Week 6 – Cultural Studies: Barker; Chp 11

Barker offers here the texts of culture, naming television as the dominant form of “readings”: this is broken down into news, fictional narratives (soap opera/drama); sports programming; and game shows for which he offers further critique in the gender and geography of each show and where it’s reception is located. Of interest was that the narrative forms produced locally (i.e. the US) are received differently in other cultures, dispelling the belief that consumers are duped into being shaped by mass culture. I also found this intriguing: TV is a democratic and creative culture (:345). However this may be true, democracies by their nature always create/perpetuate/maintain a marginalized voice. If you are not in the mainstream in either your consumptive or creative processes, than your voice is not heard or valued.

~ by Brian Shope on February 16, 2008.