World Of Television Research Articles

The Legacy of Johann Strauss by Zoë Alexis Lang (review)

Reviewed by: The Legacy of Johann Strauss by Zoë Alexis Lang Celia Applegate The Legacy of Johann Strauss. By Zoë Alexis Lang. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. 238. Cloth $95.00. ISBN 978-117022683. This is a book about the political and cultural appropriation of Johann Strauss, Jr., the composer of The Blue Danube Waltz and other middlebrow favorites. His works have enjoyed a seemingly endless afterlife in the culture of musical kitsch that flourishes in present-day Austria. Lang evokes this culture on her first page—Strauss on the Austrian Airlines, Strauss in the Viennese parks, Strauss at the New Year’s Concerts—and [End Page 668] then uses the image of Straussian ubiquity and “unabated” renown to launch her exploration of how this situation came to be (1). Starting with an account of the “facts and fictions” of his life, she turns to a set-piece chapter on the Strauss centennial of 1925, two chapters on shifting constructions of Strauss’s identity (“Strauss as German” in the Nazi era; “Strauss as Jew” in the Nazi and postwar eras), and finally a case study of Straussian appropriation through examining uses of his “Emperor Waltz,” mainly in a trio of mid-twentieth century films. As Lang asserts, the “legacy of the waltz in Vienna” was “grounded in nationalism”; moreover, despite the view of some that this legacy testifies only to “unmediated and vapid nostalgia,” the Strauss family “continue to provide cultural meaning for Austrians because of the unique prestige in which their works are held” (9–10). As Lang notes in her first chapter, the remarkable thing about the Strausses is that alone among all the vast number of composers and performers who provided sustenance to the nineteenth-century appetite for light music of quality in restaurants, spas, parks, dance halls, and even in the opera houses and concert halls where serious music was performed, only Johann Strauss, Sr. and Johann Strauss, Jr. are still remembered. This is indeed a puzzle. Much of the blame, if blame there needs to be for this anomalous condition, can be laid at the study doors of musicologists, who—not surprisingly—saw little payoff in analyzing or celebrating an enormous amount of music that is basically all the same. As long as the dominant method of musicology was analysis of musical form, those composers who churned out works that no one was really meant to scrutinize for their harmonic originality or subtle nuances of phrasing were allowed to pass into obscurity. Once musicologists of Western music began to accommodate the very different programs of ethnomusicologists and cultural historians, figures like the Strausses, so profoundly attuned to the devices and desires of their times, became more interesting. But Lang’s purpose is not to rescue Johann Strauss, Jr. from the condescension of musicology, though there is some of that flavor to her work. She is mainly interested in explaining why this man, among so many musical entertainers, was taken up by Austrians in the twentieth century as the embodiment of who they were. Part of the explanation lies surely in the tremendous celebrity he enjoyed during his lifetime, a status that did not dissipate immediately upon his death in 1899, just as, say, Johnny Carson is almost a living presence in the world of late-night television and stand-up comedy, decades after he retired from the Tonight Show. Thousands would have retained fond memories of Strauss, Jr.’s performances, and the venues in which his music was heard never ceased to exist. Still, there is something more than cultural inertia at work in his continuing reputation, particularly after the catastrophe of the First World War interrupted and changed memories of the prewar period. The task Lang has set herself is to explain from whence came that extra measure of posthumous fame for a prolific but not profound composer. [End Page 669] The force that does the heavy lifting in this book is nationalism. In the first chapter, politically inflected national-cum-imperial agendas explain the vagaries of changing biographical views of the Strausses, father and son. In the second chapter, the centennial of Strauss, Jr.’s birth gives the postwar era’s existentially...

