- Paperback: 248 pages
- Publisher: Geneva Press; 1 edition (November 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0664501931
- ISBN-13: 978-0664501938
- Product Dimensions: 25.1 x 17.8 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 748 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
While too many authors may not have spoiled this book, they do seem to have muddled its interesting but disorganized treatment of television and its effect on people of faith. Beginning with an arcane explanation of the analytic methods they will employ, the authors fail to adequately introduce and define the book's fundamental concepts and purposes. Rather, they jump into a series of analyses of various prime-time programs; these analyses are long on episode summaries, but short on substantive faith-influenced insights. Fascinatingly, in the book's final chapters those examining news, sports, commercials and the business and history of television the authors beautifully articulate all that is missing in their introduction. For example, while their exploration of situation comedies and dramas is inexplicably devoid of all but the gentlest, most tentative moral critique, the authors finally begin to express strong and compelling outrage in their discussions of television news and commercials. Moreover, it is only in these chapters that they fully explain the commercialism and corporate hegemony that television programming serves. Each author wrote his or her section alone; as such, the book would probably have fared better as a series of essays. As it is, the authors' varying styles, politics and faith commitments yield an uneven text. Despite these flaws, their intelligent and usually balanced treatment of this topic provides an excellent starting point for discussion and further study.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
"In a culture so dominated by the image, it's alarming how visually illiterate most of us are. Watching What We Watch promises to educate our vision and alert us to the values underlying popular TV shows... It's been said that 'television shapes our souls'. Watching What We Watch offers a compelling examination of how this potentially catastrophic metamorphosis happens, and what we can do to resist it... It has been estimated, an average viewer devotes some eight years over a lifetime to gazing at the small screen, this book will help ensure that these are not wasted years. It should be required reading for all of us." Chris Arthur, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of Wales
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loaded with discussion/conversation material,
By
This review is from: Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith (Paperback)
"Watching What We Watch" is very readable, thought-provoking, and topical. The authors have put together a model for how to watch television, offering an insights that are sure to prompt discussion. From "The Simpsons" to "ER", from "Moesha" to "Will and Grace," the book gave me pause, asking questions about where God fit into my viewing habits. I passed this book along to our Discussion Group at church, with the strong recommendation that we use a chapter (or two) as a springboard for talking about spirituality and the media.
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the Back Cover,
By A Customer
This review is from: Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith (Paperback)
"Watching What We Watch deconstructs the magic of television and shows us how the creators of programming do their tricks and why they do them. With this knowledge we can apply of own 'lens of faith' to the magic lantern of television."--Michael Rhodes, television and film producer "A useful guide from a principled point of view for coming to grips with the TV ritual." "Television is a sizeable part of everyday life in America. This book shows provocatively, why and how television might be an important part of our everyday faith." "This is an engaging and throughly researched volume which brings together scholars in the fields of theological study, communication, and visual literacy in a compelling and easy-to- read volume." "The value of 'Watching What We Watch' is that it makes us sit up and take notice of the cognitive and spiritual impact of even the most apparently trivial program. It has been estimated that the average viewer devotes eight years over a lifetime to gazing at the small screen, this book will help ensure that these are not wasted years."
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must for Media Educators in Faith Communities,
By "mediastudies" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith (Paperback)
In the maelstrom following the release of the Harry Potter film, it is refreshing to read such thoughtful analysis of our television culture. Harry not on the small screen yet? Oh yes, he is. Advertisments (Coke, literacy and HP), TV specials (Katie Couric looking for Platform 9 3/4 for an hour) and commercials galore, HP is everywhere.It's exactly this kind of awareness that can help parents, religious educators and pastoral ministers learn about media literacy themselves and then profit from a book like WATCHING WHAT WE WATCH. Take the chapter on ER for example. Mark Scalese disucusses how power relations function in television as a dominant culture and in how the program is crafted. More than anything, and to link this back to the Harry Potter phenomenon, is the commercialization: the commerce of television, and by extension, all information and entertainment media. It's useless to drone on about the "effects" or influence of television without considering the money... an issue this book deals with well. Most helpful are the appendices with guidelines on how to "read" television, worksheets for analyzing television (criteria) shows and various lesson plans. Any thoughtful parent or teacher can make this book work for them. And more than anything, for the media academic, it has an INDEX! I am glad I bought this book!
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