figures, concepts and scholarship in mass media studies, including Vladimir Propp, Mikhail Bakhtin, Raymond Williams, Fredric Jameson, bell hooks, and Stuart Hall. Designed expressly for those interested in gaining a solid understanding of the media and how they work, Making Sense of Media is an indispensable book.

Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction: The Media in Our Lives. 1. Saussure, Course in General Linguistics. 2. Roland Barthes, Mythologies. 3. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By. 4. Aristotle, Poetics. 5. Tzvetan Todorov, Introduction to Poetics. 6. Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale. 7. Janice Radway, Reading the Romance. 8. Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck. 9. Mikhail Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination. 10. Yuri Lotman, Semiotics of Cinema. 11. Sergei Eisenstein, Film Form. 12. Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature. 13. Henri Lefebvre, Everyday Life in the Modern World. 14. De Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life. 15. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media. 16. Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. 17. Michael Thompson, Richard Ellis, Aaron Wildavksy, Cultural Theory. 18. Bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation. 19. Stuart Hall, ?The Work of Representation?. 20. Afterword: A Confessional. Bibliography. Index