Video Art: Cultural Transformations

In the 1960s, there were efforts to move broadcast television in the direction of the experimental video art by altering television's conventional format. Fred Barzyk, in his role as a producer and director at WGBH-TV in Boston, was uniquely positioned to act as a link between television and experimental video artists who normally would not have had access to the technology available at a major broadcast facility. As the leading innovator in the beginnings of video art, the Korean American Nam June Paik (1932-2006) deserves special mention. His work bridges the worlds of art, video technology, and television. The video works of Nan June Paik, Amy Greenfield, Peter Campus, Feng Meng Bo, Elizabeth Sussman and other video artists are considered in this essay as key contributors to the development of video art. The selection is based on my experience with the artists cited. Despite video art's growing popularity among contemporary artists in the 1970s and beyond, the museums were slow to acknowledge this development. One of the problems was deciding where, among the existing museum collections, to locate video art. In its 50 some years of history, video art has enjoyed a remarkable success in its artistic innovations while undergoing changes in formats virtually at the speed of rapid advances in electronic visual technology. Ironically, the legacy of creative television set in motion by Barzyk and his generation has been largely coopted by the television broadcasting industry, which mainly serves as a platform for mass media advertising.

Management in the Media Age: Lessons for Radiology From the World of Television and Music

Management in the Media Age: Lessons for Radiology From the World of Television and Music

The Challenges of Distance Learning Education System in Karnataka State for Higher Level Education

Distance education will enable people to make informed choices about their present life and future. Distance Learning is considered one of the most important educational innovations of the last century. It is an alternative to conventional education. For it to be so, the public, governments, employees of labour and other stakeholders need to be convinced that ODL institutions are not providing half-baked education. It is fast becoming an accepted and indispensable part of the mainstream of the educational system in almost all the countries of the world. The distance education is not a new concept. In the late 1800s, at the University of Chicago, the first launched major correspondence program in the US in which the teacher and learner were at different locations. It is addressed to a wide range of potential partners, governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, specialized institutions, associations, industrial corporations, telecommunication companies, and others interested in this field, to seek their cooperation in meeting today’s urgent education and training needs, through open and distance learning. After the development of Radio during the First World War and television in the 1950s the mode of instruction outside of the traditional classroom had suddenly found new delivery systems. In the present days we have audio and computer teleconferencing which has influenced the delivery of instruction in public schools, higher education, the military, business, and industry.

Tracksuit or business suit: what should a woman wear coming out of prison?

In 2004, American businesswoman and television celebrity Martha Stewart was imprisoned for insider trading. By 2005, she was reinstalled in her television world of promoting domestic fantasy and class mobility through her products. Her 17 February 2011 show titled ‘Redo, Renew and Recycle’ (as well as including ‘bathroom make-over ideas’ and a ‘leather handbag how-to’) promoted Dress For Success, a charity with over 125 affiliates across the world. Dress for Success is a non-profit organization that raises money with the aim of providing economic independence for disadvantaged women by dressing them for work. Stewart may not have needed the services of Dress for Success when she left prison, but for many women who have been incarcerated, are in refuges or are part of the long-term unemployed, Dress for Success becomes an important link in the preparation for reintegration into the workforce. Their major service is to supply women with a business suit to attend interviews or commence work. In a corrective service centre, the service provides clothes for inmates to attend court, or to meet the outside world with some civilian clothes. Through interviews undertaken with clients and staff at Dress for Success, this paper examines the role of the organization in providing clothing for women as they enter the workforce or prepare for court appearances. The paper also analyses the iconic role of the business suit as an instance of material rhetoric and as an important symbol of work readiness.

Gothic: New Directions in Media and Popular Culture

Gothic: New Directions in Media and Popular Culture

East and West on the Finnish Screen

Research on Finnish television history has so far emphasized Western influences. However, the Finnish television environment was also in many ways shaped by contacts with socialist television cultures. This article analyses the first volume (1960) of the television magazine Katso to trace the various transnational relations which shaped the early Finnish television environment and to discuss the cultural meanings of socialist television in this environment. Nearly every issue of Katso in 1960 discusses television in a transnational context. Transnational themes fall into four categories: (1) learning about television in other countries; (2) the Eurovision and Nordvision networks; (3) watching television across national borders (Swedish and Tallinn television but also television across surprising distances); and (4) visions of world television. Katso’s understanding of television emphasises the literal meaning of television, to see far. The magazine sets no clear limits to what television could do in terms of overcoming physical distance and ideological borders. The magazine avoids overt politics in discussing television from both the West and the East and represents Tallinn television as a potential source of popular television for Finnish audiences.

Introduction: Transmedia Practices: A Television Branding Revolution

The television world is changing, having been impacted by mutations of three different natures: technological, narrative and participatory. Productions now use technology to enhance their content as television series and movie franchises are, increasingly, basing their narratives on principles of narrative complexity since active audiences do not only consume, but also engage with the said texts. These efforts made by the industry to target involved audiences demonstrate how transmedia practices have impacted not only on storytelling processes, but the text – and brand – itself, the latter no longer being a mere programme with a limited duration, but a whole, composed of numerous elements spread across media. The goal of the different players involved is, nevertheless, quite different. While fans’ activities represent a way to empower themselves and engage with this universe, the teams behind institutional transmedia strategies seek to secure more (faithful) customers and, incidentally, a higher financial return.Rather than reducing transmedia storytelling to the augmenting effect it had on the concept of narrative resulting from its ability to create an immersive environment, this issue seeks to discuss the wide range of economic perspectives available to film and television brands due to this very immersive environment. The transmedia phenomenon has, so far, mostly been approached from an either textual or participatory standpoint, but rarely so from a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing the marketing aspect. Providing insight on this topic – so far not discussed in Networking Knowledge – through contributions from researchers in media, communications, cultural studies and marketing, the issue seeks to enrich our collective understanding of transmedia practices, in the hope of offering a more holistic approach. In doing so, the various pieces presented in this edition clearly demonstrate that transmedia practices have revolutionised television branding.. and that it’s just getting started.

Sesame Street's place in Japan: marketing multicultural New York in cosmopolitan Tokyo

Sesame Street, the longest running and most popular children's program in world television history, has failed to gain a large fan base in Japan because of notions of place. Since 1969, Sesame Street has taught socialization skills, pioneered programming formats, developed marketing strategies and spread American ideologies. Sesame Street has aired in English in 145 countries; over thirty countries have developed localized versions. Japan's NHK public television broadcast Sesame Street from 1971 to 2004 to teach English to secondary-school students. In 2004, Sesame Street was moved to the commercial TV Tokyo network and was localized. Muppets were added to appeal to younger children. Yet the program was cancelled in 2007. A key to Sesame Street's worldwide success has been teaching cognitive skills and promoting compassion for local cultural differences, while tapping consumer desires for idealized American childhood. When New York was erased and the English language removed, Sesame Street could not compete with Japan's already extensive children's television market. Sesame Street characters, however, became more successful when removed from their original context.I overview five aspects of Sesame Street in Japan and Japan in Sesame Street that best exemplify the program's cultural and consumerist politics, significance in television history and the image of urban society it represents. Namely, I analyze Sesame Street's place on children's television, the reasons for its importation and localization, depictions of Japan, broadcast history and legacy after cancellation. I argue that the kind of popularity Sesame Street has enjoyed in Japan is different than in other countries and provides insight into the Japanese television industry and marketing of American childhood. I explore a historical moment when television was particularly influential in international relations and in constructing notions of ‘home’.

100 entertainers who changed America: an encyclopedia of pop culture luminaries

This fascinating and thought-provoking read challenges readers to consider entertainers and entertainment in new ways, and highlights figures from outside the worlds of film, television, and music as influential pop stars.

Ethics in the New Media, Print Media and Visual Media Landscape

The ethical dimensions of investment in media activities are becoming increasingly important especially as use of electronic media pervades our lives. Until recently, it has made sense to consider different types of media more or less independently. Now however, the lines are blurred and the worlds of television, newspapers and the Internet overlap considerably. Similar ethical issues apply across the types of media activity. In such a changing environment, it is important that the church in general develop a methodology to apply to media-related ethical issues. It is particularly important for the CFB to do this as media related companies account for at least 20% of the whole market. How is the rise of new media and online journalism affecting the traditional journalistic standards of objectivity, accuracy, and verification? How can the media show that it remains committed to a strong ethical code and to effective self regulation in a rapidly changing media environment? This paper surveys the media-related sectors and identifies some common and particular themes. A methodology is suggested for examining media issues from an ethical investment perspective. The pros and cons of new media have been suggested and some case studies have been given as examples of ethics, whether a myth or a reality.

Re-Assessing the Cultivation Theory in Relation to Critics: Research Made Through Positive and Negative Patterned Questionnaires

In terms of cultivation analysis, cultivation concept explains the contribution of television watching to global perception and social reality conceptualization of the viewers (Morgan, 1984: 500). In the first cultivation study, the theory was defined as the random and unintentional learning, and unconscious gaining of demographic realities of television world by the viewers (Gerbner and Gross, 1976:170). Cultivation analysis examines the relationship between the most recurrent and expansive images and ideologies in television content with the social reality conceptualization of the viewers (Gerbner et al., 1980; Morgan and Signorielli, 1990). The component focuses on the overall results of growing up and living with television. The research of the article based on the conceptualized criticism called participant bias in the cultivation studies carried out by George Gerbner and his friends has been conducted at Ankara Kurtuluş High School. In the field research, in parallel to the purpose, negative patterned questions reflecting the television world used by Gerbner and his friends, and the positive variations of these are used; in the analysis whether the two groups with the same indicators gave the same answers to each question has been studied. The results seem to be confirming Gerbner and his friends. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p757

Virtual World Television Products and Practices: Comparing Television Production in Second Life to Traditional Television Production

The virtual world Second Life provides for user-generated content creation as a necessary condition for its construction and sustenance. Throughout the course of designing the world, in individual and collective acts, Second Life users have become television producers. Their ability to produce content analogous to traditional television indicates how the virtual world is a social medium aligned with the paradigmatic shift from consumption to produsage known as Web 2.0. Introduced here is a project analyzing the television production in this virtual world that begins with the definition of virtual world television (VWTV). The analysis presented considers how the products, practices, positions and power dynamics of the VWTV producers in Second Life are comparable to those of traditional television. The comparisons are made to consider the extent to which VWTV producers are embracing the disruptive capabilities of Web 2.0 to transgress traditional television. The analysis of products and practices indicates that there is no widespread transgression of the content formats of television, or in how television productions are deemed to be successful. In addition, there appear to be numerous overlaps in the practices, positions and power dynamics of production. However, the very act of changing their relationship to the concept of television-as-text by engaging with a new form of television-as-technology indicates how the producers are able to transgress traditional television due to the capabilities of this Web 2.0 social medium.

The Role Played by Italy in Media History: Its Historical Problems and Its Recents Innovations in Journalism and Television World

The role played by italy in media history: its historical problems and its recents innovations in journalism and television world.Italy has had a great importance in terms of media in journalism from the middle ages to the present. You can see in this article that, the news letters which were used to inform people about the wars, kings, the important events in Rome Empires. These letters were hanging the city's walls of the Empire's in those days. In 21st century, it has established another empire in Italy which is called Berlusconi's Media Empire!. I will explain that all the media history of Italy from the Middle Age to the 21st century. Key words: Italian media history; Journalism; television.

“As some of your own poets have said”: Secular and non-canonical literature in the New Testament and some (post)modern parallels

The force of culture can be, at times, unbearable for Christian leaders, preachers, and practitioners, often manifesting itself in problematic ways at the interface between the church and society in the conduct of liturgical services, such as the pastoral offices (funerals, weddings) and also Sunday worship. An issue of some consternation and concern is very frequently the manner in which, and the extent to which, cultural elements, such as those drawn from the worlds of literature, music, the arts, cinema and television, may have a role in Christian liturgy and preaching. It is helpful then, to look to the New Testament for guidance and example, especially in the light of the return of Christianity to something akin to the margins of its cultural world, reflecting more accurately than has been the case for many centuries, the actual socio-cultural context of the New Testament. To this end, helpful examples are to be found in the use of a common underlying, yet ‘non-canonical’ tradition, shared by both the writer and recipients in the short epistle of Jude, together with the citation of secular poets and philosophers by Paul in the context of both reported speech (in the Acts) and the epistles.

ESPN Films and the Construction of Prestige in Contemporary Sports Television

Despite its popularity, pervasiveness, and value, ESPN’s programming is not typically recognized as sophisticated or artful. To give its brand identity greater prestige within the increasingly competitive world of cable sports television, in 2008 ESPN created ESPN Films, a subsidiary film production unit that specializes in documentaries. ESPN Films’ most ambitious project thus far is 30 for 30 (2009–2010), a series of 30 documentaries made by 30 commissioned filmmakers to celebrate ESPN’s 30th anniversary. ESPN markets 30 for 30 through emphasizing three primary qualities that distinguish the series, and, by extension, ESPN, from other sports television: the use of the documentary form, the productions’ status as films, and the commissioned filmmakers’ position as renowned artists. This essay uses ESPN Films and 30 for 30 to examine ESPN’s efforts to add refinement to its institutional identity and to illustrate the economic and industrial functions this shift in cultural status serves.

Invisible giants in broadcast journalism: news agencies and the global news ecosystem

Key actors of the global informational web, the international television news agencies are not often covered in the communications field in Brazil. This paper aims to understand the dynamics established between these transnational companies and their subscribers (world television stations). It attempts to clarify how these western-led news agency companies operate within the flow of communication. It intends to identify production processes (assessment, collection, treatment and radial distribution) for the Associated Press Television News (APTN) and Reuters Television News (Reuters TV).

Cinematic Technique in Maurice Gee’s Hostel Girl

Award winning writer of novels for children and adults, Maurice Gee has had a long association with the filmic worlds of cinema and television. Visually evocative, many of Gee’s novels have been made into good films. In My Father’s Den (based on Gee’s novel of the same name), and Fracture (based on Gee’s Crime Story) were released within months of each other in 2004, and were both highly acclaimed. Similarly, The Champion (Gee’s second realistic children’s novel) was quickly made into a successful television movie, whilst Under the Mountain (Gee’s first fantasy novel for children), was made into a television series in 1981, and then a movie in 2009. Gee has also been involved in script writing for television drama, which perhaps accounts for the strong handling of dialogue in his novels. Indeed, The Fire-Raiser (Gee’s first realistic children’s novel) was originally written as a television script at the request of film-maker Ginette McDonald, and only after that re-worked as a novel.

Children’s literature as a springboard to place‐based embodied learning

Globalization makes living in the world more complex. Many children live as social cyborgs attached to the digital spaces of the virtual play worlds of television, video and computer games rather than connected to their own local places. The impact of this change may well be that children lack acquaintance with their local places and may never develop the ecological literacy or the positive attitudes toward place that is so crucial to its sustainability. This paper presents an autoethnographic study of a third grade class engaged in reading picture story books that featured place‐based settings in partnership with embodied learning textually and visually through art, photography, poetry, story writing and environmental journals of class field experiences along their local river valley. Combining place‐based education with social constructivist pedagogy fostered places for learning for children to create a knowing that they, too, can take action for places where they live throughout their lives.

Interrogating the image: movies and the world of film and television

Interrogating the image: movies and the world of film and television